Livy: AB VRBE CONDITA LIBRI

[1] Hic status rerum in Hispania erat. in Italia consul Marcellus Salapia per proditionem recepta Marmoreas et Meles de Samnitibus ui cepit. ad tria milia militum ibi Hannibalis, quae praesidii causa relicta erant, oppressa: praeda—et aliquantum eius fuit—militi concessa.

[1] This was the state of affairs in Spain. In Italy the consul Marcellus, with Salapia recovered through treachery, took Marmoreae and Meles from the Samnites by force. About three thousand of Hannibal’s soldiers there, which had been left for the purpose of a garrison, were overpowered; the booty—and there was a considerable amount of it—was granted to the soldiery.

tritici quoque ducenta quadraginta milia modium et centum decem milia hordei inuenta. ceterum nequaquam inde tantum gaudium fuit quanta clades intra paucos dies accepta est haud procul Herdonea urbe. castra ibi Cn. Fuluius proconsul habebat spe recipiendae Herdoneae, quae post Cannensem cladem ab Romanis defecerat, nec loco satis tuto posita nec praesidiis firmata.

240,000 modii of wheat and 110,000 of barley were also found. However, by no means was there from that as much joy as the disaster that, within a few days, was sustained not far from the city of Herdonea. There the proconsul Cn. Fulvius had his camp in the hope of recovering Herdonea, which after the Cannae disaster had defected from the Romans; and the camp was neither set in a sufficiently safe place nor secured with garrisons.

neglegentiam insitam ingenio ducis augebat spes ea quod labare iis aduersus Poenum fidem senserat, postquam Salapia amissa excessisse iis locis in Bruttios Hannibalem auditum est. ea omnia ab Herdonea per occultos nuntios delata Hannibali simul curam sociae retinendae urbis et spem fecere incautum hostem adgrediendi. exercitu expedito ita ut famam prope praeueniret magnis itineribus ad Herdoneam contendit et, quo plus terroris hosti obiceret, acie instructa accessit.

the negligence inborn in the leader’s nature was increased by that hope, because he had perceived that their loyalty against the Punic foe was wavering, after Salapia was lost and it was heard that Hannibal had withdrawn from those places into Bruttium. all these things, conveyed from Herdonea to Hannibal by clandestine messengers, at once produced both a concern for retaining the allied city and a hope of attacking the incautious enemy. with the army unencumbered, so that he almost outstripped rumor, he hastened by great marches to Herdonea, and, in order to cast the more terror before the enemy, he approached with the battle-line drawn up.

par audacia Romanus, consilio et uiribus impar, copiis raptim eductis conflixit. quinta legio et sinistra ala acriter pugnam inierunt; ceterum Hannibal signo equitibus dato ut, cum pedestres acies occupassent praesenti certamine oculos animosque, circumuecti pars castra hostium, pars terga trepidantium inuaderent, ipse Cn. Fului similitudinem nominis—quia Cn. Fuluium praetorem biennio ante in iisdem deuicerat locis—increpans, similem euentum pugnae fore adfirmabat. neque ea spes uana fuit.

The Roman, equal in audacity but unequal in counsel and in forces, with his troops hurriedly led out, engaged. The Fifth Legion and the left wing entered the fight fiercely; but Hannibal, a signal having been given to the horsemen, so that, when the infantry battle-lines had occupied eyes and minds with the present combat, they, having ridden around, might in part assault the enemy’s camp, in part the backs of the panic‑stricken, he himself, upbraiding Cn. Fulvius with the similarity of the name—because he had defeated Cn. Fulvius the praetor two years before in the same places—affirmed that the outcome of the battle would be similar. Nor was that expectation vain.

nam cum comminus acie et peditum certamine multi cecidissent Romanorum, starent tamen ordines signaque, equestris tumultus a tergo, simul a castris clamor hostilis auditus sextam [ante] legionem, quae in secunda acie posita prior ab Numidis turbata est, quintam deinde atque eos qui ad prima signa erant auertit; pars in fugam effusi, pars in medio caesi, ubi et ipse Cn. Fuluius cum undecim tribunis militum cecidit. Romanorum sociorumque quot caesa in eo proelio milia sint, quis pro certo adfirmet, cum tredecim milia alibi, alibi haud plus quam septem inueniam? castris praedaque uictor potitur.

for when, in close quarters in the battle-line and in the contest of the infantry, many of the Romans had fallen, yet the ranks and the standards stood; a cavalry tumult from the rear, and at the same time a hostile shout heard from the camp, turned the sixth [before] legion—which, posted in the second line, had earlier been thrown into disorder by the Numidians—then the fifth, and those who were at the foremost standards; part poured out into flight, part were cut down in the midst, where Cn. Fulvius himself fell with 11 tribunes of soldiers. How many thousands of Romans and allies were cut down in that battle, who could assert for certain, since I find 13,000 in one account, elsewhere not more than 7? the victor gains possession of the camp and the booty.

Herdoneam, quia et defecturam fuisse ad Romanos comperit nec mansuram in fide, si inde abscessisset, multitudine omni Metapontum ac Thurios traducta, incendit: occidit principes qui cum Fuluio conloquia occulta habuisse comperti sunt. Romani qui ex tanta clade euaserant diuersis itineribus semermes ad Marcellum consulem in Samnium perfugerunt.

Herdonea, because he discovered that it would have defected to the Romans and would not remain in good faith if he had withdrawn from there, with the entire multitude transferred to Metapontum and Thurii, he burned; he killed the leading men who were discovered to have held secret colloquies with Fulvius. The Romans who had escaped from so great a disaster, by diverse routes, half-armed, fled for refuge to Marcellus the consul in Samnium.

[2] Marcellus nihil admodum tanta clade territus litteras Romam ad senatum de duce et exercitu ad Herdoneam amisso scribit: ceterum eundem se, qui post Cannensem pugnam ferocem uictoria Hannibalem contuderit, ire aduersus eum, breuem illi laetitiam qua exsultet facturum. et Romae quidem cum luctus ingens ex praeterito, tum timor in futurum erat: consul ex Samnio in Lucanos transgressus ad Numistronem in conspectu Hannibalis loco plano, cum Poenus collem teneret, posuit castra. addidit et aliam fidentis speciem, quod prior in aciem eduxit; nec detractauit Hannibal, ut signa portis efferri uidit.

[2] Marcellus, by no means greatly terrified by so great a disaster, writes letters to Rome to the senate about the commander and the army lost at Herdonea: moreover that he is the same man who, after the battle of Cannae, crushed Hannibal fierce with victory; that he is going against him and will make short for him the joy in which he exults. And at Rome indeed there was both huge mourning from what had passed, and fear for the future. The consul, having crossed from Samnium into the Lucanians, at Numistro, in the sight of Hannibal, on level ground—while the Carthaginian held a hill—pitched camp. He added also another appearance of confidence, in that he led out into battle line first; nor did Hannibal shirk, when he saw the standards being carried out from the gates.

ita tamen aciem instruxerunt ut Poenus dextrum cornu in collem erigeret, Romani sinistrum ad oppidum adplicarent. ab Romanis prima legio et dextra ala, ab Hannibale Hispani milites et funditores Baliares, elephanti quoque commisso iam certamine in proelium acti; diu pugna neutro inclinata stetit. ab hora tertia cum ad noctem pugnam extendissent, fessaeque pugnando primae acies essent, primae legioni tertia, dextrae alae sinistra subit, et apud hostes integri a fessis pugnam accepere.

yet they drew up the battle line in such a way that the Carthaginian raised his right wing onto a hill, and the Romans applied their left to the town. On the Roman side the first legion and the right ala; on Hannibal’s side Spanish soldiers and Balearic slingers; the elephants also, with the contest now joined, were driven into the battle; for a long time the fight stood inclined to neither side. From the third hour, when they had prolonged the combat to night, and the foremost battle-lines were wearied with fighting, to the first legion the third came up to relieve, to the right ala the left succeeded, and among the enemy the fresh took over the fight from the tired.

nouum atque atrox proelium ex iam segni repente exarsit, recentibus animis corporibusque; sed nox incerta uictoria diremit pugnantes. postero die Romani ab sole orto in multum diei stetere in acie; ubi nemo hostium aduersus prodit, spolia per otium legere et congestos in unum locum cremauere suos. nocte insequenti Hannibal silentio mouit castra et in Apuliam abiit.

a new and atrocious battle suddenly blazed up from what had now been a sluggish one, with spirits and bodies fresh; but night, victory uncertain, broke off the combatants. on the next day the Romans stood in battle order from sunrise far into the day; when none of the enemy came forth against them, they gathered the spoils at leisure and cremated their own, heaped together in one place. on the following night Hannibal moved his camp in silence and went away into Apulia.

Marcellus, ubi lux fugam hostium aperuit, sauciis cum praesidio modico Numistrone relictis praepositoque iis L. Furio Purpurione, tribuno militum, uestigiis institit sequi. ad Uenusiam adeptus eum est. ibi per dies aliquot cum ab stationibus procursaretur, mixta equitum peditumque tumultuosa magis proelia quam magna et ferme omnia Romanis secunda fuere.

Marcellus, when the light revealed the enemy’s flight, after leaving the wounded with a modest garrison at Numistro and putting over them L. Furius Purpurio, a military tribune, set himself to follow on their tracks. He overtook him at Venusia. There, for several days, as sorties were made from the outposts, the combats—mixed of cavalry and infantry—were more tumultuous than great, and almost all were favorable to the Romans.

inde per Apuliam ducti exercitus sine ullo memorando certamine, cum Hannibal nocte signa moueret locum insidiis quaerens, Marcellus nisi certa luce et explorato ante non sequeretur.

thence through Apulia the armies were led without any memorable engagement, while Hannibal by night would move the standards, seeking a place for ambuscade; Marcellus would not follow unless in certain daylight and with reconnaissance made beforehand.

[3] Capuae interim Flaccus dum bonis principum uendendis, agro qui publicatus erat locando—locauit autem omnem frumento—tempus terit, ne deesset materia in Campanos saeuiendi, nouum in occulto gliscens per indicium protractum est facinus. milites aedificiis emotos, simul ut cum agro tecta urbis fruenda locarentur, simul metuens ne suum quoque exercitum sicut Hannibalis nimia urbis amoenitas emolliret, in portis murisque sibimet ipsos tecta militariter coegerat aedificare; erant autem pleraque ex cratibus ac tabulis facta, alia harundine texta, stramento intecta, omne uelut de industria alimentum ignis. haec noctis una hora omnia ut incenderent, centum septuaginta Campani principibus Blossiis fratribus coniurauerunt.

[3] Meanwhile at Capua, Flaccus, while he wastes time with selling the goods of the chiefs and with leasing out the land which had been made public—he leased all of it for grain—so that material for raging against the Campanians might not be lacking, a new crime, swelling in secret, was brought forth by an informant. Having removed the soldiers from the buildings, both so that the roofs of the city might be let for enjoyment along with the land, and at the same time fearing lest the excessive pleasantness of the city should soften his own army as it had Hannibal’s, he had compelled them themselves to build quarters in military fashion at the gates and on the walls; moreover, most were made of wattles and boards, others woven of reed, roofed with straw—everything, as if by design, fuel for fire. That they might set all these ablaze in a single hour of the night, one hundred seventy Campanians, with the brothers Blossius as leaders, conspired.

indicio eius rei ex familia Blossiorum facto, portis repente iussu proconsulis clausis cum ad arma signo dato milites concurrissent, comprehensi omnes qui in noxa erant, et quaestione acriter habita damnati necatique; indicibus libertas et aeris dena milia data. Nucerinos et Acerranos, querentes ubi habitarent non esse, Acerris ex parte incensis, Nuceria deleta, Romam Fuluius ad senatum misit. Acerranis permissum, ut aedificarent, quae incensa erant: Nucerini Atellam quia id maluerant, Atellanis Calatiam migrare iussis, traducti.

with evidence of that matter furnished from the household of the Blossii, the gates having been suddenly closed by order of the proconsul and, the signal having been given, when the soldiers had rushed to arms, all who were in guilt were seized, and, an inquest sharply conducted, they were condemned and killed; to the informers freedom and 10,000 asses were given. The Nucerini and Acerrani, complaining that there was nowhere to dwell—since Acerrae had been partly burned, and Nuceria destroyed—Fulvius sent to Rome to the senate. It was permitted to the Acerrani to rebuild what had been burned; the Nucerini, because they preferred that, were transferred to Atella, the Atellani being ordered to migrate to Calatia.

inter multas magnasque res, quae nunc secundae, nunc aduersae occupabant cogitationes hominum, ne Tarentinae quidem arcis excidit memoria. M. Ogulnius et P. Aquilius in Etruriam legati ad frumentum coemendum quod Tarentum portaretur profecti, et mille milites de exercitu urbano, par numerus Romanorum sociorumque, eodem in praesidium cum frumento missi.

amid many and great affairs, which now favorable, now adverse, occupied the thoughts of men, not even the memory of the Tarentine citadel fell away. M. Ogulnius and P. Aquilius, legates into Etruria to buy up grain which was to be carried to Tarentum, set out, and a thousand soldiers from the urban army, an equal number of Romans and allies, were sent to the same place as a garrison together with the grain.

[4] Iam aestas in exitu erat comitiorumque consularium instabat tempus; sed litterae Marcelli, negantis e re publica esse uestigium abscedi ab Hannibale cui cedenti certamenque abnuenti grauis ipse instaret, patribus curam iniecerant ne aut consulem tum maxime res agentem a bello auocarent aut in annum consules deessent. optimum uisum est, quamquam extra Italiam esset, Ualerium potius consulem ex Sicilia reuocari. ad eum litterae iussu senatus ab L. Manlio praetore urbano missae cum litteris consulis M. Marcelli, ut ex iis nosceret quae causa patribus eum potius quam collegam reuocandi ex prouincia esset.

[4] Already summer was at its end and the time for the consular elections was pressing; but the letters of Marcellus, declaring that it was not in the interest of the commonwealth to withdraw even a step from Hannibal—upon whom, if he yielded and refused a contest, he himself was pressing hard—had inspired concern in the Fathers that they might either call away from the war a consul who was just then conducting operations of the highest moment, or else that consuls might be lacking for the year. It seemed best, although he was outside Italy, that the consul Valerius rather be recalled from Sicily. To him letters, by order of the senate, were sent by L. Manlius, the urban praetor, together with letters of the consul M. Marcellus, so that from these he might learn what reason the Fathers had for recalling him rather than his colleague from his province.

eo fere tempore legati ab rege Syphace Romam uenerunt, quae is prospera proelia cum Carthaginiensibus fecisset, memorantes: regem nec inimiciorem ulli populo quam Carthaginiensi nec amiciorem quam Romano esse adfirmabant; misisse eum antea legatos in Hispaniam ad Cn. et P. Cornelios imperatores Romanos: nunc ab ipso uelut fonte petere Romanam amicitiam uoluisse. senatus non legatis modo benigne respondit, sed et ipse legatos cum donis ad regem misit, L. Genucium, P. Poetelium, P. Popillium. dona tulere togam et tunicam purpuream, sellam eburneam, pateram ex quinque pondo auri factam.

At about that time envoys from King Syphax came to Rome, recounting the successful battles he had fought with the Carthaginians: they asserted that the king was to no people more inimical than to the Carthaginian, and to none more friendly than to the Roman; that he had previously sent envoys into Spain to Cn. and P. Cornelius, Roman commanders; and that now he had wished to seek Roman friendship from the very fount itself. The senate not only replied kindly to the envoys, but itself sent envoys with gifts to the king—L. Genucium, P. Poetelium, P. Popillium. The gifts they brought were a toga and a purple tunic, an ivory seat, and a patera of five pounds of gold.

protinus et alios Africae regulos iussi adire; iis quoque quae darentur portata, togae praetextae et terna pondo paterae aureae. et Alexandream ad Ptolomaeum et Cleopatram reges M. Atilius et M'. Acilius, legati ad commemorandam renouandamque amicitiam missi, dona tulere, regi togam et tunicam purpuream cum sella eburnea, reginae pallam pictam cum amiculo purpureo.

forthwith they were also ordered to approach other petty kings of Africa; to them likewise the things that were to be given were carried—bordered togas and golden bowls of three pounds each. And to Alexandria, to King Ptolemy and Queen Cleopatra, M. Atilius and M'. Acilius, envoys sent to commemorate and renew the friendship, brought gifts: for the king a purple toga and tunic with an ivory chair; for the queen a painted (embroidered) mantle with a purple shawl.

Multa ea aestate qua haec facta sunt ex propinquis urbibus agrisque nuntiata sunt prodigia: Tusculi agnum cum ubere lactenti natum, Iouis aedis culmen fulmine ictum ac prope omni tecto nudatum; iisdem ferme diebus Anagniae terram ante portam ictam diem ac noctem sine ullo ignis alimento arsisse, et aues ad compitum Anagninum in luco Dianae nidos in arboribus reliquisse; Tarracinae in mari haud procul portu angues magnitudinis mirae lasciuientium piscium modo exsultasse; Tarquiniis porcum cum ore humano genitum, et in agro Capenate ad lucum Feroniae quattuor signa sanguine multo diem ac noctem sudasse. haec prodigia hostiis maioribus procurata decreto pontificum; et supplicatio diem unum Romae ad omnia puluinaria, alterum in Capenati agro ad Feroniae lucum indicta.

Many prodigies were reported that summer in which these things were done from neighboring cities and fields: at Tusculum a lamb was born with a lactating udder; the summit of the temple of Jupiter was struck by lightning and almost stripped of its entire roof; on nearly the same days at Anagnia the ground before the gate, having been struck, burned day and night without any fuel, and the birds at the Anagnine crossroads in the grove of Diana abandoned their nests in the trees; at Tarracina in the sea not far from the port, serpents of wondrous magnitude leapt up in the manner of frolicking fish; at Tarquinii a pig was born with a human face; and in the Capenate territory by the grove of Feronia four statues sweated much blood day and night. These prodigies were expiated with greater victims by decree of the pontiffs; and a supplication was proclaimed for one day at Rome at all the sacred couches, and for another in the Capenate territory at the grove of Feronia.

[5] M. Ualerius consul litteris excitus, prouincia exercituque mandato L. Cincio praetori, M. Ualerio Messalla praefecto classis cum parte nauium in Africam praedatum simul speculatumque quae populus Carthaginiensis ageret pararetque misso, ipse decem nauibus Romam profectus cum prospere peruenisset, senatum extemplo habuit, ubi de suis rebus gestis commemorauit: cum annos prope sexaginta in Sicilia terra marique magnis saepe cladibus bellatum esset, se eam prouinciam confecisse. neminem Carthaginiensem in Sicilia esse; neminem Siculum non esse; qui fugati metu inde afuerint, omnes in urbes, in agros suos reductos arare, serere; desertam recoli terram, tandem frugiferam ipsis cultoribus populoque Romano pace ac bello fidissimum annonae subsidium. exim Muttine, et si quorum aliorum merita erga populum Romanum erant in senatum introductis honores omnibus ad exsoluendam fidem a consule habiti.

[5] Marcus Valerius, the consul, roused by letters, after the province and the army had been entrusted to Lucius Cincius, the praetor, and Marcus Valerius Messalla, prefect of the fleet, had been sent with part of the ships into Africa to plunder and at the same time to reconnoiter what the Carthaginian people were doing and preparing, he himself set out for Rome with ten ships; when he had arrived prosperously, he held the senate at once, where he commemorated his own achievements: whereas for nearly sixty years in Sicily, on land and sea, war had been waged with great disasters often, he had brought that province to completion. There was no Carthaginian in Sicily; there was no Sicilian who was not there; those who had been put to flight by fear and had been absent from there were all brought back into their towns and into their own fields to plough and to sow; the land, once deserted, is being tilled anew—at last fruitful—a most trusty reserve of the grain-supply for its cultivators themselves and for the Roman people in peace and in war. Then, with Muttines— and, if there were any others whose merits toward the Roman people existed—introduced into the senate, honors were paid to all by the consul to discharge his obligation.

Muttines etiam ciuis Romanus factus, rogatione ab tribunis plebis ex auctoritate patrum ad plebem lata.

Muttines, too, was made a Roman citizen, by a rogation brought to the plebs by the tribunes of the plebs, under the authority of the Senate.

Dum haec Romae geruntur, M. Ualerius quinquaginta nauibus cum ante lucem ad Africam accessisset, improuiso in agrum Uticensem escensionem fecit; eumque late depopulatus multis mortalibus cum alia omnis generis praeda captis ad naues redit et ad Siciliam tramisit, tertio decimo die quam profectus inde erat Lilybaeum reuectus. ex captiuis quaestione habita haec comperta consulique Laeuino omnia ordine perscripta ut sciret quo in statu res Africae essent: quinque milia Numidarum cum Masinissa, Galae filio, acerrimo iuuene, Carthagine esse, et alios per totam Africam milites mercede conduci qui in Hispaniam ad Hasdrubalem traicerentur, ut is quam maximo exercitu primo quoque tempore in Italiam transgressus iungeret se Hannibali; in eo positam uictoriam credere Carthaginienses; classem praeterea ingentem apparari ad Siciliam repetendam eamque se credere breui traiecturam. haec recitata a consule ita mouere senatum ut non exspectanda comitia consuli censeret, sed dictatore comitiorum habendorum causa dicto extemplo in prouinciam redeundum.

While these things are being transacted at Rome, M. Valerius, with fifty ships, when he had reached Africa before daybreak, made an unexpected landing in the Utican countryside; and having widely devastated it, with many persons and other booty of every kind captured, he returned to the ships and crossed over to Sicily, and on the thirteenth day from when he had set out thence he was brought back to Lilybaeum. From the captives, a questioning having been held, the following were discovered, and all were written out in order to Consul Laevinus, so that he might know in what state the affairs of Africa were: that five thousand Numidians were at Carthage with Masinissa, the son of Gala, a most ardent young man; and that other soldiers were being hired for pay throughout all Africa to be transported into Spain to Hasdrubal, in order that he, having crossed into Italy at the earliest possible time with the greatest army possible, might join himself to Hannibal; that the Carthaginians believed victory to rest on that; furthermore, that a huge fleet was being prepared for the retaking of Sicily and that they believed it would cross shortly. These matters, recited by the consul, so moved the senate that it judged the comitia were not to be awaited by the consul, but that, a dictator being named for the purpose of holding the comitia, he must return immediately into his province.

illa disceptatio tenebat quod consul in Sicilia se M. Ualerium Messallam qui tum classi praeesset dictatorem dicturum esse aiebat, patres extra Romanum agrum—eum autem Italia terminari—negabant dictatorem dici posse. M. Lucretius tribunus plebis cum de ea re consuleret, ita decreuit senatus ut consul priusquam ab urbe discederet populum rogaret quem dictatorem dici placeret, eumque quem populus iussisset diceret dictatorem; si consul noluisset, praetor populum rogaret; si ne is quidem uellet, tum tribuni ad plebem ferrent. cum consul se populum rogaturum negasset quod suae potestatis esset, praetoremque uetuisset rogare, tribuni plebem rogarunt, plebesque sciuit ut Q. Fuluius, qui tum ad Capuam erat, dictator diceretur.

That dispute held sway because the consul in Sicily was saying that he would declare M. Valerius Messalla, who at that time was commanding the fleet, dictator, while the Fathers denied that a dictator could be declared outside the Roman territory—and that, moreover, they said was bounded by Italy. When M. Lucretius, tribune of the plebs, consulted concerning that matter, the senate decreed thus: that the consul, before departing from the city, should ask the people whom it would please to be declared dictator, and that the one whom the people had ordered he should declare dictator; if the consul should be unwilling, the praetor should ask the people; if not even he were willing, then the tribunes should carry it to the plebs. When the consul said that he would not ask the people, because it was within his own power, and had forbidden the praetor to ask, the tribunes asked the plebs, and the plebs resolved that Q. Fulvius, who was then at Capua, be declared dictator.

sed quo die id plebis concilium futurum erat, consul clam nocte in Siciliam abiit; destitutique patres litteras ad M. Claudium mittendas censuerunt ut desertae ab collega rei publicae subueniret diceretque quem populus iussisset dictatorem. ita a M. Claudio consule Q. Fuluius dictator dictus, et ex eodem plebis scito ab Q. Fuluio dictatore P. Licinius Crassus pontifex maximus magister equitum dictus.

But on the day on which that plebs’ council was to be held, the consul secretly departed by night to Sicily; and the Fathers, left in the lurch, voted that letters be sent to M. Claudius, that he might come to the aid of the commonwealth, deserted by his colleague, and appoint as dictator him whom the people had ordered. Thus by the consul M. Claudius, Q. Fulvius was named dictator; and by the same plebiscite, by Q. Fulvius the dictator, P. Licinius Crassus, Pontifex Maximus, was named Master of the Horse.

[6] Dictator postquam Romam uenit, C. Sempronium Blaesum legatum quem ad Capuam habuerat in Etruriam prouinciam ad exercitum misit in locum C. Calpurni praetoris, quem ut Capuae exercituique suo praeesset litteris exciuit. ipse comitia in quem diem primum potuit edixit; quae certamine inter tribunos dictatoremque iniecto perfici non potuerunt. Galeria iuniorum, quae sorte praerogatiua erat, Q. Fuluium et Q. Fabium consules dixerat, eodemque iure uocatae inclinassent ni se tribuni plebis C. et L. Arrenii interposuissent, qui neque magistratum continuari satis ciuile esse aiebant et multo foedioris exempli eum ipsum creari qui comitia haberet; itaque si suum nomen dictator acciperet, se comitiis intercessuros: si aliorum praeterquam ipsius ratio haberetur, comitiis se moram non facere.

[6] After the Dictator came to Rome, he sent Gaius Sempronius Blaesus, the legate whom he had had at Capua, into the province of Etruria to the army, in the place of the praetor Gaius Calpurnius, whom he summoned by letter to preside at Capua and over his own army. He himself proclaimed the elections (comitia) for the earliest day he could; but they could not be completed, a contest having arisen between the tribunes and the Dictator. The Galerian century of the younger men, which by lot was the praerogative, had declared Quintus Fulvius and Quintus Fabius consuls, and those called with the same right would have inclined the same way, had not the tribunes of the plebs Gaius and Lucius Arrenii interposed themselves, saying that neither was it sufficiently civil (constitutional) for a magistracy to be continued, and that it was a much more shameful precedent for the very man who held the elections to be elected. Therefore, if the Dictator should accept his own name, they would intercede in the elections; if consideration were had of others besides himself, they would not cause delay to the elections.

dictator causam comitiorum auctoritate senatus, plebis scito, exemplis tutabatur: namque Cn. Seruilio consule cum C. Flaminius alter consul ad Trasumennum cecidisset, ex auctoritate patrum ad plebem latum plebemque sciuisse ut, quoad bellum in Italia esset, ex iis qui consules fuissent quos et quotiens uellet reficiendi consules populo ius esset; exemplaque in eam rem se habere, uetus L. Postumi Megelli, qui interrex iis comitiis quae ipse habuisset consul cum C. Iunio Bubulco creatus esset, recens Q. Fabi, qui sibi continuari consulatum nisi id bono publico fieret profecto nunquam sisset. his orationibus cum diu certatum esset, postremo ita inter dictatorem ac tribunos conuenit ut eo quod censuisset senatus staretur. patribus id tempus rei publicae uisum est ut per ueteres et expertos bellique peritos imperatores res publica gereretur; itaque moram fieri comitiis non placere.

the dictator was defending the case for the elections by the authority of the senate, by a plebiscite, and by precedents: for, when Cn. Servilius was consul and the other consul, C. Flaminius, had fallen at Trasimene, it had been proposed to the plebs by authority of the Fathers and the plebs had decreed that, so long as there was war in Italy, the people should have the right, from those who had been consuls, of reappointing as consuls whom it wished and as often as it wished; and that he had precedents for that matter, the old one of L. Postumius Megellus, who, being interrex, in those elections which he himself had held had been created consul with C. Iunius Bubulcus; the recent one of Q. Fabius, who would by no means have allowed the consulship to be continued to himself unless it were done for the public good. when there had been long contention with these speeches, at last it was agreed between the dictator and the tribunes that they should stand by what the senate had resolved. it seemed to the senators that this was a time for the commonwealth to be administered by old men and experienced commanders skilled in war; and so that no delay should be made in the elections.

concedentibus tribunis, comitia habita; declarati consules Q. Fabius Maximus quintum, Q. Fuluius Flaccus quartum. praetores inde creati L. Ueturius Philo, T. Quinctius Crispinus, C. Hostilius Tubulus, C. Aurunculeius. magistratibus in annum creatis Q. Fuluius dictatura se abdicauit.

with the tribunes conceding, the elections (comitia) were held; the consuls were declared: Q. Fabius Maximus for the fifth time, and Q. Fulvius Flaccus for the fourth. Then the praetors were elected: L. Veturius Philo, T. Quinctius Crispinus, C. Hostilius Tubulus, C. Aurunculeius. With the magistrates for the year chosen, Q. Fulvius abdicated the dictatorship.

Extremo aestatis huius classis Punica nauium quadraginta cum praefecto Hamilcare in Sardiniam traiecta, Olbiensem primo, dein postquam ibi P. Manlius Uolso praetor cum exercitu apparuit circumacta inde ad alterum insulae latus Caralitanum agrum uastauit, et cum praeda omnis generis in Africam redit.

At the end of this summer, a Punic fleet of forty ships, with the commander Hamilcar, crossed over into Sardinia—first making for the Olbian district; then, after the praetor P. Manlius Volso appeared there with the army, turned from there to the other side of the island, it ravaged the Caralitan countryside—and returned to Africa with booty of every kind.

Sacerdotes Romani eo anno mortui aliquot suffectique. C. Seruilius pontifex factus in locum T. Otacili Crassi, Ti. Sempronius Ti. filius Longus augur factus in locum T. Otacili Crassi. decemuir item sacris faciundis in locum Ti. Semproni C. filii Longi Ti. Sempronius Ti. filius Longus suffectus.

Roman priests that year died in several cases and were replaced. Gaius Servilius was made pontifex in place of Titus Otacilius Crassus; Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, was made augur in place of Titus Otacilius Crassus. decemvir likewise for performing sacred rites, in place of Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Gaius, Tiberius Sempronius Longus, son of Tiberius, was substituted.

M. Marcius rex sacrorum mortuus est et M. Aemilius Papus maximus curio; neque in eorum locum sacerdotes eo anno suffecti.

M. Marcius, the king of the sacred rites, died, and M. Aemilius Papus, curio maximus; nor were priests appointed in their place that year.

Et censores hic annus habuit L. Ueturium Philonem et P. Licinium Crassum, maximum pontificem. Crassus Licinius nec consul nec praetor ante fuerat quam censor est factus: ex aedilitate gradum ad censuram fecit. sed hi censores neque senatum legerunt neque quicquam publicae rei egerunt: mors diremit L. Ueturi; inde et Licinius censura se abdicauit.

And this year had as censors L. Veturius Philo and P. Licinius Crassus, the Pontifex Maximus. Licinius Crassus had been neither consul nor praetor before he was made censor: from the aedileship he took a step to the censorship. But these censors neither enrolled the senate nor transacted anything of public business: death removed L. Veturius; thereafter Licinius likewise resigned the censorship.

aediles curules L. Ueturius et P. Licinius Uarus ludos Romanos diem unum instaurarunt: aediles plebei Q. Catius et L. Porcius Licinus ex multaticio argento signa aenea ad Cereris dedere et ludos pro temporis eius copia magnifici apparatus fecerunt.

the curule aediles L. Ueturius and P. Licinius Varus renewed the Roman Games for one day: the plebeian aediles Q. Catius and L. Porcius Licinus, from fine-money silver, gave bronze statues to Ceres and mounted games of magnificent apparatus in keeping with the resources of that time.

[7] Exitu anni huius C. Laelius legatus Scipionis die quarto et tricensimo quam a Tarracone profectus erat Romam uenit; isque cum agmine captiuorum ingressus urbem magnum concursum hominum fecit. postero die in senatum introductus captam Carthaginem caput Hispaniae uno die, receptasque aliquot urbes quae defecissent nouasque in societatem adscitas exposuit; ex captiuis comperta iis fere congruentia quae in litteris fuerant M. Ualeri Messallae. maxime mouit patres Hasdrubalis transitus in Italiam, uix Hannibali atque eius armis obsistentem.

[7] At the close of this year Gaius Laelius, Scipio’s legate, on the 34th day after he had set out from Tarraco, came to Rome; and he, entering the city with a column of captives, produced a great concourse of people. On the next day, introduced into the senate, he set forth that Carthage, the capital of Spain, had been taken in a single day, that several cities which had defected had been recovered, and that new ones had been admitted into alliance; and from the captives he had learned facts for the most part congruent with those which had been in the letters of Marcus Valerius Messalla. What most moved the fathers was Hasdrubal’s passage into Italy, a land scarcely able to stand against Hannibal and his arms.

productus et in contionem Laelius eadem edisseruit. senatus ob res feliciter a P. Scipione gestas supplicationem in unum diem decreuit; C. Laelium primo quoque tempore cum quibus uenerat nauibus redire in Hispaniam iussit.—Carthaginis expugnationem in hunc annum contuli multis auctoribus, haud nescius quosdam esse qui anno insequenti captam tradiderint, quod mihi minus simile ueri uisum est annum integrum Scipionem nihil gerendo in Hispania consumpsisse. Q. Fabio Maximo quintum Q. Fuluio Flacco quartum consulibus, idibus Martiis, quo die magistratum inierunt, Italia ambobus prouincia decreta, regionibus tamen partitum imperium: Fabius ad Tarentum, Fuluius in Lucanis ac Bruttiis rem gereret.

Brought forward also into the assembly, Laelius set forth the same things. The senate, on account of the matters successfully accomplished by P. Scipio, decreed a day of public thanksgiving; it ordered C. Laelius to return to Spain at the earliest opportunity with the ships with which he had come.—I have assigned the storming of Carthage (New Carthage) to this year on the authority of many writers, not unaware that there are some who have handed down that it was taken in the following year, which seemed to me less like the truth—that Scipio spent an entire year in Spain doing nothing. When Q. Fabius Maximus was consul for the fifth time and Q. Fulvius Flaccus for the fourth, on the Ides of March, the day on which they entered upon office, Italy was decreed as the province for both; however, the command was partitioned by regions: Fabius was to conduct operations toward Tarentum, Fulvius in Lucania and the Bruttii.

M. Claudio prorogatum in annum imperium. praetores sortiti prouincias, C. Hostilius Tubulus urbanam, L. Ueturius Philo peregrinam cum Gallia, T. Quinctius Crispinus Capuam, C. Aurunculeius Sardiniam. exercitus ita per prouincias diuisi: Fuluio duae legiones quas in Sicilia M. Ualerius Laeuinus haberet, Fabio, quibus in Etruria C. Calpurnius praefuisset: urbanus exercitus ut in Etruriam succederet: C. Calpurnius eidem praeesset prouinciae exercituique: Capuam exercitumque quem Q. Fuluius habuisset T. Quinctius obtineret: C. Hostilius ab C. Laetorio propraetore prouinciam exercitumque qui tum Arimini erat acciperet.

M. Claudius had his imperium prorogued for a year. The praetors cast lots for the provinces: C. Hostilius Tubulus the urban; L. Vetur(i)us Philo the peregrine together with Gaul; T. Quinctius Crispinus Capua; C. Aurunculeius Sardinia. The armies were thus divided through the provinces: to Fulvius the two legions which in Sicily M. Valerius Laevinus was holding; to Fabius, those which in Etruria C. Calpurnius had been in command of: the urban army was to relieve in Etruria: C. Calpurnius was to be in command of that same province and army: T. Quinctius was to hold Capua and the army which Q. Fulvius had held: C. Hostilius was to receive from C. Laetorius, the propraetor, the province and the army which was then at Ariminum.

M. Marcello quibus consul rem gesserat legiones decretae; M. Ualerio cum L. Cincio—iis quoque enim prorogatum in Sicilia imperium—Cannensis exercitus datus, eumque supplere ex militibus qui ex legionibus Cn. Fului superessent iussi. conquisitos eos consules in Siciliam miserunt; additaque eadem militiae ignominia sub qua Cannenses militabant quique ex praetoris Cn. Fului exercitu ob similis iram fugae missi eo ab senatu fuerant. C. Aurunculeio eaedem in Sardinia legiones quibus P. Manlius Uolso eam prouinciam obtinuerat decretae.

To M. Marcellus the legions with which he had conducted affairs as consul were assigned; to M. Valerius together with L. Cincius—their command in Sicily too having been prorogued—the Cannae-army was given, and they were ordered to replenish it from the soldiers who had survived from the legions of Cn. Fulvius. The consuls, after seeking them out, sent them into Sicily; and the same military ignominy was attached under which the men of Cannae were serving, for those also who from the army of the praetor Cn. Fulvius had been sent thither by the senate in anger at a like flight. To C. Aurunculeius in Sardinia the same legions were decreed with which P. Manlius Vulso had held that province.

P. Sulpicio eadem legione eademque classe Macedoniam obtinere iusso prorogatum in annum imperium. triginta quinqueremes ex Sicilia Tarentum ad Q. Fabium consulem mitti iussae: cetera classe placere praedatum in Africam aut ipsum M. Ualerium Laeuinum traicere aut mittere seu L. Cincium seu M. Ualerium Messallam uellet. nec de Hispania quicquam mutatum nisi quod non in annum Scipioni Silanoque, sed donec reuocati ab senatu forent prorogatum imperium est.

P. Sulpicius, having been ordered to hold Macedonia with the same legion and the same fleet, had his imperium prorogued for a year. Thirty quinqueremes were ordered to be sent from Sicily to Tarentum to Q. Fabius the consul; as to the rest of the fleet, it was deemed good that it cross over into Africa for plunder—either that M. Valerius Laevinus himself should cross, or that he should send, whether L. Cincius or M. Valerius Messalla, as he might wish. Nor was anything changed regarding Spain, except that the imperium was prorogued to Scipio and Silanus not for a year, but until they should be recalled by the senate.

ita prouinciae exercituumque in eum annum partita imperia.

Thus the provinces and the commands of the armies were apportioned for that year.

[8] Inter maiorum rerum curas comitia maximi curionis, cum in locum M. Aemili sacerdos crearetur, uetus excitauerunt certamen, patriciis negantibus C. Mamili Atelli, qui unus ex plebe petebat, habendam rationem esse quia nemo ante eum nisi ex patribus id sacerdotium habuisset. tribuni appellati ad senatum <rem> reiecerunt: senatus populi potestatem fecit: ita primus ex plebe creatus maximus curio C. Mamilius Atellus. et flaminem Dialem inuitum inaugurari coegit P. Licinius pontifex maximus C. Ualerium Flaccum; decemuirum sacris faciundis creatus in locum Q. Muci Scaeuolae demortui C. Laetorius.

[8] Among the cares of greater affairs, the elections for the Curio Maximus, when a priest was being chosen in place of M. Aemilius, aroused an old contest, the patricians denying that consideration should be had of C. Mamilius Atellus, who alone from the plebs was seeking it, because no one before him except from the patricians had held that priesthood. The tribunes, being appealed to, referred the matter to the senate: the senate gave authority to the people: thus C. Mamilius Atellus was the first from the plebs to be created Curio Maximus. And P. Licinius, the Pontifex Maximus, compelled C. Valerius Flaccus, unwilling, to be inaugurated as Flamen Dialis; and C. Laetorius was created a decemvir for the performance of sacred rites in the place of Q. Mucius Scaevola, deceased.

causam inaugurari coacti flaminis libens reticuissem, ni ex mala fama in bonam uertisset. ob adulescentiam neglegentem luxuriosamque C. Flaccus flamen captus a P. Licinio pontifice maximo erat, L. Flacco fratri germano cognatisque aliis ob eadem uitia inuisus. is ut animum eius cura sacrorum et caerimoniarum cepit, ita repente exuit antiquos mores ut nemo tota iuuentute haberetur prior nec probatior primoribus patrum, suis pariter alienisque, esset.

I would gladly have kept silent about the reason why the flamen was forced to be inaugurated, had it not turned from bad repute into good. Because of a negligent and luxurious youth, G. Flaccus the flamen had been seized by P. Licinius, pontifex maximus, and was hated by his own full brother L. Flaccus and by other kinsmen on account of the same vices. But as the care of sacred rites and ceremonies took hold of his mind, he so suddenly cast off his former habits that in all the youth no one was regarded as superior, nor was anyone more approved by the leading men of the patres, by his own people and by outsiders alike.

huius famae consensu elatus ad iustam fiduciam sui rem intermissam per multos annos ob indignitatem flaminum priorum repetiuit, ut in senatum introiret. ingressum eum curiam cum P. Licinius praetor inde eduxisset, tribunos plebis appellauit. flamen uetustum ius sacerdotii repetebat: datum id cum toga praetexta et sella curuli ei flamonio esse.

Buoyed by the concurrence in this reputation to a just confidence in himself, he sought to renew a matter intermitted for many years on account of the unworthiness of the prior flamines, namely that he might enter the senate. When P. Licinius, the praetor, had led him out of the curia as he entered, he appealed to the tribunes of the plebs. The flamen was reclaiming the ancient right of the priesthood: that this had been granted to the flamonium together with the toga praetexta and the curule chair.

praetor non exoletis uetustate annalium exemplis stare ius, sed recentissimae cuiusque consuetudinis usu uolebat: nec patrum nec auorum memoria Dialem quemquam id ius usurpasse. tribuni rem inertia flaminum oblitteratam ipsis, non sacerdotio damno fuisse cum aequum censuissent, ne ipso quidem contra tendente praetore, magno adsensu patrum plebisque flaminem in senatum introduxerunt, omnibus ita existimantibus magis sanctitate uitae quam sacerdotii iure eam rem flaminem obtinuisse. consules priusquam in prouincias irent, duas urbanas legiones in supplementum quantum opus erat ceteris exercitibus militum scripserunt.

The praetor wished the law to stand not by examples worn out by the antiquity of the annals, but by the usage of the most recent custom; nor in the memory of fathers or grandfathers had any Flamen Dialis claimed that right. The tribunes, since they judged that the matter, obliterated through the inertia of the flamens, had been a loss to the men themselves, not to the priesthood, and with not even the praetor himself opposing, with great assent of the fathers and the plebs introduced the flamen into the senate, all thinking thus: that the flamen had obtained this thing more by sanctity of life than by the right of the priesthood. The consuls, before they went into the provinces, enrolled two urban legions to supply, as many soldiers as was needed, the other armies.

urbanum ueterem exercitum Fuluius consul C. Fuluio Flacco legato—frater hic consulis erat—in Etruriam dedit ducendum et legiones quae in Etruria erant Romam deducendas. et Fabius consul reliquias exercitus Fuluiani conquisitas—fuere autem ad quattuor milia trecenti quadraginta quattuor—Q. Maximum filium ducere in Siciliam ad M. Ualerium proconsulem iussit, atque ab eo duas legiones et triginta quinqueremes accipere. nihil eae deductae ex insula legiones minuerunt nec uiribus nec specie eius prouinciae praesidium; nam cum praeter egregie suppletas duas ueteres legiones transfugarum etiam Numidarum equitum peditumque magnam uim haberet, Siculos quoque qui in exercitu Epicydis aut Poenorum fuerant, belli peritos uiros, milites scripsit.

The consul Fulvius assigned the old urban army to C. Fulvius Flaccus, the legate—this was the consul’s brother—to be led into Etruria, and ordered that the legions which were in Etruria be brought back to Rome. And the consul Fabius ordered his son Q. Maximus to take the collected remnants of Fulvius’s army—there were in fact about 4,344—and lead them into Sicily to M. Valerius, the proconsul, and from him to receive two legions and thirty quinqueremes. Those legions drawn off from the island diminished the garrison of that province in neither strength nor appearance; for besides the two old legions excellently replenished, it also had a great force of Numidian deserters, both cavalry and infantry, and he also enrolled as soldiers the Sicilians who had been in the army of Epicydes or of the Carthaginians, men experienced in war.

ea externa auxilia cum singulis Romanis legionibus adiunxisset, duorum speciem exercituum seruauit; altero L. Cincium partem insulae, regnum qua Hieronis fuerat, tueri iussit: altero ipse ceteram insulam tuebatur diuisam quondam Romani Punicique imperii finibus, classe quoque nauium septuaginta partita ut omni ambitu litorum praesidio orae maritimae essent. ipse cum Muttinis equitatu prouinciam peragrabat ut uiseret agros cultaque ab incultis notaret et perinde dominos laudaret castigaretque. ita tantum ea cura frumenti prouenit ut et Romam mitteret et Catinam conueheret unde exercitui qui ad Tarentum aestiua acturus esset posset praeberi.

when he had adjoined those foreign auxiliaries to each single Roman legion, he maintained the appearance of two armies; with the one he ordered L. Cincius to protect the part of the island, the realm which had been Hiero’s; with the other he himself was guarding the rest of the island, once divided by the boundaries of the Roman and Punic imperium, and he also distributed a fleet of 70 ships, so that along the whole circuit of the shores the maritime border might be under guard. he himself, with Muttinis’s cavalry, traversed the province to visit the fields and to mark the cultivated from the uncultivated, and in like manner to praise and to chastise the owners. by such care so great a yield of grain resulted that he both sent it to Rome and conveyed it to Catina, whence it could be supplied to the army that was going to hold summer quarters at Tarentum.

[9] Ceterum transportati milites in Siciliam—et erant maior pars Latini nominis sociorumque—prope magni motus causa fuere; adeo ex paruis saepe magnarum momenta rerum pendent. fremitus enim inter Latinos sociosque in conciliis ortus, decimum annum dilectibus stipendiis se exhaustos esse; quotannis ferme clade magna pugnare; alios in acie occidi, alios morbo absumi; magis perire sibi ciuem qui ab Romano miles lectus sit quam qui ab Poeno captus: quippe ab hoste gratis remitti in patriam, ab Romanis extra Italiam in exsilium uerius quam in militiam ablegari. octauum iam ibi annum senescere Cannensem militem, moriturum ante quam Italia hostis, quippe nunc cum maxime florens uiribus, excedat.

[9] But when the soldiers were transported into Sicily—and the greater part were of the Latin name and the allies—they were almost the cause of a great commotion; so much do the weights of great affairs often hang from small things. For a murmuring had arisen among the Latins and the allies in their councils, that for the tenth year they had been drained by levies and stipends; that almost every year they fought with great slaughter; that some were cut down in the battle line, others were wasted by disease; that a citizen chosen as a soldier by a Roman perishes more than one captured by a Carthaginian: for by the enemy he is sent back to his homeland gratis, by the Romans he is dispatched outside Italy into exile rather than into military service. Now for the eighth year the soldier of Cannae is growing old there, destined to die before the enemy leaves Italy, since now, at the very height of his strength, he does not depart.

si ueteres milites non redeant in patriam, noui legantur, breui neminem superfuturum. itaque quod propediem res ipsa negatura sit, priusquam ad ultimam solitudinem atque egestatem perueniant, negandum populo Romano esse. si consentientes in hoc socios uideant Romani, profecto de pace cum Carthaginiensibus iungenda cogitaturos: aliter nunquam uiuo Hannibale sine bello Italiam fore.

if the veteran soldiers do not return to the fatherland and new men are levied, shortly no one will be left. therefore, what the situation itself will shortly deny must be denied to the Roman people, before they arrive at the utmost desolation and indigence. if the Romans see the allies consenting in this, assuredly they will think about a peace to be joined with the Carthaginians; otherwise, with Hannibal alive, Italy will never be without war.

haec acta in conciliis.

These matters were transacted in the councils.

Triginta tum coloniae populi Romani erant; ex iis duodecim, cum omnium legationes Romae essent, negauerunt consulibus esse unde milites pecuniamque darent. eae fuere Ardea, Nepete, Sutrium, Alba, Carseoli, Sora, Suessa, Circeii, Setia, Cales, Narnia, Interamna. noua re consules icti cum absterrere eos a tam detestabili consilio uellent, castigando increpandoque plus quam leniter agendo profecturos rati, eos ausos esse consulibus dicere aiebant quod consules ut in senatu pronuntiarent in animum inducere non possent; non enim detractationem eam munerum militiae, sed apertam defectionem a populo Romano esse.

At that time there were thirty colonies of the Roman People; of these twelve, when the legations of all were at Rome, declared to the consuls that they had no means from which to furnish soldiers and money. These were Ardea, Nepete, Sutrium, Alba, Carseoli, Sora, Suessa, Circeii, Setia, Cales, Narnia, Interamna. The consuls, struck by the unprecedented matter, when they wished to deter them from so detestable a plan, thinking they would make progress more by castigating and rebuking than by dealing gently, said that they had dared to say to the consuls what the consuls could not bring themselves to pronounce in the senate; for this was not a shirking of the duties of military service, but an open defection from the Roman People.

redirent itaque propere in colonias et tamquam integra re, locuti magis quam ausi tantum nefas, cum suis consulerent. admonerent non Campanos neque Tarentinos esse eos sed Romanos, inde oriundos, inde in colonias atque in agrum bello captum stirpis augendae causa missos. quae liberi parentibus deberent, ea illos Romanis debere, si ulla pietas, si memoria antiquae patriae esset.

let them therefore return promptly to the colonies and, as though the matter were untouched, having spoken rather than dared so great a nefarious deed, consult with their own. let them remind them that they are not Campanians nor Tarentines but Romans, originating thence, sent thence into colonies and into land captured in war for the sake of augmenting the stock. what children owe to parents, those things they owe to the Romans, if there were any piety, if there were a memory of the ancient fatherland.

consulerent igitur de integro; nam tum quidem quae temere agitassent, ea prodendi imperii Romani, tradendae Hannibali uictoriae esse. cum alternis haec consules diu iactassent, nihil moti legati neque se quid domum renuntiarent habere dixerunt neque senatum suum quid noui consuleret, ubi nec miles qui legeretur nec pecunia quae daretur in stipendium esset. cum obstinatos eos uiderent consules, rem ad senatum detulerunt, ubi tantus pauor animis hominum est iniectus ut magna pars actum de imperio diceret: idem alias colonias facturas, idem socios; consensisse omnes ad prodendam Hannibali urbem Romanam.

Let them therefore deliberate anew; for at that time indeed the things they had rashly agitated were acts of betraying the Roman imperium, of handing over victory to Hannibal. When the consuls had for a long time bandied these points by turns, the delegates, not moved at all, said that they had nothing to report home, nor would their own senate deliberate anything new, where there was neither a soldier to be levied nor money to be given for stipend. When the consuls saw them obstinate, they referred the matter to the senate, where so great a fear was injected into men’s minds that a great part said it was all over with the imperium: that other colonies would do the same, the allies likewise; that all had agreed to betray the Roman city to Hannibal.

[10] Consules hortari et consolari senatum et dicere alias colonias in fide atque officio pristino fore: eas quoque ipsas quae officio decesserint si legati circa eas colonias mittantur qui castigent, non qui precentur, uerecundiam imperii habituras esse. permissum ab senatu iis cum esset, agerent facerentque ut e re publica ducerent, pertemptatis prius aliarum coloniarum animis citauerunt legatos quaesiueruntque ab iis ecquid milites ex formula paratos haberent. pro duodeuiginti coloniis M. Sextilius Fregellanus respondit et milites paratos ex formula esse, et si pluribus opus esset plures daturos, et quidquid aliud imperaret uelletque populus Romanus enixe facturos; ad id sibi neque opes deesse, animum etiam superesse.

[10] The consuls encouraged and consoled the senate and said that the other colonies would stand in their former fidelity and duty: that those very ones too which had departed from duty, if envoys were sent to those colonies to castigate, not to beseech, would feel reverence for Roman authority. When permission had been granted them by the senate to act and do as they judged for the commonwealth, after first sounding the minds of the other colonies they summoned the envoys and asked of them whether they had soldiers prepared in accordance with the formula. On behalf of 18 colonies M. Sextilius of Fregellae replied both that soldiers were prepared according to the formula, and that, if there was need of more, they would furnish more, and that whatever else the Roman People should command and wish they would earnestly accomplish; for this they lacked neither resources, and had spirit to spare.

consules parum sibi uideri praefati pro merito eorum sua uoce conlaudari [eos] nisi uniuersi patres iis in curia gratias egissent, sequi in senatum eos iusserunt. senatus quam poterat honoratissimo decreto adlocutos eos, mandat consulibus ut ad populum quoque eos producerent, et inter multa alia praeclara quae ipsis maioribusque suis praestitissent recens etiam meritum eorum in rem publicam commemorarent. ne nunc quidem post tot saecula sileantur fraudenturue laude sua: Signini fuere et Norbani Saticulanique et Fregellani et Lucerini et Uenusini et Brundisini et Hadriani et Firmani et Ariminenses, et ab altero mari Pontiani et Paestani et Cosani, et mediterranei Beneuentani et Aesernini et Spoletini et Placentini et Cremonenses.

The consuls, after prefacing that it seemed to them too little that those men be extolled by their own voice in proportion to their merit, unless all the Fathers had given thanks to them in the Curia, ordered them to follow into the senate. The senate, having addressed them by the most honorable decree it could, mandates the consuls to bring them forth to the people as well, and, among many other preeminent things which they had performed for them and for their ancestors, to commemorate also their recent service to the commonwealth. Let them not even now, after so many ages, be silent or be defrauded of their praise: they were the Signini and the Norbani and the Saticulani and the Fregellani and the Lucerini and the Uenusini and the Brundisini and the Hadriani and the Firmani and the Ariminenses, and from the other sea the Pontiani and the Paestani and the Cosani, and inland the Beneuentani and the Aesernini and the Spoletini and the Placentini and the Cremonenses.

harum coloniarum subsidio tum imperium populi Romani stetit, iisque gratiae in senatu et apud populum actae. duodecim aliarum coloniarum quae detractauerunt imperium mentionem fieri patres uetuerunt, neque illos dimitti neque retineri neque appellari a consulibus; ea tacita castigatio maxime ex dignitate populi Romani uisa est.

By the support of these colonies, at that time the imperium of the Roman People stood firm, and thanks were given to them in the Senate and before the People. The Fathers forbade any mention to be made of twelve other colonies which detracted from (refused) the imperium, and that they be neither dismissed nor retained nor addressed by the consuls; that silent chastisement seemed most in keeping with the dignity of the Roman People.

Cetera expedientibus quae ad bellum opus erant consulibus, aurum uicesimarium quod in sanctiore aerario ad ultimos casus seruabatur promi placuit. prompta ad quattuor milia pondo auri. inde quingena pondo data consulibus et M. Marcello et P. Sulpicio proconsulibus et L. Ueturio praetori qui Galliam prouinciam erat sortitus, additumque Fabio consuli centum pondo auri praecipuum quod in arcem Tarentinam portaretur; cetero auro usi sunt ad uestimenta praesenti pecunia locanda exercitui qui in Hispania bellum secunda sua fama ducisque gerebat.

While the consuls were expediting the remaining things that were needed for war, it was decided that the twentieth gold, which was kept in the more sacred treasury for ultimate emergencies, should be brought forth. There were produced up to 4,000 pounds of gold. From it 500 pounds apiece were given to the consuls, and to M. Marcellus and P. Sulpicius, proconsuls, and to L. Veturio, praetor, who had drawn Gaul as his province; and to Fabius the consul there was added a special 100 pounds of gold to be carried into the Tarentine citadel; with the remaining gold they used ready money to have clothing contracted for for the army which in Spain was conducting the war with the favorable repute of itself and its commander.

[11] Prodigia quoque priusquam ab urbe consules proficiscerentur procurari placuit. in Albano monte tacta de caelo erant signum Iouis arborque templo propinqua, et Ostiae lacus, et Capuae murus Fortunaeque aedis, et Sinuessae murus portaque. haec de caelo tacta: cruentam etiam fluxisse aquam Albanam quidam auctores erant, et Romae intus in cella aedis Fortis Fortunae de capite signum quod in corona erat in manum sponte sua prolapsum.

[11] It was also decided that prodigies should be attended to before the consuls set out from the city. On the Alban Mount the statue of Jupiter and a tree near the temple had been struck from the sky (by lightning), and at Ostia the lake, and at Capua the wall and the temple of Fortune, and at Sinuessa the wall and the gate. These were struck from the sky; some authorities even asserted that bloody water had flowed from the Alban Lake, and at Rome, inside the cella of the temple of Strong Fortune, the ornament which was in the crown slipped of its own accord from the head into the hand of the statue.

et Priuerni satis constabat bouem locutum uolturiumque frequenti foro in tabernam deuolasse, et Sinuessae natum ambiguo inter marem ac feminam sexu infantem, quos androgynos uolgus, ut pleraque, faciliore ad duplicanda uerba Graeco sermone appellat, et lacte pluuisse et cum elephanti capite puerum natum. ea prodigia hostiis maioribus procurata, et supplicatio circa omnia puluinaria, obsecratio in unum diem indicta; et decretum ut C. Hostilius praetor ludos Apollini sicut iis annis uoti factique erant uoueret faceretque. per eos dies et censoribus creandis Q. Fuluius consul comitia habuit.

and at Privernum it was well established that an ox had spoken, and that a vulture had swooped down into a shop with the forum crowded; and at Sinuessa an infant was born with sex ambiguous between male and female—whom the common crowd, as with many things, calls “androgynous” in the Greek tongue, easier for compounding words—and that it had rained milk, and that a boy had been born with the head of an elephant. these prodigies were expiated with greater victims, and a supplication around all the pulvinaria, an obsecration for one day, was proclaimed; and it was decreed that C. Hostilius, praetor, should vow and perform the Games to Apollo just as in those years they had been vowed and performed. during those days too, for electing censors, Q. Fulvius the consul held the comitia.

creati censores ambo qui nondum consules fuerant, M. Cornelius Cethegus P. Sempronius Tuditanus. ii censores ut agrum Campanum fruendum locarent ex auctoritate patrum latum ad plebem est plebesque sciuit. senatus lectionem contentio inter censores de principe legendo tenuit.

both were elected censors, men who had not yet been consuls, M. Cornelius Cethegus and P. Sempronius Tuditanus. those censors, that they should lease the Campanian land for usufruct, by the authority of the Fathers, a measure was brought to the plebs and the plebs enacted it. the lectio of the senate was held up by a contention between the censors over the choosing of the princeps senatus.

Sempronii lectio erat; ceterum Cornelius morem traditum a patribus sequendum aiebat ut qui primus censor ex iis qui uiuerent fuisset, eum principem legerent; is T. Manlius Torquatus erat; Sempronius cui di sortem legendi dedissent ei ius liberum eosdem dedisse deos; se id suo arbitrio facturum lecturumque Q. Fabium Maximum quem tum principem Romanae ciuitatis esse uel Hannibale iudice uicturus esset. cum diu certatum uerbis esset, concedente collega lectus a Sempronio princeps in senatum Q. Fabius Maximus consul. inde alius lectus senatus octo praeteritis, inter quos M. Caecilius Metellus erat, infamis auctor deserendae Italiae post Cannensem cladem.

It was Sempronius’s lection; but Cornelius maintained that the custom handed down by the fathers should be followed, that they should choose as princeps the man who had been the earliest censor among those still living; this was T. Manlius Torquatus. Sempronius said that to the one to whom the gods had given by lot the choice, the same gods had given a free right; that he would do this by his own discretion and would enroll Q. Fabius Maximus, whom he declared at that time to be the foremost man of the Roman commonwealth, one who would be the victor even with Hannibal as judge. When there had long been contention in words, his colleague yielding, Q. Fabius Maximus, consul, was chosen by Sempronius as princeps in the senate. Then the rest of the senate were enrolled, eight being passed over, among whom was M. Caecilius Metellus, the infamous proposer of abandoning Italy after the disaster of Cannae.

in equestribus quoque notis eadem seruata causa, sed erant perpauci quos ea infamia attingeret; illis omnibus—et multi erant—adempti equi qui Cannensium legionum equites in Sicilia erant. addiderunt acerbitati etiam tempus, ne praeterita stipendia procederent iis quae equo publico emeruerant, sed dena stipendia equis priuatis facerent. magnum praeterea numerum eorum conquisiuerunt qui equo merere deberent, atque ex iis qui principio eius belli septemdecim annos nati fuerant neque militauerant omnes aerarios fecerunt.

In the equestrian notes likewise the same cause was observed; but there were very few whom that infamy touched. From all those—and they were many—the horses were taken away who were the cavalrymen of the legions of Cannae in Sicily. They added time also to the bitterness, that the past campaigns should not count toward advancement for those who had earned with a public horse, but that they should perform ten campaigns with private horses. Moreover, they sought out a great number of those who ought to serve on horseback, and of those who at the beginning of that war had been seventeen years old and had not served, they made all aerarii.

locauerunt inde reficienda quae circa forum incendio consumpta erant, septem tabernas, macellum, atrium regium.

then they contracted for the repairing of the things which around the forum had been consumed by the conflagration, seven tabernae, the macellum, the royal atrium.

[12] Transactis omnibus quae Romae agenda erant consules ad bellum profecti. prior Fuluius praegressus Capuam: post paucos dies consecutus Fabius, qui et collegam coram obtestatus et per litteras Marcellum ut quam acerrimo bello detinerent Hannibalem dum ipse Tarentum oppugnaret—ea urbe adempta hosti iam undique pulso, nec ubi consisteret nec quid fidum respiceret habenti, ne remorandi quidem causam in Italia fore—Regium etiam nuntium mittit ad praefectum praesidii quod ab Laeuino consule aduersus Bruttios ibi locatum erat, octo milia hominum, pars maxima ab Agathyrna, sicut ante dictum est, ex Sicilia traducta, rapto uiuere hominum adsuetorum; additi erant Bruttiorum indidem perfugae, et audacia et audendi omnia necessitatibus pares. hanc manum ad Bruttium primum agrum depopulandum duci iussit, inde ad Cauloniam urbem oppugnandam.

[12] With all the things that had to be transacted at Rome completed, the consuls set out for the war. Fulvius went on ahead to Capua; a few days later Fabius followed, who both adjured his colleague face to face and, by letters, Marcellus, that they should hold Hannibal fast with the most vehement warfare while he himself attacked Tarentum—once that city was taken from the enemy, now driven back on all sides, having neither where to make a stand nor anything trusty to look to, there would be not even a cause for delay in Italy—he also sends a messenger to Rhegium to the prefect of the garrison which had been stationed there by Consul Laevinus against the Bruttii, eight thousand men, the greater part brought over from Agathyrna, as was said before, out of Sicily, men accustomed to live by rapine; Bruttian deserters, from the same place, had been added as well, whose audacity and whose necessities made them equal to daring everything. He ordered this band to be led first to lay waste the land of the Bruttii, then to attack the city of Caulonia.

imperata non impigre solum sed etiam auide exsecuti direptis fugatisque cultoribus agri summa ui urbem oppugnabant.

having executed the orders not only briskly but even avidly, with the cultivators of the countryside despoiled and put to flight, they were assaulting the city with utmost force.

Marcellus et consulis litteris excitus et quia ita induxerat in animum neminem ducem Romanum tam parem Hannibali quam se esse, ubi primum in agris pabuli copia fuit ex hibernis profectus ad Canusium Hannibali occurrit. sollicitabat ad defectionem Canusinos Poenus; ceterum ut appropinquare Marcellum audiuit, castra inde mouit. aperta erat regio, sine ullis ad insidias latebris; itaque in loca saltuosa cedere inde coepit.

Marcellus, both roused by the consul’s letters and because he had thus conceived in his mind that no Roman leader was so equal to Hannibal as he himself, when first there was in the fields an abundance of fodder, set out from winter quarters and met Hannibal at Canusium. The Carthaginian was soliciting the Canusians to defection; however, when he heard that Marcellus was approaching, he moved his camp from there. The region was open, without any hiding-places for ambushes; and so he began to withdraw from there into wooded defiles.

Marcellus uestigiis instabat castraque castris conferebat, et opere perfecto extemplo in aciem legiones educebat. Hannibal turmatim per equites peditumque iaculatores leuia certamina serens casum uniuersae pugnae non necessarium ducebat. tractus est tamen ad id quod uitabat certamen.

Marcellus pressed on his heels and was matching camp to camp, and, the works completed, immediately led the legions out into the battle line. Hannibal, by squadrons through the cavalry and the infantry javelin-throwers, was sowing light skirmishes, and he deemed the hazard of a general battle unnecessary. He was, however, drawn into the very contest he was avoiding.

nocte praegressum adsequitur locis planis ac patentibus Marcellus; castra inde ponentem pugnando undique in munitores operibus prohibet. ita signa conlata pugnatumque totis copiis, et cum iam nox instaret Marte aequo discessum est. castra exiguo distantia spatio raptim ante noctem permunita.

Marcellus overtook him, who had gone on ahead by night, in level and open places; thereupon, as he was pitching camp, by fighting he on every side prevents the fortifiers from their works. Thus, with the standards brought together, they fought with all their forces, and when now night was imminent, they withdrew with Mars equal. The camps, at a small distance apart, were hastily strongly fortified before night.

postero die luce prima Marcellus in aciem copias eduxit; nec Hannibal detractauit certamen, multis uerbis adhortatus milites ut memores Trasumenni Cannarumque contunderent ferociam hostis: urgere atque instare eum; non iter quietos facere, non castra ponere pati, non respirare aut circumspicere; cottidie simul orientem solem et Romanam aciem in campis uidendam esse; si uno proelio haud incruentus abeat, quietius deinde tranquilliusque eum bellaturum. his inritati adhortationibus simulque taedio ferociae hostium cottidie instantium lacessentiumque acriter proelium ineunt. pugnatum amplius duabus horis est.

On the next day at first light Marcellus led out his forces into the battle line; nor did Hannibal decline the contest, having exhorted the soldiers with many words that, mindful of Trasimene and Cannae, they should crush the ferocity of the enemy: that he presses and persists; that he does not allow them to make a march in quiet, does not permit them to pitch camp, not to breathe or to look around; every day at the same time both the rising sun and the Roman line of battle are to be seen in the fields; if he should depart from one battle not unbloodied, thereafter he would wage war more quietly and more tranquilly. Incited by these exhortations and at the same time by weariness at the ferocity of enemies daily pressing on and provoking, they enter the battle sharply. The fighting lasted more than two hours.

cedere inde ab Romanis dextra ala et extraordinarii coepere. quod ubi Marcellus uidit, duodeuicesimam legionem in primam aciem inducit. dum alii trepide cedunt, alii segniter subeunt, turbata tota acies est, dein prorsus fusa, et uincente pudorem metu terga dabant.

From there the Roman right wing and the extraordinarii began to give way. When Marcellus saw this, he led the 18th Legion into the front line. While some were nervously retreating and others were coming up sluggishly, the whole battle line was thrown into confusion, then utterly routed, and with fear conquering shame they turned their backs.

cecidere in pugna fugaque ad duo milia et septingenti ciuium sociorumque; in iis quattuor Romani centuriones, duo tribuni militum, M. Licinius et M. Heluius. signa militaria quattuor de ala prima quae fugit, duo de legione quae cedentibus sociis successerat amissa.

There fell in the battle and the flight about 2,700 of citizens and allies; among them four Roman centurions, two military tribunes, M. Licinius and M. Helvius. Four military standards from the first wing which fled, two from the legion which had come up to relieve the allies as they were retreating, were lost.

[13] Marcellus postquam in castra reditum est, contionem adeo saeuam atque acerbam apud milites habuit ut proelio per diem totum infeliciter tolerato tristior iis irati ducis oratio esset. 'dis immortalibus, ut in tali re, laudes gratesque' inquit 'ago quod uictor hostis cum tanto pauore incidentibus uobis in uallum portasque non ipsa castra est adgressus; deseruissetis profecto eodem terrore castra quo omisistis pugnam. qui pauor hic, qui terror, quae repente qui et cum quibus pugnaretis obliuio animos cepit?

[13] After they had returned to camp, Marcellus held an address among the soldiers so savage and bitter that, though the battle had been unhappily endured for the whole day, the speech of the angry leader was more grievous to them. 'To the immortal gods, as in such a matter, praises and thanks,' he said, 'I render, because the enemy, though victor, when you were dashing with such panic to the rampart and the gates, did not attack the camp itself; you would assuredly have deserted the camp in the same terror with which you abandoned the fight. What panic is this, what terror, what sudden oblivion of who, and with whom, you were fighting has seized your spirits?

nempe iidem sunt hi hostes quod uincendo et uictos sequendo priorem aestatem absumpsistis, quibus dies noctesque fugientibus per hos dies institistis, quos leuibus proeliis fatigastis, quos hesterno die nec iter facere nec castra ponere passi estis. omitto ea quibus gloriari potestis: cuius et ipsius pudere ac paenitere uos oportet referam—nempe aequis manibus hesterno die diremistis pugnam. quid haec nox, quid hic dies attulit?

Surely these enemies are the very same, in conquering and in pursuing as vanquished whom you spent the previous summer; whom, as they were fleeing, you have pressed day and night through these days; whom you fatigued with light engagements; whom yesterday you did not allow either to make a march or to pitch camp. I omit the things in which you can glory: shall I recount that very thing of which you ought to be ashamed and to repent—even that yesterday you broke off the fight on even terms? What has this night, what has this day brought?

uestrae iis copiae imminutae sunt an illorum auctae? non equidem mihi cum exercitu meo loqui uideor nec cum Romanis militibus: corpora tantum atque arma eadem sunt. an si eosdem animos habuissetis, terga uestra uidisset hostis?

Have your forces been diminished, or theirs augmented? Indeed I do not seem to myself to be speaking with my own army nor with Roman soldiers: only the bodies and the arms are the same. Or if you had had the same spirits, would the enemy have seen your backs?

signa alicui manipulo aut cohorti ademisset? adhuc caesis legionibus Romanis gloriabatur: uos illi hodierno die primum fugati exercitus dedistis decus.' clamor inde ortus ut ueniam eius diei daret: ubi uellet deinde experiretur militum suorum animos. 'ego uero experiar,' inquit 'milites, et uos crastino die in aciem educam ut uictores potius quam uicti ueniam impetretis quam petitis.' cohortibus quae signa amiserant hordeum dari iussit, centurionesque manipulorum quorum signa amissa fuerant destrictis gladiis discinctos destituit; et ut postero die omnes pedites equites armati adessent edixit.

Had he taken away the standards from any maniple or cohort? Until now he used to vaunt that Roman legions had been cut down: you this very day have given that man, for the first time, the glory of a routed army.' Then a clamor arose that he should grant pardon for that day: thereafter, whenever he wished, he might try the spirits of his soldiers. 'Indeed I will try them,' he said, 'soldiers; and tomorrow I will lead you out into the battle-line, that as victors rather than as vanquished you may obtain the pardon which you ask.' He ordered barley to be given to the cohorts that had lost their standards, and he set the centurions of the maniples whose standards had been lost, ungirded, with swords drawn; and he proclaimed that on the following day all infantry and cavalry should be present armed.

ita contio dimissa fatentium iure ac merito sese increpitos neque illo die uirum quemquam in acie Romana fuisse praeter unum ducem, cui aut morte satisfaciendum aut egregia uictoria esset.

thus the assembly was dismissed, with them confessing that they had been rebuked by right and by desert, and that on that day there had been no man in the Roman battle-line except a single leader, to whom satisfaction must be rendered either by death or by an outstanding victory.

Postero die ornati [armatique] ad edictum aderant. imperator eos conlaudat pronuntiatque a quibus orta pridie fuga esset cohortesque quae signa amisissent se in primam aciem inducturum; edicere iam sese omnibus pugnandum ac uincendum esse et adnitendum singulis uniuersisque ne prius hesternae fugae quam hodiernae uictoriae fama Romam perueniat. inde cibo corpora firmare iussi ut si longior pugna esset uiribus sufficerent.

On the next day, in full array [and armed], they were present in accordance with the edict. The commander commends them and announces that those by whom the flight had arisen the day before, and the cohorts which had lost their standards, he would lead into the front line; he now declares that all must fight and must conquer, and that each and all must strive that the fame of today’s victory reach Rome before the report of yesterday’s flight. Then they were ordered to fortify their bodies with food, so that, if the battle were longer, they might suffice in strength.

ubi omnia dicta factaque sunt quibus excitarentur animi militum in aciem procedunt.

when all the things had been said and done by which the spirits of the soldiers might be stirred, they advance into the battle-line.

[14] Quod ubi Hannibali nuntiatum est, 'cum eo nimirum' inquit 'hoste res est qui nec bonam nec malam ferre fortunam possit. seu uicit, ferociter instat uictis: seu uictus est, instaurat cum uictoribus certamen.' signa inde canere iussit et copias educit. pugnatum utrimque aliquanto quam pridie acrius est Poenis ad obtinendum hesternum decus adnitentibus, Romanis ad demendam ignominiam.

[14] When this was reported to Hannibal, 'with that enemy, assuredly,' he says, 'we have to do, who can bear neither good nor bad fortune. If he has conquered, he presses ferociously upon the vanquished; if he has been vanquished, he renews the contest with the victors.' Then he ordered the signals to be sounded and led out his forces. The fighting on both sides was somewhat sharper than on the previous day—the Carthaginians striving to maintain yesterday’s honor, the Romans to remove the ignominy.

sinistra ala ab Romanis et cohortes quae amiserant signa in prima acie pugnabant et legio duodeuicesima ab dextro cornu instructa. L. Cornelius Lentulus et C. Claudius Nero legati cornibus praeerant: Marcellus mediam aciem hortator testisque praesens firmabat. ab Hannibale Hispani primam obtinebant frontem—et id roboris in omni exercitu erat.

the left wing on the Roman side and the cohorts that had lost their standards were fighting in the front line, and the 18th legion was drawn up on the right wing. L. Cornelius Lentulus and C. Claudius Nero, legates, were in command of the wings: Marcellus strengthened the center of the line, present as exhorter and witness. On Hannibal’s side the Spaniards held the foremost front—and that was the strength in the whole army.

cum anceps diu pugna esset, Hannibal elephantos in primam aciem induci iussit, si quem inicere ea res tumultum ac pauorem posset. et primo turbarunt signa ordinesque, et partim occulcatis, partim dissipatis terrore qui circa erant nudauerant una parte aciem, latiusque fuga manasset ni C. Decimius Flauus tribunus militum signo arrepto primi hastati manipulum eius signi sequi se iussisset. duxit ubi maxime tumultum conglobatae beluae faciebant pilaque in eas conici iussit.

when the fight had long been indecisive, Hannibal ordered the elephants to be led into the front line, to see if that measure could throw any tumult and panic among them. and at first they disturbed the standards and the ranks, and, with some trampled underfoot, others scattered in terror who were around, they had stripped the line on one side; and the flight would have spread more widely, had not C. Decimius Flavus, tribune of the soldiers, seizing the standard of the foremost hastati, ordered the maniple of that standard to follow him. he led to where the beasts, massed together, were making the greatest tumult, and ordered javelins to be hurled into them.

haesere omnia tela haud difficili ex propinquo in tanta corpora ictu et tum conferta turba; sed ut non omnes uolnerati sunt, ita in quorum tergis infixa stetere pila, ut est genus anceps, in fugam uersi etiam integros auertere. tum iam non unus manipulus, sed pro se quisque miles qui modo adsequi agmen fugientium elephantorum poterat, pila conicere. eo magis ruere in suos beluae tantoque maiorem stragem edere quam inter hostes ediderant, quanto acrius pauor consternatam agit quam insidentis magistri imperio regitur.

all the missiles stuck fast, with no difficulty at close quarters, into such massive bodies, and then in the crowded press; but though not all were wounded, yet in those on whose backs the pila stood fixed—as the kind is two‑headed (fickle)—turning to flight they also made even the unhurt wheel about. then now not one maniple, but each soldier for himself, whoever only could overtake the column of fleeing elephants, began to hurl pila. all the more did the beasts rush upon their own men and make so much the greater a slaughter than they had made among the enemy, by as much as panic drives one in consternation more sharply than he is governed by the command of the seated master.

in perturbatam transcursu beluarum aciem signa inferunt Romani pedites et haud magno certamine dissipatos trepidantesque auertunt. tum in fugientes equitatum immittit Marcellus, nec ante finis sequendi est factus quam in castra pauentes compulsi sunt. nam super alia quae terrorem trepidationemque facerent, elephanti quoque duo in ipsa porta corruerant, coactique erant milites per fossam uallumque ruere in castra.

Into the battle line perturbed by the dash of the beasts, the Roman infantry advance the standards, and with no great struggle they turn back the scattered and panic-stricken. Then Marcellus lets loose the cavalry against the fugitives, nor was an end of pursuing made before they, in panic, were driven into the camp. For besides other things which were producing terror and trepidation, two elephants as well had collapsed in the very gate, and the soldiers were forced to rush into the camp through the ditch and rampart.

ibi maxima hostium caedes facta; caesa ad octo milia hominum, quinque elephanti. nec Romanis incruenta uictoria fuit: mille ferme et septingenti de duabus legionibus et sociorum supra mille et trecentos occisi; uolnerati permulti ciuium sociorumque. Hannibal nocte proxima castra mouit: cupientem insequi Marcellum prohibuit multitudo sauciorum.

There the greatest slaughter of the enemy was made; about eight thousand men were cut down, five elephants. Nor was the victory bloodless for the Romans: from the two legions about one thousand seven hundred, and of the allies more than one thousand three hundred, were killed; very many citizens and allies were wounded. Hannibal moved camp on the next night; the multitude of wounded prevented Marcellus, though eager to pursue, from doing so.

[15] Speculatores qui prosequerentur agmen missi postero die rettulerunt Bruttios Hannibalem petere.

[15] Scouts, sent to follow the column, reported on the next day that Hannibal was making for the Bruttians.

Iisdem ferme diebus et ad Q. Fuluium consulem Hirpini et Lucani et Uolceientes traditis praesidiis Hannibalis quae in urbibus habebant dediderunt sese, clementerque a consule cum uerborum tantum castigatione ob errorem praeteritum accepti sunt, et Bruttiis similis spes ueniae facta est, cum ab iis Uibius et Paccius fratres, longe nobilissimi gentis eius, eandem quae data Lucanis erat condicionem deditionis petentes uenissent.

About the same days, too, to Q. Fulvius the consul the Hirpini and the Lucanians and the Volceientes, after handing over Hannibal’s garrisons which they had in their cities, surrendered themselves; and they were received by the consul with clemency, with only a verbal castigation for their past error; and for the Bruttians a similar hope of pardon was afforded, when from them Vibius and Paccius, brothers, by far the most noble of that nation, had come seeking the same condition of surrender which had been granted to the Lucanians.

Q. Fabius consul oppidum in Sallentinis Manduriam ui cepit; ibi ad quattuor milia hominum capta et ceterae praedae aliquantum. inde Tarentum profectus in ipsis faucibus portus posuit castra. naues quas Laeuinus tutandis commeatibus habuerat partim machinationibus onerat apparatuque moenium oppugnandorum, partim tormentis et saxis omnique missilium telorum genere instruit, onerarias quoque, non eas solum quae remis agerentur, ut alii machinas scalasque ad muros ferrent, alii procul ex nauibus uolnerarent moenium propugnatores.

Q. Fabius, the consul, took by force the town of Manduria among the Salentini; there about four thousand men were captured, and there was a considerable amount of other booty. Thence setting out for Tarentum, he pitched camp in the very jaws of the harbor. The ships which Laevinus had had for protecting the supply-convoys he partly loads with engines and the apparatus for assaulting walls, and partly equips with artillery and stones and every kind of missile weapon; the cargo-ships too, not only those which were driven by oars, so that some might carry the machines and ladders to the walls, others from a distance out of the ships might wound the defenders of the walls.

hae naues ab aperto mari ut urbem adgrederentur instructae parataeque sunt; et erat liberum mare classe Punica cum Philippus oppugnare Aetolos pararet Corcyram tramissa. in Bruttiis interim Cauloniae oppugnatores sub aduentu Hannibalis ne opprimerentur in tumulum a praesenti impetu tutum, ad cetera inopem, concessere.

These ships were equipped and prepared to assault the city from the open sea; and the sea was open, the Punic fleet having been sent across to Corcyra while Philip was preparing to attack the Aetolians. Meanwhile in Bruttium, at Caulonia, the besiegers, upon Hannibal’s arrival, lest they be overwhelmed, withdrew to a mound safe from the present onrush, but ill-provided for other needs.

Fabium Tarentum obsidentem leue dictu momentum ad rem ingentem potiundam adiuuit. praesidium Bruttiorum datum ab Hannibale Tarentini habebant. eius praesidii praefectus deperibat amore mulierculae cuius frater in exercitu Fabi consulis erat.

While Fabius was besieging Tarentum, a trifling matter, in the telling, helped toward gaining a vast objective. The Tarentines had a Bruttian garrison assigned by Hannibal. The commander of that garrison was wasting away with love for a young woman, whose brother was in the army of the consul Fabius.

is certior litteris sororis factus de noua consuetudine aduenae locupletis atque inter populares tam honorati, spem nactus per sororem quolibet impelli amantem posse, quid speraret ad consulem detulit. quae cum haud uana cogitatio uisa esset pro perfuga iussus Tarentum transire, ac per sororem praefecto conciliatus primo occulte temptando animum, dein satis explorata leuitate blanditiis muliebribus perpulit eum ad proditionem custodiae loci cui praepositus erat. ubi et ratio agendae rei et tempus conuenit, miles nocte per interualla stationum clam ex urbe emissus ea quae acta erant quaeque ut agerentur conuenerat ad consulem refert.

He, having been made more certain by his sister’s letter about the new intimacy of a wealthy newcomer and one so honored among the townsfolk, having conceived the hope that through his sister the lover could be impelled to anything, laid before the consul what he might expect. Since this notion did not seem vain, he was ordered to cross over to Tarentum as a deserter; and, through his sister, having been introduced to the prefect, first by secretly testing his disposition, then, his lightness sufficiently explored, by feminine blandishments he prevailed upon him to the betrayal of the guard of the place over which he had been set. When both the method of carrying out the matter and the time were agreed upon, the soldier, by night, through the intervals of the pickets, secretly sent out from the city, reports to the consul what had been done and what had been agreed should be done.

Fabius uigilia prima dato signo iis qui in arce erant quique custodiam portus habebant, ipse circumito portu ab regione urbis in orientem uersa occultus consedit. canere inde tubae simul ab arce simul a portu et ab nauibus quae ab aperto mari adpulsae erant, clamorque undique cum ingenti tumultu unde minimum periculi erat de industria ortus. consul interim silentio continebat suos.

At the first watch, the signal having been given to those who were in the citadel and those who held the guard of the harbor, Fabius himself, having made a circuit of the harbor, took up a concealed position on the side of the city turned toward the east. Then the trumpets began to sound at once from the citadel, from the harbor, and from the ships that had been brought in from the open sea; and a clamor on all sides, with immense tumult, of set purpose arose from the region where there was the least peril. Meanwhile the consul kept his men in silence.

igitur Democrates, qui praefectus antea classis fuerat, forte illi loco praepositus, postquam quieta omnia circa se uidit, alias partes eo tumultu personare ut captae urbis interdum excitaretur clamor, ueritus ne inter cunctationem suam consul aliquam uim faceret ac signa inferret, praesidium ad arcem unde maxime terribilis accidebat sonus traducit. Fabius cum et ex temporis spatio et ex silentio ipso quod, ubi paulo ante strepebant excitantes uocantesque ad arma, inde nulla accidebat uox, deductas custodias sensisset, ferri scalas ad eam partem muri qua Bruttiorum cohortem praesidium agitare proditionis conciliator nuntiauerat iubet. ea primum captus est murus adiuuantibus recipientibusque Bruttiis, et transcensum in urbem est; inde et proxima refracta porta ut frequenti agmine signa inferrentur.

therefore Democrates, who had previously been prefect of the fleet, by chance placed in command of that position, after he saw everything quiet around him, made other quarters resound with such tumult that at times a clamor as of a captured city was roused; fearing lest, amid his hesitation, the consul should employ some force and bring in the standards, he transfers the garrison to the citadel, whence the most terrible noise was arising. Fabius, when both from the lapse of time and from the very silence—since, where a little before they were clattering, rousing and calling to arms, from there no voice was coming—he perceived that the guards had been withdrawn, orders ladders to be brought to that part of the wall where the broker of betrayal had reported that the cohort of the Bruttians was holding garrison. There first the wall was seized, the Bruttians aiding and receiving them, and there was a crossing over into the city; then the nearest gate too was broken open, so that the standards might be borne in in a crowded column.

tum clamore sublato sub ortum ferme lucis nullo obuio armato in forum perueniunt, omnesque undique qui ad arcem portumque pugnabant in se conuerterunt.

Then, with clamor raised, toward daybreak, with no armed man meeting them, they reached the forum, and all from every side who were fighting at the citadel and the port turned upon them.

[16] Proelium in aditu fori maiore impetu quam perseuerantia commissum est. non animo, non armis, non arte belli, non uigore ac uiribus corporis par Romano Tarentinus erat; igitur pilis tantum coniectis, prius paene quam consererent manus terga dederunt, dilapsique per nota urbis itinera in suas amicorumque domos. duo ex ducibus Nico et Democrates fortiter pugnantes cecidere.

[16] The battle at the entrance of the forum was joined with greater impetus than perseverance. In spirit, in arms, in the art of war, in bodily vigor and strength, the Tarentine was not equal to the Roman; therefore, with only the pila hurled, almost before they could come to close quarters they turned their backs, and scattered through the familiar routes of the city into their own and their friends’ houses. Two of the leaders, Nico and Democrates, fell fighting bravely.

Philemenus, qui proditionis ad Hannibalem auctor fuerat, cum citato equo ex proelio auectus esset, uagus paulo post equus [errans] per urbem cognitus, corpus nusquam inuentum est; creditum uolgo est in puteum apertum ex equo praecipitasse. Carthalonem autem praefectum Punici praesidii cum commemoratione paterni hospitii positis armis uenientem ad consulem miles obuius obtruncat. alii alios [passim] sine discrimine armatos inermes caedunt, Carthaginienses Tarentinosque pariter.

Philemenus, who had been the author of the treachery to Hannibal, when he had ridden away from the battle on a galloping horse, a little later the wandering horse, [straying], was recognized in the city; his body was found nowhere; it was commonly believed that he had hurled himself from his horse into an open well. But Carthalo, the prefect of the Punic garrison, coming to the consul with his arms set aside and with a commemoration of paternal guest-friendship, was cut down by a soldier who met him. Others cut down others [everywhere] without distinction, armed and unarmed, Carthaginians and Tarentines alike.

Bruttii quoque multi passim interfecti, seu per errorem seu uetere in eos insito odio seu ad proditionis famam ut ui potius atque armis captum Tarentum uideretur exstinguendam. tum ab caede ad diripiendam urbem discursum. triginta milia seruilium capitum dicuntur capta, argenti uis ingens facti signatique, auri tria milia octoginta pondo, signa tabulae prope ut Syracusarum ornamenta aequauerint.

Many Bruttians also were slain everywhere, whether by mistake, or by the old hatred ingrained against them, or to extinguish the rumor of treachery, so that Tarentum might seem to have been captured rather by force and arms. Then from slaughter there was a rush to plunder the city. Thirty thousand servile heads are said to have been taken; an immense mass of silver, both wrought and coined; of gold, three thousand eighty pounds; statues and paintings almost such as to equal the ornaments of Syracuse.

sed maiore animo generis eius praeda abstinuit Fabius quam Marcellus; ~qui interroganti scribae~ quid fieri signis uellet ingentis magnitudinis—di sunt, suo quisque habitu in modum pugnantium formati—deos iratos Tarentinis relinqui iussit. murus inde qui urbem ab arce dirimebat dirutus est ac disiectus.

but Fabius abstained from booty of that kind with a greater spirit than Marcellus; ~to the clerk who was asking~ what he wished to be done with the statues of enormous magnitude — they are gods, each one formed in his own attire in the manner of combatants — he ordered the angry gods to be left to the Tarentines. From there the wall which separated the city from the citadel was torn down and dismantled.

Dum haec Tarenti aguntur, Hannibal iis qui Cauloniam obsidebant in deditionem acceptis, audita oppugnatione Tarenti dies noctesque cursim agmine acto cum festinans ad opem ferendam captam urbem audisset, 'et Romani suum Hannibalem' inquit 'habent; eadem qua ceperamus arte Tarentum amisimus.' ne tamen fugientis modo conuertisse agmen uideretur, quo constiterat loco quinque milia ferme ab urbe posuit castra; ibi paucos moratus dies Metapontum sese recepit. inde duos Metapontinos cum litteris principum eius ciuitatis ad Fabium Tarentum mittit, fidem ab consule accepturos impunita priora fore si Metapontum cum praesidio Punico prodidissent. Fabius uera quae adferrent esse ratus, diem qua accessurus esset Metapontum constituit litterasque ad principes dedit, quae ad Hannibalem delatae sunt.

While these things were being done at Tarentum, Hannibal—having accepted into surrender those who were besieging Caulonia—upon hearing of the assault on Tarentum, with the column set in motion hurriedly, days and nights at a run; but when, hastening to bring help, he heard that the city had been taken, he said, 'the Romans too have their Hannibal; by the same art by which we had taken Tarentum, we lost it.' Yet, lest he seem to have turned his column like a fugitive, he pitched camp where he had halted, about five miles from the city; after delaying there for a few days, he withdrew to Metapontum. From there he sends two Metapontines with letters from the leading men of that state to Fabius at Tarentum, to receive a pledge from the consul that their earlier offenses would go unpunished if they betrayed Metapontum together with the Punic garrison. Fabius, thinking that what they brought was true, fixed a day on which he would approach Metapontum and gave letters to the leaders, which were delivered to Hannibal.

enimuero laetus successu fraudis si ne Fabius quidem dolo inuictus fuisset, haud procul Metaponto insidias ponit. Fabio auspicanti priusquam egrederetur ab Tarento, aues semel atque iterum non addixerunt. hostia quoque caesa consulenti deos haruspex cauendum a fraude hostili et ab insidiis praedixit.

Indeed, glad at the success of the fraud, since not even Fabius had been unconquered by guile, he set ambushes not far from Metapontum. To Fabius, taking the auspices before he should go out from Tarentum, the birds did not assent once and again. Likewise, with the victim slain, the haruspex, as he consulted the gods, foretold that he must beware of hostile fraud and ambushes.

Metapontini postquam ad constitutum non uenerat diem remissi ut cunctantem hortarentur ac repente comprehensi, metu grauioris quaestionis detegunt insidias.

The Metapontines, after he had not come on the appointed day, were sent back to exhort the one delaying; and, suddenly apprehended, out of fear of a graver inquisition they disclose the ambush.

[17] Aestatis eius principio qua haec agebantur, P. Scipio in Hispania cum hiemem totam reconciliandis barbarorum animis partim donis, partim remissione obsidum captiuorumque absumpsisset, Edesco ad eum clarus inter duces Hispanos uenit. erant coniunx liberique eius apud Romanos; sed praeter eam causam etiam uelut fortuita inclinatio animorum quae Hispaniam omnem auerterat ad Romanum a Punico imperio traxit eum. eadem causa Indibili Mandonioque fuit, haud dubie omnis Hispaniae principibus, cum omni popularium manu relicto Hasdrubale secedendi in imminentes castris eius tumulos unde per continentia iuga tutus receptus ad Romanos esset.

[17] At the beginning of that summer in which these things were being transacted, Publius Scipio in Spain, after he had spent the whole winter in reconciling the minds of the barbarians partly by gifts and partly by the release of hostages and captives, received Edesco, renowned among the Spanish leaders, who came to him. His wife and children were among the Romans; but besides that motive, even a, as it were, fortuitous inclination of spirits, which had turned all Spain to the Roman side, drew him from the Punic dominion. The same cause affected Indibilis and Mandonius, without doubt the leading men of all Spain, to withdraw, with the whole band of their followers, leaving Hasdrubal, to the hills overhanging his camp, whence by continuous ridges there was a safe retreat to the Romans.

Hasdrubal cum hostium res tantis augescere incrementis cerneret, suas imminui ac fore ut, nisi audendo aliquid moueret, qua coepissent ruerent, dimicare quam primum statuit. Scipio auidior etiam certaminis erat cum a spe quam successus rerum augebat tum quod priusquam iungerentur hostium exercitus cum uno dimicare duce exercituque quam simul cum uniuersis malebat. ceterum etiamsi cum pluribus pariter dimicandum foret, arte quadam copias auxerat.

When Hasdrubal saw the enemy’s affairs augmenting with such great increments, and his own diminishing, and that it would come to pass that, unless by daring he set something in motion, they would collapse headlong in the direction in which they had begun, he determined to fight as soon as possible. Scipio was even more eager for the contest, both from the hope which the success of events was amplifying and because, before the enemy armies should be joined, he preferred to fight with one commander and army rather than at the same time with all together. Moreover, even if it should have to be fought with several at once, by a certain art he had augmented his forces.

nam cum uideret nullum esse nauium usum, quia uacua omnis Hispaniae ora classibus Punicis erat, subductis nauibus Tarracone nauales socios terrestribus copiis addidit; et armorum affatim erat <et> captorum Carthagine et quae post captam eam fecerat tanto opificum numero incluso.

for since he saw that there was no use for the ships, because the whole coast of Spain was void of Punic fleets, with the ships hauled ashore at Tarraco he added the naval allies to the terrestrial forces; and there was an abundance of arms <and> of those taken at Carthago and of those which, after it had been taken, he had made, with so great a number of craftsmen shut in.

Cum iis copiis Scipio ueris principio ab Tarracone egressus—iam enim et Laelius redierat ab Roma, sine quo nihil maioris rei motum uolebat—ducere ad hostem pergit. per omnia pacata eunti, ut cuiusque populi fines transiret prosequentibus excipientibusque sociis, Indibilis et Mandonius cum suis copiis occurrerent. Indibilis pro utroque locutus haudquaquam <ut> barbarus stolide incauteue, sed potius cum uerecundia <ac> grauitate, propiorque excusanti transitionem ut necessariam quam glorianti eam uelut primam occasionem raptam; scire enim se transfugae nomen exsecrabile ueteribus sociis, nouis suspectum esse; neque eum se reprehendere morem hominum si tam anceps odium causa, non nomen faciat.

With those forces Scipio, at the beginning of spring, having set out from Tarraco— for now Laelius too had returned from Rome, without whom he was unwilling that anything of greater moment be set in motion—goes on to lead toward the enemy. As he went through all things pacified, as he crossed the borders of each people, with the allies escorting and receiving him, Indibilis and Mandonius met him with their own forces. Indibilis, speaking for both, by no means <ut> a barbarian foolishly or incautiously, but rather with modesty <ac> gravity, and nearer to excusing the defection as necessary than to boasting of it as if a first opportunity snatched; for he knew the name of deserter to be execrable to former allies, suspect to new ones; nor did he censure that habit of men, if so two-edged a hatred is made by the cause, not by the name.

merita inde sua in duces Carthaginienses commemorauit, auaritiam contra eorum superbiamque et omnis generis iniurias in se atque populares. itaque corpus dumtaxat suum ad id tempus apud eos fuisse: animum iam pridem ibi esse ubi ius ac fas crederent coli; ad deos quoque confugere supplices qui nequeant hominum uim atque iniurias pati. se id Scipionem orare ut transitio sibi nec fraudi apud eum nec honori sit.

Then he recounted the services he had rendered to the Carthaginian commanders, and, in contrast, their greed, their arrogance, and wrongs of every kind against himself and his fellow countrymen. Therefore, only his body, up to that time, had been among them; his spirit had long since been where they believed law and sacred right to be cultivated. And, as suppliants who cannot endure the violence and injuries of men, they also flee for refuge to the gods. This he begged of Scipio: that his passing over be neither a fault with him nor a title to honor.

quales ex hac die experiundo cognorit, perinde operae eorum pretium faceret. ita prorsus respondet facturum Romanus, nec pro transfugis habiturum qui non duxerint societatem ratam ubi nec diuini quicquam nec humani sanctum esset. productae deinde in conspectum iis coniuges liberique lacrimantibus gaudio redduntur, atque eo die in hospitium abducti: postero die foedere accepta fides dimissique ad copias adducendas.

he would set the value of their service according to what, by testing from this day, he should learn them to be. Thus precisely the Roman replies that he will do, and that he will not regard as deserters those who did not deem the alliance binding where nothing either divine or human was sacred. Then their wives and children were brought forth into their sight and, with tears of joy, restored to them, and on that day they were conducted to lodging as guests; on the next day, their pledge having been accepted under a treaty, they were dismissed to bring up their forces.

iisdem deinde castris tendebant donec ducibus iis ad hostem peruentum est.

Then they kept pitching camp in the same places until, under those leaders, they reached the enemy.

[18] Proximus Carthaginiensium exercitus Hasdrubalis prope urbem Baeculam erat. pro castris equitum stationes habebant. in eas uelites antesignanique et qui primi agminis erant aduenientes ex itinere priusquam castris locum acciperent, adeo contemptim impetum fecerunt ut facile appareret quid utrique parti animorum esset.

[18] The nearest army of the Carthaginians, Hasdrubal’s, was near the city Baecula. Before the camp they had cavalry stations. Upon these the velites, the antesignani, and those who were of the front of the column, arriving from the march before they took a place for the camp, made an attack with such contempt that it was easy to see what spirit each side had.

in castra trepida fuga compulsi equites sunt signaque Romana portis prope ipsis inlata. atque illo quidem die inritatis tantum ad certamen animis castra Romani posuerunt: nocte Hasdrubal in tumulum copias recipit plano campo in summo patentem; fluuius ab tergo, ante circaque uelut ripa praeceps oram eius omnem cingebat. suberat et altera inferior summissa fastigio planities; eam quoque altera crepido haud facilior in adscensum ambibat.

the horsemen were driven into the camp in a panicked flight, and Roman standards were brought almost to the very gates. And on that day indeed, with their spirits merely provoked for combat, the Romans pitched camp; at night Hasdrubal withdrew his forces onto a mound, open at the top with a level plain. A river at the rear, and in front and around a, as it were, precipitous bank, was girding its entire edge. Beneath there was also another lower plain, lowered by a slope; this too was encircled by another escarpment, no easier for ascent.

in hunc inferiorem campum postero die Hasdrubal postquam stantem pro castris hostium aciem uidit, equites Numidas leuiumque armorum Baliares et Afros demisit.

Into this lower plain, on the following day, Hasdrubal, after he saw the enemy’s battle-line standing before the camp, sent down the Numidian cavalry and the Balearic and African light-armed troops.

Scipio circumuectus ordines signaque ostendebat hostem praedamnata spe aequo dimicandi campo captantem tumulos, loci fiducia non uirtutis armorumque stare in conspectu; sed altiora moenia habuisse Carthaginem, quae transcendisset miles Romanus; nec tumulos nec arcem, ne mare quidem armis obstitisse suis. ad id fore altitudines quas cepissent hostibus ut per praecipitia et praerupta salientes fugerent; eam quoque se illis fugam clausurum. cohortesque duas alteram tenere fauces uallis per quam deferretur amnis iubet, alteram uiam insidere quae ab orbe per tumuli obliqua in agros ferret.

Scipio, having ridden around, showed to the ranks and the standards that the enemy, with a pre‑damned hope of fighting on a level field, was snatching at the mounds, trusting in the place, not in the valor and the arms, to stand in view; but that Carthage had had higher walls, which the Roman soldier had transcended; neither the mounds nor the citadel, not even the sea, had withstood his arms. To that end, the heights which they had seized would serve to make the enemies flee, leaping through precipices and sheer drop‑offs; he would shut off even that flight for them as well. And he orders two cohorts: one to hold the throat of the valley through which the river was carried down, the other to occupy the road which, from the crown, slantwise along the hillock, led into the fields.

ipse expeditos qui pridie stationes hostium pepulerant ad leuem armaturam infimo stantem supercilio ducit. per aspreta primum, nihil aliud quam uia impediti, iere; deinde ut sub ictum uenerunt, telorum primo omnis generis uis ingens effusa in eos est; ipsi contra saxa quae locus strata passim, omnia ferme missilia, praebet ingerere, non milites solum, sed etiam turba calonum immixta armatis.

He himself leads the unencumbered troops who the day before had driven in the enemy pickets against the light-armed standing on the lower brow. Through rough ground at first, impeded by nothing other than the way itself, they went; then, when they came within range, a huge force of missiles of every kind was poured out upon them. They in turn began to hurl stones, which the ground, strewn everywhere, supplied—almost everything serving as a missile—not only the soldiers, but also a crowd of camp-servants mixed in among the armed men.

Ceterum quamquam adscensus difficilis erat et prope obruebantur telis saxisque, adsuetudine tamen succedendi muros et pertinacia animi subierunt primi. qui simul cepere aliquid aequi loci ubi firmo consisterent gradu, leuem et concursatorem hostem atque interuallo tutum cum procul missilibus pugna eluditur, instabilem eundem ad comminus conserendas manus, expulerunt loco et cum caede magna in aciem altiore superstantem tumulo impegere. inde Scipio iussis aduersus mediam euadere aciem uictoribus ceteras copias cum Laelio diuidit, atque eum parte dextra tumuli circumire donec mollioris adscensus uiam inueniret iubet: ipse ab laeua, circuitu haud magno, in transuersos hostes incurrit.

However, although the ascent was difficult and they were nearly overwhelmed by missiles and stones, yet by their habituation to advancing up to walls and by obstinacy of spirit the foremost undertook it. Who, as soon as they seized some level ground where they might stand with firm footing, found the enemy—light-armed and skirmishing, and safe by an interval when the fight is eluded at a distance with missiles—the same unstable for joining hands at close quarters; they drove him from the position and, with great slaughter, dashed him against the battle line standing higher upon the mound. Then Scipio, after ordering the victors to break out against the middle of the line, divides the remaining forces with Laelius, and orders him to go around the right side of the mound until he should find a way of gentler ascent; he himself, from the left, with no great circuit, charges into the enemy on the flank.

inde primo turbata acies est dum ad circumsonantem undique clamorem flectere cornua et obuertere ordines uolunt. hoc tumultu et Laelius subiit; et dum pedem referunt ne ab tergo uolnerarentur, laxata prima acies locusque ad euadendum et mediis datus est, qui per tam iniquum locum stantibus integris ordinibus elephantisque ante signa locatis nunquam euasissent. cum ab omni parte caedes fieret Scipio, qui laeuo cornu in dextrum incucurrerat, maxime in nuda latera hostium pugnabat; et iam ne fugae quidem patebat locus; nam et stationes utrimque Romanae dextra laeuaque insederant uias, et porta castrorum ducis principumque fuga clausa erat, addita trepidatione elephantorum quos territos aeque atque hostes timebant.

thence at first the battle line was thrown into disorder, while, at the clamour resounding from every side, they wished to bend the wings and wheel the ranks. At this tumult Laelius also came up; and while they stepped back so that they might not be wounded from the rear, the front line was loosened, and a way of escape was given also to those in the center, who through such an inequitable ground, the ranks standing intact and the elephants posted before the standards, would never have escaped. While slaughter was being made on every side, Scipio, who had charged from the left wing into the right, was fighting especially against the naked flanks of the enemy; and now not even a place for flight lay open; for Roman pickets on both the right and the left had occupied the roads, and the gate of the camp was shut against the flight of the general and the chiefs, with the added trepidation of the elephants, whom, once terrified, they feared as much as the enemy.

caesa igitur ad octo milia hominum.

accordingly about eight thousand men were cut down.

[19] Hasdrubal iam ante quam dimicaret pecunia rapta elephantisque praemissis, quam plurimos poterat de fuga excipiens praeter Tagum flumen ad Pyrenaeum tendit. Scipio castris hostium potitus cum praeter libera capita omnem praedam militibus concessisset, in recensendis captiuis decem milia peditum, duo milia equitum inuenit. ex his Hispanos sine pretio omnes domum dimisit, Afros uendere quaestorem iussit.

[19] Hasdrubal, already before he engaged, with money seized and the elephants sent ahead, gathering up from the rout as many as he could, made for beyond the river Tagus toward the Pyrenees. Scipio, having gained possession of the enemy camp, when he had granted all the plunder to the soldiers except for free persons, in reviewing the captives found 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry. Of these he sent all the Spaniards home without price, and ordered the quaestor to sell the Africans.

circumfusa inde multitudo Hispanorum et ante deditorum et pridie captorum regem eum ingenti consensu appellauit. tum Scipio silentio per praeconem facto sibi maximum nomen imperatoris esse dixit quo se milites sui appellassent: regium nomen alibi magnum, Romae intolerabile esse. regalem animum in se esse, si id in hominis ingenio amplissimum ducerent, taciti iudicarent: uocis usurpatione abstinerent.

Then the surrounding multitude of Spaniards, both of those who had surrendered before and of those captured the day before, hailed him king with vast consensus. Then Scipio, when silence had been made by the herald, said that for himself the greatest title was “imperator,” by which his own soldiers had addressed him: the royal name is great elsewhere, but at Rome intolerable. That he had a regal spirit in himself—if they judged that the most ample thing in a man’s nature, let them judge it silently; let them refrain from the usurpation of the word.

sensere etiam barbari magnitudinem animi, cuius miraculo nominis alii mortales stuperent id ex tam alto fastigio aspernantis. dona inde regulis principibusque Hispanorum diuisa, et ex magna copia captorum equorum trecentos quos uellet eligere Indibilem iussit.

even the barbarians perceived the greatness of spirit—of one who, while other mortals would be astonished at the marvel of the name, spurned it from so high a pinnacle. then gifts were distributed to the petty-kings and princes of the Spaniards, and from the great supply of captured horses he ordered Indibilis to choose 300 whichever he wished.

Cum Afros uenderet iussu imperatoris quaestor, puerum adultum inter eos forma insigni cum audisset regii generis esse, ad Scipionem misit. quem cum percontaretur Scipio quis et cuias et cur id aetatis in castris fuisset, Numidam esse ait, Massiuam populares uocare: orbum a patre relictum apud maternum auum Galam, regem Numidarum, eductum, cum auunculo Masinissa, qui nuper cum equitatu subsidio Carthaginiensibus uenisset, in Hispaniam traiecisse; prohibitum propter aetatem a Masinissa nunquam ante proelium inisse: eo die quo pugnatum cum Romanis esset inscio auunculo clam armis equoque sumpto in aciem exisse; ibi prolapso equo effusum in praeceps captum ab Romanis esse. Scipio cum adseruari Numidam iussisset, quae pro tribunali agenda erant peragit; inde cum se in praetorium recepisset, uocatum eum interrogat uelletne ad Masinissam reuerti.

When the quaestor, by order of the commander, was selling the Africans, on hearing that among them there was a nearly grown youth, remarkable in appearance, who was of royal stock, he sent him to Scipio. When Scipio questioned him who he was and from what country, and why at that age he had been in the camp, he said he was a Numidian, that his countrymen called him Massiva: left an orphan by his father, brought up with his maternal grandfather Gala, king of the Numidians, he had crossed into Spain with his uncle Masinissa, who recently had come with the cavalry as a subsidy to the Carthaginians; forbidden on account of his age by Masinissa ever before to enter battle: on the day when there was fighting with the Romans, without his uncle’s knowledge, having secretly taken up arms and a horse, he went out into the battle line; there, his horse having slipped, thrown headlong, he was captured by the Romans. Scipio, when he had ordered that the Numidian be kept under guard, transacts the matters that had to be done before the tribunal; then, when he had withdrawn into the praetorium, he calls him in and asks whether he would wish to return to Masinissa.

cum effusis gaudio lacrimis cupere uero diceret, tum puero anulum aureum tunicam lato clauo cum Hispano sagulo et aurea fibula equumque ornatum donat, iussisque prosequi quoad uellet equitibus dimisit.

when he said, with tears poured out for joy, that he truly desired it, then he presents to the boy a golden ring, a tunic with a broad laticlave, together with a Spanish sagum and a golden fibula, and a horse adorned; and, having ordered horsemen to escort him as far as he wished, he dismissed him.

[20] De bello inde consilium habitum; et auctoribus quibusdam ut confestim Hasdrubalem consequeretur, anceps id ratus ne Mago atque alter Hasdrubal cum eo iungerent copias, praesidio tantum ad insidendum Pyrenaeum misso ipse reliquum aestatis recipiendis in fidem Hispaniae populis absumpsit.

[20] Then a council about the war was held; and, with certain advisers urging that he should at once pursue Hasdrubal, he judged that course hazardous, lest Mago and the other Hasdrubal should join forces with him; so, sending only a garrison to lie in ambush at the Pyrenees, he himself consumed the rest of the summer in bringing the peoples of Spain into allegiance.

Paucis post proelium factum ad Baeculam diebus cum Scipio rediens iam Tarraconem saltu Castulonensi excessisset, Hasdrubal Gisgonis filius et Mago imperatores ex ulteriore Hispania ad Hasdrubalem uenere, serum post male gestam rem auxilium, consilio in cetera exsequenda belli haud parum opportuni. ibi conferentibus quid in cuiusque prouinciae regione animorum Hispanis esset, unus Hasdrubal Gisgonis ultimam Hispaniae oram quae ad Oceanum et Gades uergit ignaram adhuc Romanorum esse eoque Carthaginiensibus satis fidam censebat: inter Hasdrubalem alterum et Magonem constabat beneficiis Scipionis occupatos omnium animos publice priuatimque esse nec transitionibus finem ante fore quam omnes Hispani milites aut in ultima Hispaniae amoti aut traducti in Galliam forent. itaque etiam si senatus Carthaginiensium non censuisset, eundum tamen Hasdrubali fuisse in Italiam ubi belli caput rerumque summa esset, simul ut Hispanos omnes procul ab nomine Scipionis ex Hispania abduceret.

A few days after the battle fought at Baecula, when Scipio, returning, had now passed beyond the Castulonian pass on his way to Tarraco, Hasdrubal, son of Gisco, and Mago, the generals, came from Further Spain to Hasdrubal—aid late after a mishandled affair, yet not a little opportune in counsel for executing the rest of the war. There, as they were conferring what the temper of mind of the Spaniards was in the region of each province, one—Hasdrubal son of Gisco—judged that the farthest coast of Spain, which slopes toward the Ocean and Gades, was as yet ignorant of the Romans and for that reason sufficiently loyal to the Carthaginians; between the other Hasdrubal and Mago it was agreed that, by Scipio’s benefactions, the minds of all had been preoccupied, publicly and privately, and that there would be no end to defections before all the Spanish soldiers had either been removed to the remotest part of Spain or transferred into Gaul. Therefore, even if the senate of the Carthaginians had not decreed it, Hasdrubal ought nevertheless to have gone into Italy, where the head of the war and the sum of affairs was—at the same time in order to lead away all the Spaniards out of Spain, far from the name of Scipio.

exercitum eius cum transitionibus tum aduerso proelio imminutum Hispanis repleri militibus, et Magonem Hasdrubali Gisgonis filio tradito exercitu ipsum cum grandi pecunia ad conducenda mercede auxilia in Baliares traicere; Hasdrubalem Gisgonis cum exercitu penitus in Lusitaniam abire, nec cum Romano manus conserere; Masinissae ex omni equitatu quod roboris esset tria milia equitum expleri, eumque uagum per citeriorem Hispaniam sociis opem ferre, hostium oppida atque agros populari;—his decretis, ad exsequenda quae statuerant duces digressi. haec eo anno in Hispania acta. Romae fama Scipionis in dies crescere, Fabio Tarentum captum astu magis quam uirtute gloriae tamen esse, Fului senescere fama, Marcellus etiam aduerso rumore esse, superquam quod primo male pugnauerat, quia uagante per Italiam Hannibale media aestate Uenusiam in tecta milites abduxisset.

that his army, diminished both by transitions (defections) and by an adverse battle, be replenished with Spanish soldiers; and that Mago, the army having been handed over to Hasdrubal son of Gisgo, himself with a great sum of money cross over to the Balearics to hire auxiliaries for pay; that Hasdrubal son of Gisgo depart with his army deep into Lusitania, and not join hands in battle with the Roman; that for Masinissa, from all the cavalry, whatever of strength there was, three thousand horse be made up, and that he, wandering through Nearer Spain, bring help to the allies and ravage the towns and fields of the enemies;—with these decrees, the commanders departed to carry out what they had established. these things were done in that year in Spain. at Rome the fame of Scipio grew by the day, that for Fabius Tarentum had been captured more by stratagem than by valor, yet there was glory; that the fame of Fulvius was growing old; that Marcellus even was under an adverse rumor, besides the fact that he had fought badly at the outset, because, with Hannibal roaming through Italy, in mid-summer he had led the soldiers into quarters under cover at Venusia.

inimicus erat ei C. Publicius Bibulus tribunus plebis. is iam a prima pugna quae aduersa fuerat adsiduis contionibus infamem inuisumque plebei Claudium fecerat, et iam de imperio abrogando eius agebat cum tamen necessarii Claudii obtinuerunt ut relicto Uenusiae legato Marcellus Romam rediret ad purganda ea quae inimici obicerent nec de imperio eius abrogando absente ipso ageretur. forte sub idem tempus et Marcellus ad deprecandam ignominiam et Q. Fuluius consul comitiorum causa Romam uenit.

His enemy was Gaius Publicius Bibulus, tribune of the plebs. He, already from the first battle, which had been adverse, by assiduous public assemblies had made Claudius infamous and odious to the plebs, and was already moving about the abrogation of his imperium, when nevertheless Claudius’s intimates prevailed that, a legate having been left at Venusia, Marcellus should return to Rome to purge the things which his enemies were objecting, and that there should not be action about abrogating his imperium with himself absent. By chance about the same time both Marcellus came to Rome to deprecate the ignominy, and Quintus Fulvius, the consul, came to Rome for the sake of the elections.

[21] Actum de imperio Marcelli in circo Flaminio est ingenti concursu plebisque et omnium ordinum. accusauit tribunus plebis non Marcellum modo, sed omnem nobilitatem: fraude eorum et cunctatione fieri ut Hannibal decimum iam annum Italiam prouinciam habeat, diutius ibi quam Carthagine uixerit; habere fructum imperii prorogati Marcello populum Romanum; bis caesum exercitum eius aestiua Uenusiae sub tectis agere. hanc tribuni orationem ita obruit Marcellus commemoratione rerum suarum ut non rogatio solum de imperio eius abrogando antiquaretur, sed postero die consulem eum ingenti consensu centuriae omnes crearent.

[21] Business concerning Marcellus’s command was transacted in the Circus Flaminius, with a huge concourse both of the plebs and of all orders. The tribune of the plebs arraigned not Marcellus only, but the whole nobility: that by their fraud and delay it comes about that Hannibal now for the tenth year holds Italy as a province, that he has lived there longer than at Carthage; that the Roman People “have the fruit” of a command prorogued to Marcellus; that his army, cut to pieces twice, is spending its summer quarters at Venusia under roofs. Marcellus so overwhelmed this speech of the tribune by a commemoration of his own deeds that not only was the bill about abrogating his command shelved, but on the next day all the centuries, with vast consensus, elected him consul.

additur collega T. Quinctius Crispinus, qui tum praetor erat. postero die praetores creati P. Licinius Crassus Diues pontifex maximus, P. Licinius Uarus Sex. Iulius Caesar Q. Claudius.

A colleague is added, T. Quinctius Crispinus, who at that time was praetor. On the next day the praetors were elected: P. Licinius Crassus Dives, pontifex maximus, P. Licinius Varus, Sex. Julius Caesar, Q. Claudius.

Comitiorum ipsorum diebus sollicita ciuitas de Etruriae defectione fuit. principium eius rei ab Arretinis fieri C. Calpurnius scripserat, qui eam prouinciam pro praetore obtinebat. itaque confestim eo missus Marcellus consul designatus, qui rem inspiceret ac, si digna uideretur, exercitu accito bellum ex Apulia in Etruriam transferret.

On the very days of the elections the state was anxious about the defection of Etruria. Gaius Calpurnius, who was holding that province as propraetor, had written that the beginning of this affair was being made by the Arretines. And so Marcellus, the consul-designate, was sent there at once to inspect the matter and, if it seemed fitting, with the army summoned, to transfer the war from Apulia into Etruria.

eo metu compressi Etrusci quieuerunt. Tarentinorum legatis pacem petentibus cum libertate ac legibus suis responsum ab senatu est ut redirent cum Fabius consul Romam uenisset.

Checked by that fear, the Etruscans kept quiet. To the envoys of the Tarentines seeking peace with their liberty and their own laws, the response from the senate was that they should return when Fabius the consul had come to Rome.

Ludi et Romani et plebeii eo anno in singulos dies instaurati. aediles curules fuere L. Cornelius Caudinus et Ser. Sulpicius Galba, plebeii C. Seruilius et Q. Caecilius Metellus.

The Games, both Roman and plebeian, were repeated that year for single days. The curule aediles were L. Cornelius Caudinus and Ser. Sulpicius Galba; the plebeian aediles, C. Servilius and Q. Caecilius Metellus.

Seruilium negabant iure aut tribunum plebis fuisse aut aedilem esse, quod patrem eius, quem triumuirum agrarium occisum a Boiis circa Mutinam esse opinio per nouem annos fuerat, uiuere atque in hostium potestate esse satis constabat.

They were denying that Servilius had by right either been tribune of the plebs or was aedile, because it was well established that his father—whom public opinion for nine years had held, as agrarian triumvir, to have been slain by the Boii near Mutina—was alive and in the power of the enemy.

[22] Undecimo anno Punici belli consulatum inierunt M. Marcellus quintum—ut numeretur consulatus quem uitio creatus non gessit—et T. Quinctius Crispinus. utrisque consulibus Italia decreta prouincia est et duo consulum prioris anni exercitus—tertius Uenusiae tum erat, cui Marcellus praefuerat—ita ut ex tribus eligerent duo quos uellent, tertius ei traderetur qui Tarentum et Sallentini prouincia euenisset. ceterae prouinciae ita diuisae: praetoribus, P. Licinio Uaro urbana, P. Licinio Crasso pontifici maximo peregrina et quo senatus censuisset, Sex.

[22] In the 11th year of the Punic war they entered upon the consulship, M. Marcellus for the fifth time — if the consulship be counted which, elected with a flaw, he did not hold — and T. Quinctius Crispinus. To both consuls Italy was decreed as their province, and two of the previous year’s consuls’ armies — a third was then at Venusia, which Marcellus had commanded — on condition that out of the three they should choose two which they wished, and the third be handed over to him to whom Tarentum and the province of the Sallentini had fallen. The remaining provinces were divided thus: to the praetors, to P. Licinius Varus the urban jurisdiction, to P. Licinius Crassus, the pontifex maximus, the foreign jurisdiction and whatever else the senate should have decreed, Sex.

Iulio Caesari Sicilia, Q. Claudio [Flamini] Tarentum. prorogatum imperium in annum est Q. Fuluio Flacco ut prouinciam Capuam quae T. Quincti praetoris fuerat cum una legione obtineret. prorogatum et C. Hostilio Tubulo est ut pro praetore in Etruriam ad duas legiones succederet C. Calpurnio.

Sicily to Julius Caesar, Tarentum to Q. Claudius [Flaminius]. The imperium was prorogued for one year to Q. Fulvius Flaccus, to hold as his province Capua, which had been that of the praetor T. Quinctius, with one legion. It was also prorogued to C. Hostilius Tubulus, that, as propraetor in Etruria, he should succeed C. Calpurnius with two legions.

prorogatum et L. Ueturio Philoni est ut pro praetore Galliam eandem prouinciam cum iisdem duabus legionibus obtineret quibus praetor obtinuisset. quod in L. Ueturio, idem in C. Aurunculeio decretum ab senatu, latumque de prorogando imperio ad populum est qui praetor Sardiniam prouinciam cum duabus legionibus obtinuerat. additae ei ad praesidium prouinciae quinquaginta longae naues quas P. Scipio ex Hispania misisset.

It was also prorogued to L. Ueturio Philoni that, as pro-praetor, he should hold Gaul, the same province, with the same two legions with which the praetor had held it. What was decided concerning L. Ueturius, the same was decreed by the senate for C. Aurunculeius, and a measure was brought before the people on prorogating his imperium, he who, as praetor, had held the province of Sardinia with two legions. Added to him for the garrison of the province were fifty long ships which P. Scipio had sent from Spain.

et P. Scipioni et M. Silano suae Hispaniae suique exercitus in annum decreti. Scipio ex octoginta nauibus quas aut secum ex Italia adductas aut captas Carthagine habebat quinquaginta in Sardiniam tramittere iussus, quia fama erat magnum naualem apparatum eo anno Carthagine esse: ducentis nauibus omnem oram Italiae Siciliae Sardiniaeque impleturos. et in Sicilia ita diuisa res est: Sex.

both to P. Scipio and to M. Silanus their own Spains and their own armies were decreed for a year. Scipio, from the eighty ships which he had either brought with him from Italy or had captured at Carthage, was ordered to send fifty across to Sardinia, because the report was that a great naval armament was at Carthage that year: with two hundred ships they would fill the whole coast of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. And in Sicily the matter was thus divided: Six.

Caesari exercitus Cannensis datus est: M. Ualerius Laeuinus—ei quoque enim prorogatum imperium est—classem quae ad Siciliam erat nauium septuaginta obtineret; adderet eo triginta naues quae ad Tarentum priore anno fuerant; cum ea centum nauium classe si uideretur ei praedatum in Africam traiceret. et P. Sulpicio ut eadem classe Macedoniam Graeciamque prouinciam haberet prorogatum in annum imperium est. de duabus quae ad urbem Romam fuerant legionibus nihil mutatum.

The Cannae army was given to Caesar: M. Valerius Laevinus—since to him also the imperium was prorogated—was to hold the fleet which was at Sicily, of seventy ships; he was to add to it thirty ships which had been at Tarentum in the previous year; with that fleet of one hundred ships, if it seemed good to him, he should cross over into Africa to plunder. And for P. Sulpicius the imperium was prorogated for a year, that with the same fleet he should have Macedonia and Greece as his province. Concerning the two legions which had been at the city of Rome, nothing was changed.

supplementum quo opus esset ut scriberent consulibus permissum. una et uiginti legionibus eo anno defensum imperium Romanum est. et P. Licinio Uaro praetori urbano negotium datum ut naues longas triginta ueteres reficeret quae Ostiae erant et uiginti nouas naues sociis naualibus compleret, ut quinquaginta nauium classe oram maris uicinam urbi Romanae tueri posset.

Permission was granted to the consuls to enroll whatever reinforcement was needed. With twenty-one legions the Roman imperium was defended that year. And to P. Licinius Varus, the urban praetor, the task was given to refit thirty old long ships which were at Ostia and to complete twenty new ships with the naval allies, so that with a fleet of fifty ships he might be able to guard the stretch of sea-coast near the city of Rome.

C. Calpurnius uetitus ab Arretio mouere exercitum nisi cum successor uenisset; idem et Tubulo imperatum ut inde praecipue caueret ne qua noua consilia orerentur.

C. Calpurnius was forbidden to move the army from Arretium until his successor had come; and the same was ordered to Tubulus, that he should especially beware from that quarter lest any new counsels should arise.

[23] Praetores in prouincias profecti: consules religio tenebat quod prodigiis aliquot nuntiatis non facile litabant. et ex Campania nuntiata erant Capuae duas aedes, Fortunae et Martis, et sepulcra aliquot de caelo tacta, Cumis—adeo minimis etiam rebus praua religio inserit deos—mures in aede Iouis aurum rosisse, Casini examen apium ingens in foro consedisse; et Ostiae murum portamque de caelo tactam, Caere uolturium uolasse in aedem Iouis, Uolsiniis sanguine lacum manasse. horum prodigiorum causa diem unum supplicatio fuit.

[23] The praetors set out to their provinces: the consuls were held by religious scruple because, with several prodigies reported, they could not easily propitiate by sacrifice. And from Campania it had been reported that at Capua two temples, of Fortune and of Mars, and several tombs, had been struck from the sky; at Cumae—so far does perverse superstition insert the gods even into the smallest things—mice had gnawed gold in the temple of Jupiter; at Casinum an enormous swarm of bees had settled in the forum; and at Ostia a wall and a gate had been struck from the sky; at Caere a vulture had flown into the temple of Jupiter; at Volsinii a lake had flowed with blood. Because of these prodigies there was a one-day supplication.

per dies aliquot hostiae maiores sine litatione caesae diuque non impetrata pax deum. in capita consulum re publica incolumi exitiabilis prodigiorum euentus uertit.

for several days the greater victims were slain without litation, and for a long time the peace of the gods was not obtained. upon the heads of the consuls, the commonwealth remaining unharmed, the exitial outcome of the prodigies turned.

Ludi Apollinares Q. Fuluio Ap. Claudio consulibus a P. Cornelio Sulla praetore urbano primum facti erant; inde omnes deinceps praetores urbani fecerant; sed in unum annum uouebant dieque incerta faciebant. eo anno pestilentia grauis incidit in urbem agrosque, quae tamen magis in longos morbos quam in permitiales euasit. eius pestilentiae causa et supplicatum per compita tota urbe est et P. Licinius Uarus praetor urbanus legem ferre ad populum iussus ut ii ludi in perpetuum in statam diem uouerentur.

The Apollinarian Games, under the consuls Q. Fulvius and Ap. Claudius, were first instituted by P. Cornelius Sulla, the urban praetor; thereafter all the urban praetors in succession had held them; but they used to vow them for one year and perform them on an uncertain day. In that year a grievous pestilence fell upon the city and the fields, which, however, issued more in long illnesses than in deadly ones. On account of that pestilence both a supplication was conducted through the crossroads throughout the whole city, and P. Licinius Varus, the urban praetor, was ordered to bring a law before the people that those games be vowed in perpetuity on a fixed day.

ipse primus ita uouit, fecitque ante diem tertium nonas Quinctiles. is dies deinde sollemnis seruatus.

he himself was the first to vow it thus, and he held them on the third day before the Nones of Quinctilis; that day thereafter was observed as the solemn day.

[24] De Arretinis et fama in dies grauior et cura crescere patribus. itaque C. Hostilio scriptum est ne differret obsides ab Arretinis accipere, et cui traderet Romam deducendos C. Terentius Uarro cum imperio missus. qui ut uenit, extemplo Hostilius legionem unam quae ante urbem castra habebat signa in urbem ferre iussit praesidiaque locis idoneis disposuit; tum in forum citatis senatoribus obsides imperauit.

[24] About the Arretines, both the report grew heavier by the day and the concern was increasing for the Fathers. And so it was written to Gaius Hostilius not to defer receiving hostages from the Arretines; and, as the one to whom he should hand them over to be conducted to Rome, Gaius Terentius Varro was sent with imperium. On his arrival, at once Hostilius ordered one legion which had its camp before the city to bring its standards into the city and he disposed garrisons in suitable places; then, with the senators summoned into the forum, he demanded hostages.

cum senatus biduum ad considerandum [tempus] peteret, aut ipsos extemplo dare aut se postero die senatorum omnes liberos sumpturum edixit. inde portas custodire iussi tribuni militum praefectique socium et centuriones ne quis nocte urbe exiret. id segnius neglegentiusque factum; septem principes senatus priusquam custodiae in portis locarentur ante noctem cum liberis euaserunt.

when the senate asked for a two-day period for considering [time], he proclaimed that either they themselves should hand them over immediately, or that he on the following day would take all the children of the senators. then the military tribunes and the prefects of the allies and the centurions were ordered to guard the gates, so that no one might leave the city by night. this was done more sluggishly and more negligently; seven leading men of the senate, before the guards were stationed at the gates, escaped with their children before night.

postero die luce prima cum senatus in forum citari coeptus esset desiderati, bonaque eorum uenierunt: a ceteris senatoribus centum uiginti obsides liberi ipsorum accepti traditique C. Terentio Romam deducendi. is omnia suspectiora quam ante fuerant in senatu fecit. itaque tamquam imminente Etrusco tumultu, legionem unam, alteram ex urbanis, Arretium ducere iussus ipse C. Terentius eamque habere in praesidio urbis: C. Hostilium cum cetero exercitu placet totam prouinciam peragrare et cauere ne qua occasio nouare cupientibus res daretur.

on the next day at first light, when the senate had begun to be summoned into the forum, they were found missing, and their goods were sold; from the remaining senators one hundred and twenty hostages—their own children—were received and handed over to C. Terentius to be led to Rome. He made everything in the senate more suspect than it had been before. And so, as though an Etruscan tumult were impending, C. Terentius himself was ordered to lead one legion, and another from the urban levies, to Arretium, and to keep that as the garrison of the city; it was resolved that C. Hostilius with the rest of the army should traverse the whole province and take care that no opportunity be given to those eager to revolutionize affairs.

C. Terentius ut Arretium cum legione uenit, claues portarum cum magistratus poposcisset, negantibus iis comparere fraude amotas magis ratus quam neglegentia intercidisse ipse alias claues omnibus portis imposuit cauitque cum cura ut omnia in potestate sua essent; Hostilium intentius monuit, ut in eo spem non moturos quicquam Etruscos poneret, si ne quid moueri posset praecauisset.

When Gaius Terentius came to Arretium with the legion, after he had demanded the keys of the gates from the magistrates, and they denied that they were to be found, judging that they had been removed by fraud rather than had perished through negligence, he himself provided other keys for all the gates and took care with diligence that everything should be in his own power; he warned Hostilius more intently to place his hope in this—that the Etruscans would set nothing in motion—if he had taken precautions that nothing could be moved.

[25] De Tarentinis inde magna contentione in senatu actum coram Fabio, defendente ipso quos ceperat armis, aliis infensis et plerisque aequantibus eos Campanorum noxae poenaeque. senatus consultum in sententiam M'. Acilii factum est ut oppidum praesidio custodiretur Tarentinique omnes intra moenia continerentur, res integra postea referretur cum tranquillior status Italiae esset. et de M. Liuio praefecto arcis Tarentinae haud minore certamine actum est, aliis senatus consulto notantibus praefectum quod eius socordia Tarentum proditum hosti esset, aliis praemia decernentibus quod per quinquennium arcem tutatus esset maximeque unius eius opera receptum Tarentum foret, mediis ad censores non ad senatum notionem de eo pertinere dicentibus, cuius sententiae et Fabius fuit.

[25] Then about the Tarentines great contention was conducted in the senate in the presence of Fabius, he himself defending those whom he had taken by arms, others hostile, and very many equating them with the Campanians in guilt and punishment. A senatorial decree was passed in accordance with the opinion of M'. Acilius, that the town be guarded by a garrison and that all the Tarentines be kept within the walls; the matter would be brought forward anew afterward, when the condition of Italy was more tranquil. And concerning M. Livius, prefect of the citadel of Tarentum, no less a struggle was held: some censuring the prefect by senatorial decree because by his slackness Tarentum had been betrayed to the enemy; others awarding rewards because for five years he had protected the citadel and because Tarentum had been recovered chiefly by the effort of that one man; while those of the middle opinion said that the inquiry about him pertained to the censors, not to the senate—and Fabius too was of this opinion.

adiecit tamen, fateri se opera Liui Tarentum receptum quod amici eius uolgo in senatu iactassent; neque enim recipiundum fuisse nisi amissum foret.

he added, however, that he confessed that Tarentum had been recovered by the efforts of Livius, which his friends had been vaunting commonly in the senate; for indeed it ought not to have needed recovery unless it had been lost.

Consulum alter T. Quinctius Crispinus ad exercitum quem Q. Fuluius Flaccus habuerat cum supplemento in Lucanos est profectus. Marcellum aliae atque aliae obiectae animo religiones tenebant, in quibus quod cum bello Gallico ad Clastidium aedem Honori et Uirtuti uouisset dedicatio eius a pontificibus impediebatur, quod negabant unam cellam amplius quam uni deo recte dedicari, quia si de caelo tacta aut prodigii aliquid in ea factum esset difficilis procuratio foret, quod utri deo res diuina fieret sciri non posset; neque enim duobus nisi certis deis rite una hostia fieri. ita addita Uirtutis aedes adproperato opere; neque tamen ab ipso aedes eae dedicatae sunt.

One of the consuls, T. Quinctius Crispinus, set out with a reinforcement to the army which Q. Fulvius Flaccus had commanded, into the land of the Lucanians. Marcellus was held fast by one scruple after another put before his mind, among which was this: because, in the Gallic war at Clastidium, he had vowed a temple to Honor and Virtue, its dedication was being impeded by the pontiffs, who said that a single cella could not rightly be dedicated to more than one god, since, if it were struck from heaven or some prodigy occurred in it, the procuration (ritual remedy) would be difficult, because it could not be known to which god the sacred rite should be performed; nor indeed can one victim be duly offered to two gods, save to certain specified deities. Thus an additional temple of Virtue was appended with hurried work; yet those temples were not dedicated by himself.

tum demum ad exercitum quem priore anno Uenusiae reliquerat cum supplemento proficiscitur.

then at last he sets out to the army which in the previous year he had left at Venusia, with a supplement.

Locros in Bruttiis Crispinus oppugnare conatus quia magnam famam attulisse Fabio Tarentum rebatur, omne genus tormentorum machinarumque ex Sicilia arcessierat; et naues indidem accitae erant quae uergentem ad mare partem urbis oppugnarent. ea omissa oppugnatio est quia Lacinium Hannibal admouerat copias, et collegam eduxisse iam a Uenusia exercitum fama erat, cui coniungi uolebat. itaque in Apuliam ex Bruttiis reditum, et inter Uenusiam Bantiamque minus trium milium passuum interuallo consules binis castris consederant.

Crispinus, having attempted to assault Locri in Bruttium because he reckoned that Tarentum had brought great fame to Fabius, had summoned out of Sicily every kind of artillery and siege-machinery; and ships likewise had been called from the same place to attack the part of the city verging toward the sea. That assault was abandoned because Hannibal had brought up his forces to Lacinium, and there was a report that his colleague had already led the army out from Venusia, to which he wished to be joined. And so there was a return into Apulia from Bruttium, and between Venusia and Bantia, with an interval of less than three miles, the consuls encamped in two separate camps.

in eandem regionem et Hannibal rediit auerso ab Locris bello. ibi consules ambo ingenio feroces prope cottidie in aciem exire haud dubia spe, si duobus exercitibus consularibus iunctis commisisset sese hostis, debellari posse.

into the same region Hannibal too returned, the war turned away from Locri. there both consuls, fierce by temperament, almost every day went out into the battle-line, with no doubtful hope that, if the enemy should commit himself with the two consular armies joined, it could be brought to a decisive end.

[26] Hannibal, quia cum Marcello bis priore anno congressus uicerat uictusque erat, ut cum eodem si dimicandum foret nec spem nec metum ex uano haberet, ita duobus consulibus haudquaquam sese parem futurum censebat; itaque totus in suas artes uersus insidiis locum quaerebat. leuia tamen proelia inter bina castra uario euentu fiebant. quibus cum extrahi aestatem posse consules crederent, nihilo minus oppugnari Locros posse rati L. Cincio ut ex Sicilia Locros cum classe traiceret scribunt; et ut ab terra quoque oppugnari moenia possent, ab Tarento partem exercitus qui in praesidio erat duci eo iusserunt.

[26] Hannibal, because in the previous year he had met Marcellus twice and had both conquered and been conquered, so that, if he had to fight with the same man, he would have neither hope nor fear on empty grounds, thus judged that he would by no means prove a match for two consuls; and so, turned wholly to his own arts, he was seeking a place for ambushes. Nonetheless, light skirmishes between the two camps were occurring with varying outcome. As the consuls believed that by these means the summer could be drawn out, yet thinking none the less that Locri could be attacked, they write to L. Cincius to transport to Locri from Sicily with the fleet; and, that the walls might also be attacked from the land, they ordered that from Tarentum a part of the army which was in garrison be led thither.

ea ita futura per quosdam Thurinos comperta Hannibali cum essent, mittit ad insidendam ab Tarento uiam. ibi sub tumulo Peteliae tria milia equitum, duo peditum in occulto locata; in quae inexplorato euntes Romani cum incidissent, ad duo milia armatorum caesa, mille et quingenti ferme uiui capti, alii dissipati fuga per agros saltusque Tarentum rediere.

When Hannibal had learned through certain Thurinians that these things would be thus, he sent men to lay an ambush along the road from Tarentum. There, beneath a mound at Petelia, three thousand horsemen and two thousand foot were placed in concealment; into these, as the Romans, going without reconnaissance, had fallen, about two thousand armed men were cut down, about 1,500 taken alive, the rest, scattered in flight through fields and wooded passes, returned to Tarentum.

Tumulus erat siluestris inter Punica et Romana castra ab neutris primo occupatus, quia Romani qualis pars eius quae uergeret ad hostium castra esset ignorabant, Hannibal insidiis quam castris aptiorem eum crediderat. itaque nocte ad id missas aliquot Numidarum turmas medio in saltu condiderat, quorum interdiu nemo ab statione mouebatur ne aut arma aut ipsi procul conspicerentur. fremebant uolgo in castris Romanis occupandum eum tumulum esse et castello firmandum ne, si occupatus ab Hannibale foret, uelut in ceruicibus haberet hostem.

There was a wooded mound between the Punic and Roman camps, occupied at first by neither, because the Romans did not know what sort of part of it was that which inclined toward the enemy’s camp, while Hannibal had judged it more apt for ambushes than for camps. And so by night he had hidden several squadrons of Numidians, sent for that purpose, in the middle of the woodland, of whom by day no one moved from his post, lest either their arms or they themselves be seen from afar. There was a general clamor in the Roman camp that that mound ought to be occupied and strengthened with a little castellum, lest, if it were occupied by Hannibal, they should have the enemy, as it were, upon their necks.

mouit ea res Marcellum, et collegae 'quin imus' inquit 'ipsi cum equitibus paucis exploratum? subiecta res oculis certius dabit consilium.' adsentienti Crispino, cum equitibus ducentis uiginti, ex quibus quadraginta Fregellani, ceteri Etrusci erant, proficiscuntur; secuti tribuni militum M. Marcellus consulis filius et A. Manlius, simul et duo praefecti socium L. Arrenius et M'. Aulius. immolasse eo die quidam prodidere memoriae consulem Marcellum et prima hostia caesa iocur sine capite inuentum, in secunda omnia comparuisse quae adsolent, auctum etiam uisum in capite; nec id sane haruspici placuisse quod secundum trunca et turpia exta nimis laeta apparuissent.

That matter moved Marcellus, and to his colleague he said: 'Why don’t we go ourselves with a few horsemen to reconnoiter? A thing subjected to the eyes will give counsel more surely.' Crispinus assenting, they set out with 220 cavalrymen, of whom 40 were Fregellans, the rest Etruscans; the military tribunes M. Marcellus, the consul’s son, and A. Manlius followed, as did also two prefects of the allies, L. Arrenius and M'. Aulius. Some have handed down to memory that on that day the consul Marcellus performed sacrifice, and in the first victim slain the liver was found without a head; in the second, all the parts that are wont to appear were present, and the head even seemed increased; nor did this, to be sure, please the haruspex, that after maimed and unsightly entrails excessively favorable ones had appeared.

[27] ceterum consulem Marcellum tanta cupiditas tenebat dimicandi cum Hannibale ut numquam satis castra castris conlata diceret; tum quoque uallo egrediens signum dedit ut ad locum miles esset paratus, ut si collis in quem speculatum irent placuisset, uasa conligerent et sequerentur.

[27] But the consul Marcellus was held by so great a desire of fighting with Hannibal that he never deemed camp matched with camp sufficient; then too, as he was going out beyond the rampart, he gave the signal that the troops be ready for the position, so that, if the hill to which they were going to reconnoiter should please, they should pack up their baggage and follow.

Exiguum campi ante castra erat; inde in collem aperta undique et conspecta ferebat uia. Numidis speculator nequaquam in spem tantae rei positus sed si quos uagos pabuli aut lignorum causa longius a castris progressos possent excipere, signum dat ut pariter ab suis quisque latebris exorerentur. non ante apparuere quibus obuiis ab iugo ipso consurgendum erat quam circumiere qui ab tergo intercluderent uiam; tum undique omnes exorti, et clamore sublato impetum fecere.

Before the camp there was a small stretch of plain; from there a road led onto a hill, open on every side and in full view. The scout gave the signal to the Numidians—not at all set in the hope of so great an exploit, but that they might catch any stragglers who, for the sake of fodder or wood, had gone farther from the camp—that each should at once rise from his own hiding-places. They did not appear to those whom they had to meet face-to-face, rising from the ridge itself, until they had first gone around to cut off the road from the rear; then from every side all sprang forth, and, a shout being raised, they made an attack.

cum in ea ualle consules essent ut neque euadere possent in iugum occupatum ab hoste nec receptum ab tergo circumuenti haberent, extrahi tamen diutius certamen potuisset ni coepta ab Etruscis fuga pauorem ceteris iniecisset. non tamen omisere pugnam deserti ab Etruscis Fregellani donec integri consules hortando ipsique ex parte pugnando rem sustinebant; sed postquam uolneratos ambo consules, Marcellum etiam transfixum lancea prolabentem ex equo moribundum uidere, tum et ipsi —perpauci autem supererant—cum Crispino consule duobus iaculis icto et Marcello adulescente saucio et ipso effugerunt. interfectus A. Manlius tribunus militum, et ex duobus praefectis socium M'. Aulius occisus, <L.> Arrenius captus; et lictores consulum quinque uiui in hostium potestatem uenerunt, ceteri aut interfecti aut cum consule effugerunt; equitum tres et quadraginta aut in proelio aut in fuga ceciderunt, duodeuiginti uiui capti.

while the consuls were in that valley, such that they could neither escape onto the ridge occupied by the enemy nor, being surrounded, have a retreat in the rear, nevertheless the contest might have been drawn out longer, if the flight begun by the Etruscans had not struck fear into the rest. Yet the Fregellans, deserted by the Etruscans, did not cease the fight until the consuls, still unhurt, by exhorting and themselves in part by fighting, sustained the affair; but after they saw both consuls wounded—Marcellus even run through with a lance, slipping down from his horse, dying—then they too —very few, moreover, were left—fled, with the consul Crispinus struck by two javelins and Marcellus the younger wounded as well, and he himself got away. A. Manlius, a military tribune, was slain; and of the two prefects of the allies, M'. Aulius was killed, Arrenius captured; and five of the consuls’ lictors came alive into the enemy’s power, the rest either were killed or fled with the consul; of the cavalry forty-three fell either in battle or in flight, eighteen were captured alive.

tumultuatum et in castris fuerat, ut consulibus irent subsidio, cum consulem et filium alterius consulis saucios exiguasque infelicis expeditionis reliquias ad castra uenientes cernunt. mors Marcelli cum alioqui miserabilis fuit, tum quod nec pro aetate —iam enim maior sexaginta annis erat—neque pro ueteris prudentia ducis tam improuide se collegamque et prope totam rem publicam in praeceps dederat.

There had been tumult even in the camp, that they should go to the consuls’ aid, when they behold the consul and the son of the other consul wounded, and the scant remnants of the ill‑fated expedition coming to the camp. The death of Marcellus, although pitiable in itself, was all the more so because, neither in keeping with his age—for he was now over sixty years—nor with the veteran prudence of a general, had he so improvidently plunged himself and his colleague, and well‑nigh the whole commonwealth, headlong.

Multos circa unam rem ambitus fecerim si quae de Marcelli morte uariant auctores, omnia exsequi uelim. ut omittam alios, Coelius triplicem gestae rei ~ordinem edit, unam traditam fama, alteram scriptam in laudatione filii, qui rei gestae interfuerit, tertiam quam ipse pro inquisita ac sibi comperta affert. ceterum ita fama uariat ut tamen plerique loci speculandi causa castris egressum, omnes insidiis circumuentum tradant.

I would be making many circuits around a single matter if I should wish to set forth everything on which the authors vary concerning the death of Marcellus. To omit others, Coelius publishes a triple order of the deed: one version handed down by report, another written in the eulogy of the son, who had been present at the action, a third which he himself brings forward as inquired into and ascertained by himself. Otherwise, report varies in such a way that, nevertheless, most relate that he went out from the camp for the sake of viewing the ground, and all that he was caught in an ambuscade.

[28] Hannibal magnum terrorem hostibus morte consulis unius, uolnere alterius iniectum esse ratus, ne cui deesset occasioni castra in tumulum in quo pugnatum erat extemplo transfert; ibi inuentum Marcelli corpus sepelit. Crispinus et morte collegae et suo uolnere territus, silentio insequentis noctis profectus, quos proximos nanctus est montes, in iis loco alto et tuto undique castra posuit. ibi duo duces sagaciter moti sunt, alter ad inferendam, alter ad cauendam fraudem.

[28] Hannibal, thinking that great terror had been injected into the enemies by the death of one consul and the wound of the other, in order not to be wanting to the opportunity, at once transfers his camp onto the knoll on which it had been fought; there he buries the body of Marcellus, found. Crispinus, terrified both by the death of his colleague and by his own wound, setting out in the silence of the following night, having come upon the nearest mountains, placed the camp on them in a position high and safe on every side. There the two leaders were moved sagaciously: the one to bring in a fraud, the other to guard against a fraud.

anulis Marcelli simul cum corpore Hannibal potitus erat. eius signi errore ne qui dolus necteretur a Poeno metuens Crispinus circa ciuitates proximas miserat nuntios occisum collegam esse anulisque eius hostem potitum: ne quibus litteris crederent nomine Marcelli compositis. paulo ante hic nuntius consulis Salapiam uenerat quam litterae ab Hannibale allatae sunt Marcelli nomine compositae se nocte quae diem illum secutura esset Salapiam uenturum: parati milites essent qui in praesidio erant, si quo opera eorum opus esset.

Hannibal had gotten possession of Marcellus’s rings together with his body. Fearing lest, by a mistake of that signet, some deceit should be woven by the Phoenician, Crispinus had sent messengers around the nearest cities that his colleague had been slain and that the enemy had gotten possession of his rings: that they should not trust any letters composed in the name of Marcellus. A little before this message of the consul had come to Salapia, letters were brought by Hannibal, composed in Marcellus’s name, that he would come to Salapia in the night which would follow that day: that the soldiers who were in garrison should be prepared, if in any way there were need of their service.

sensere Salapitani fraudem; et ab ira non defectionis modo sed etiam equitum interfectorum rati occasionem supplicii peti, remisso retro nuntio—perfuga autem Romanus erat—ut sine arbitro milites quae uellent agerent, oppidanos per muros urbisque opportuna loca in stationibus disponunt; custodias uigiliasque in eam noctem intentius instruunt; circa portam qua uenturum hostem rebantur quod roboris in praesidio erat opponunt. Hannibal quarta uigilia ferme ad urbem accessit. primi agminis erant perfugae Romanorum et arma Romana habebant.

The Salapians sensed the fraud; and, supposing that, out of anger not only at the defection but also at the cavalrymen slain, an occasion of punishment was being sought, they sent the messenger back—the man was a Roman deserter—so that, without an arbiter, the soldiers might do whatever they wished; they post the townsmen along the walls and at opportune places of the city in outposts; they arrange guards and vigils more intently for that night; around the gate by which they reckoned the enemy would come, they set in opposition whatever of strength there was in the garrison. Hannibal came up to the city at about the fourth watch. At the head of the column were deserters from the Romans, and they had Roman arms.

ii ubi ad portam est uentum Latine omnes loquentes excitant uigiles aperirique portam iubent: consulem adesse. uigiles uelut ad uocem eorum excitati tumultuari trepidare moliri portam. cataracta [deiecta] clausa erat; eam partim uectibus leuant, partim funibus subducunt, in tantum altitudinis ut subire recti possent.

2 when they came to the gate, all speaking Latin, they rouse the sentries and order the gate to be opened: the consul is present. The sentries, as if roused at their voice, begin to raise a tumult, to be alarmed, to set the gate in motion. The portcullis [let down] was shut; they partly lift it with levers, partly draw it up with ropes, to such a height that they could pass under upright.

uixdum satis patebat iter cum perfugae certatim ruunt per portam; et cum sescenti ferme intrassent, remisso fune quo suspensa erat cataracta magno sonitu cecidit. Salapitani alii perfugas neglegenter ex itinere suspensa humeris, ut inter pacatos, gerentes arma inuadunt, alii e turribus portae murisque saxis sudibus pilis absterrent hostem. ita inde Hannibal suamet ipse fraude captus abiit, profectusque ad Locrorum soluendam obsidionem, qua <cingebat urbem L.> Cincius summa ui operibus tormentorumque omni genere ex Sicilia aduecto oppugnans.

Hardly was the way sufficiently open when the deserters rush in rivalry through the gate; and when about six hundred had entered, the rope by which the portcullis was suspended having been released, it fell with a great crash. The Salapitans—some attack the deserters, carrying their arms negligently straight from the march, slung on their shoulders, as among peaceable folk; others, from the towers of the gate and the walls, drive off the enemy with stones, stakes, and javelins. Thus from there Hannibal, caught by his own trick, departed, and set out to lift the siege of the Locrians, <with which he was encircling the city of L.> Cincius was assaulting it with the utmost force by works and by every kind of engine brought from Sicily.

Magoni iam haud ferme fidenti retenturum defensurumque se urbem, prima spes morte nuntiata Marcelli adfulsit. secutus inde nuntius Hannibalem Numidarum equitatu praemisso ipsum quantum adcelerare posset cum peditum agmine sequi. itaque ubi primum Numidas edito e speculis signo aduentare sensit, et ipse patefacta repente porta ferox in hostes erumpit.

To Mago, now scarcely confident that he would retain and defend the city, the first hope gleamed when the death of Marcellus was announced. Then there followed a message that Hannibal, with the Numidian cavalry sent ahead, was himself following with the column of infantry as much as he could accelerate. And so, as soon as he perceived from a signal raised on the lookouts that the Numidians were approaching, he too, the gate suddenly thrown open, fiercely bursts out against the enemy.

et primo, magis quia improuiso id fecerat quam quod par uiribus esset, anceps certamen erat; deinde ut superuenere Numidae, tantus pauor Romanis est iniectus ut passim ad mare ac naues fugerent relictis operibus machinisque quibus muros quatiebant. ita aduentu Hannibalis soluta Locrorum obsidio est.

and at first, more because he had done this unexpectedly than because he was equal in forces, the contest was two-headed and doubtful; then, when the Numidians arrived, so great a panic was injected into the Romans that they fled everywhere to the sea and the ships, abandoning the works and the machines with which they were battering the walls. thus by the arrival of Hannibal the siege of the Locrians was loosened (lifted).

[29] Crispinus postquam in Bruttios profectum Hannibalem sensit, exercitum cui collega praefuerat M. Marcellum tribunum militum Uenusiam abducere iussit: ipse cum legionibus suis Capuam profectus uix lecticae agitationem prae grauitate uolnerum patiens, Romam litteras de morte collegae scripsit quantoque ipse in discrimine esset: se comitiorum causa non posse Romam uenire quia nec uiae laborem passurus uideretur et de Tarento sollicitus esset ne ex Bruttiis Hannibal eo conuerteret agmen; legatos opus esse ad se mitti uiros prudentes cum quibus quae uellet de re publica loqueretur. hae litterae recitatae magnum et luctum morte alterius consulis et metum de altero fecerunt. itaque et Q. Fabium filium ad exercitum Uenusiam miserunt, et ad consulem tres legati missi Sex.

[29] After Crispinus perceived that Hannibal had set out into the Bruttii, he ordered M. Marcellus, a military tribune, to lead away to Venusia the army which his colleague had commanded; he himself set out for Capua with his legions, hardly enduring the shaking of the litter by reason of the gravity of his wounds, and he wrote to Rome letters about the death of his colleague and about how great a peril he himself was in: that he could not come to Rome for the sake of the elections, because he did not seem likely to endure the toil of the road, and he was anxious about Tarentum lest from the Bruttii Hannibal should turn his column thither; that there was need for envoys, prudent men, to be sent to him, with whom he might speak about what he wished concerning the commonwealth. These letters, read aloud, produced both great mourning at the death of the one consul and fear concerning the other. And so they sent Q. Fabius the son to the army at Venusia, and to the consul three envoys were sent, Sex.

Iulius Caesar L. Licinius Pollio L. Cincius Alimentus cum paucis ante diebus ex Sicilia redisset. hi nuntiare consuli iussi ut si ad comitia ipse uenire Romam non posset dictatorem in agro Romano diceret comitiorum causa; si consul Tarentum profectus esset, Q. Claudium praetorem placere in eam regionem inde abducere legiones in qua plurimas sociorum urbes tueri posset.

Julius Caesar L. Licinius Pollio L. Cincius Alimentus, with a few men, had returned from Sicily a few days before. These were ordered to announce to the consul that, if he himself could not come to Rome for the elections, he should name a dictator in the Roman countryside for the sake of the elections; if the consul had set out to Tarentum, that it was pleasing for the praetor Q. Claudius to lead the legions away from there into that region in which he could protect the greatest number of the allies’ cities.

Eadem aestate M. Ualerius cum classe centum nauium ex Sicilia in Africam tramisit, et ad Clupeam urbem escensione facta agrum late nullo ferme obuio armato uastauit. inde ad naues raptim praedatores recepti, quia repente fama accidit classem Punicam aduentare. octoginta erant et tres naues.

In the same summer M. Valerius crossed over from Sicily into Africa with a fleet of 100 ships, and, a disembarkation having been made at the city of Clupea, he devastated the countryside far and wide, with scarcely any armed man encountered. Thence the raiders were quickly taken back aboard the ships, because suddenly a report arrived that the Punic fleet was approaching. There were 83 ships.

cum his haud procul Clupea prospere pugnat Romanus. duodeuiginti nauibus captis, fugatis aliis cum magna terrestri naualique praeda Lilybaeum rediit. eadem aestate et Philippus implorantibus Achaeis auxilium tulit, quos et Machanidas tyrannus Lacedaemoniorum finitimo bello urebat et Aetoli, nauibus per fretum quod Naupactum et Patras interfluit—Rhion incolae uocant—exercitu traiecto, depopulati erant.

With these, not far from Clupea, the Roman fights successfully. After eighteen ships were captured and the others routed, he returned to Lilybaeum with great booty both terrestrial and naval. That same summer Philip too brought aid to the Achaeans as they implored, whom both Machanidas, the tyrant of the Lacedaemonians, was scorching with a neighboring war, and the Aetolians—after transporting an army by ships through the strait which flows between Naupactus and Patrae—the inhabitants call it Rhion—had laid waste.

Attalum quoque regem Asiae, quia Aetoli summum gentis suae magistratum ad eum proximo ~anno~ concilio detulerant, fama erat in Europam traiecturum.

There was also a rumor that Attalus, king of Asia, would cross over into Europe, because the Aetolians had conferred the supreme magistracy of their nation upon him at the most recent ~year~ council.

[30] Ob haec Philippo in Graeciam descendenti ad Lamiam urbem Aetoli duce Pyrrhia, qui praetor in eum annum cum absente Attalo creatus erat, occurrerunt. habebant et ab Attalo auxilia secum et mille ferme ex Romana classe a P. Sulpicio missos. aduersus hunc ducem atque has copias Philippus bis prospero euentu pugnauit; mille admodum hostium utraque pugna occidit.

[30] On account of these things, as Philip was descending into Greece to the city of Lamia, the Aetoli, under the leader Pyrrhias—who had been appointed praetor for that year, Attalus being absent—met him. They had both auxiliaries from Attalus with them and nearly a thousand men sent from the Roman fleet by P. Sulpicius. Against this leader and these forces Philip fought twice with a prosperous outcome; in each battle about a thousand of the enemy fell.

inde cum Aetoli metu compulsi Lamiae urbis moenibus tenerent sese, Philippus ad Phalara exercitum duxit; in Maliaco sinu is locus est, quondam frequenter habitatus propter egregium portum tutasque circa stationes et aliam opportunitatem maritimam terrestremque. eo legati ab rege Aegypti Ptolomaeo Rhodiisque et Atheniensibus et Chiis uenerunt ad dirimendum inter Philippum atque Aetolos bellum. adhibitus ab Aetolis et ex finitimis pacificator Amynander, rex Athamanum.

thence, since the Aetolians, compelled by fear, were keeping themselves within the walls of the city of Lamia, Philip led his army to Phalara; that place is in the Maliac gulf, formerly frequently inhabited because of an excellent port, the safe stations around, and other maritime and terrestrial advantages. To that place envoys came from the king of Egypt, Ptolemy, and from the Rhodians and Athenians and Chians, to put an end to the war between Philip and the Aetolians. Brought in by the Aetolians also from among the neighboring peoples as a peace‑maker was Amynander, king of the Athamanians.

omnium autem non tanta pro Aetolis cura erat, ferociori quam pro ingeniis Graecorum gente, quam ne Philippus regnumque eius rebus Graeciae, graue libertati futurum, immisceretur. de pace dilata consultatio est in concilium Achaeorum, concilioque ei et locus et dies certa indicta; interim triginta dierum indutiae impetratae. profectus inde rex per Thessaliam Boeotiamque Chalcidem Euboeae uenit ut Attalum, quem classe Euboeam petiturum audierat, portibus et litorum adpulsu arceret.

Of them all, however, the concern was not so much for the Aetolians—a people more ferocious than accords with the dispositions of the Greeks—as that Philip and his kingdom should not be mixed into the affairs of Greece, a thing that would be grievous to liberty. The consultation about peace was deferred to the council of the Achaeans, and for that council both a fixed place and a fixed day were proclaimed; in the meantime a truce of thirty days was obtained. Setting out thence, the king went through Thessaly and Boeotia and came to Chalcis of Euboea, to keep Attalus—whom he had heard would make for Euboea with his fleet—away from the harbors and from approach to the shores.

inde praesidio relicto aduersus Attalum si forte interim traiecisset, profectus ipse cum paucis equitum leuisque armaturae Argos uenit. ibi curatione Heraeorum Nemeorumque suffragiis populi ad eum delata quia se Macedonum reges ex ea ciuitate oriundos referunt, Heraeis peractis ab ipso ludicro extemplo Aegium profectus est ad indictum multo ante sociorum concilium. ibi de Aetolico finiendo bello actum ne causa aut Romanis aut Attalo intrandi Graeciam esset.

thence, a garrison having been left as a protection against Attalus, in case he should by chance have crossed meanwhile, he himself set out with a few cavalry and light-armed troops and came to Argos. there the curatorship of the Heraea and the Nemea was conferred upon him by the people’s suffrages, because the kings of the Macedonians report themselves to be sprung from that city. the Heraea completed, from the spectacle itself he straightway set out to Aegium for the council of the allies long before proclaimed. there they dealt with bringing the Aetolian war to an end, so that there might be no pretext either for the Romans or for Attalus to enter Greece.

sed ea omnia uixdum indutiarum tempore circumacto Aetoli turbauere postquam et Attalum Aeginam uenisse et Romanam classem stare ad Naupactum audiuere. uocati enim in concilium Achaeorum, in quo et eae legationes erant quae ad Phalara egerant de pace, primum questi sunt quaedam parua contra fidem conuentionis tempore indutiarum facta; postremo negarunt dirimi bellum posse nisi Messeniis Achaei Pylum redderent, Romanis restitueretur Atintania, Scerdilaedo et Pleurato Ardiaei. enimuero indignum ratus Philippus uictos uictori sibi ultro condiciones ferre, ne antea quidem se aut de pace audisse aut indutias pepigisse dixit spem ullam habentem quieturos Aetolos, sed uti omnes socios testes haberet se pacis, illos belli causam quaesisse.

But scarcely had the time of the armistice run its course when the Aetolians threw all this into confusion, after they heard that both Attalus had come to Aegina and the Roman fleet was lying off Naupactus. For, summoned to the council of the Achaeans—in which were also those legations that had conducted business at Phalara about peace—they first complained that certain small things had been done against the good faith of the convention during the time of the truce; finally they declared that the war could not be resolved unless the Achaeans returned Pylus to the Messenians, Atintania were restored to the Romans, and the Ardiaeans to Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus. Indeed, Philip, deeming it outrageous that the conquered should of their own accord bring terms to himself, the victor, said that he had not even previously either listened to talk of peace or bargained for a truce, since he had no hope that the Aetolians would keep quiet, but that he had sought to have all the allies as witnesses that he himself was for peace, while they were the ones who had sought a cause for war.

ita infecta pace concilium dimisit quattuor milibus armatorum relictis ad praesidium Achaeorum et quinque longis nauibus acceptis, quas si adiecisset missae nuper ad se classi Carthaginiensium et ex Bithynia ab rege Prusia uenientibus nauibus, statuerat nauali proelio lacessere Romanos iam diu in regione ea potentes maris. ipse ab eo concilio Argos regressus; iam enim Nemeorum appetebat tempus, quae celebrari uolebat praesentia sua.

Thus, with peace unaccomplished, he dismissed the council, leaving four thousand armed men for the protection of the Achaeans, and having received five long ships—which, if he were to add them to the fleet of the Carthaginians recently sent to him and to the ships coming from Bithynia from King Prusias—he had determined to provoke the Romans to a naval battle, they being long now in that region potent over the sea. He himself returned from that council to Argos; for already the time of the Nemeans was approaching, which he wished to be celebrated with his presence.

[31] Occupato rege apparatu ludorum et per dies festos licentius quam inter belli tempora remittente animum P. Sulpicius ab Naupacto profectus classem adpulit inter Sicyonem et Corinthum agrumque nobilissimae fertilitatis effuse uastauit. fama eius rei Philippum ab ludis exciuit; raptimque cum equitatu profectus iussis subsequi peditibus, palatos passim per agros grauesque praeda ut qui nihil tale metuerent adortus Romanos compulit in naues. classis Romana haudquaquam laeta praeda Naupactum redit: Philippo ludorum quoque qui reliqui erant celebritatem quantaecumque, de Romanis tamen, uictoriae partae fama auxerat, laetitiaque ingenti celebrati festi dies, eo magis etiam quod populariter dempto capitis insigni purpuraque atque alio regio habitu aequauerat ceteris se in speciem, quo nihil gratius est ciuitatibus liberis; praebuissetque haud dubiam eo facto spem libertatis nisi omnia intoleranda libidine foeda ac deformia effecisset.

[31] While the king was occupied with the apparatus of the games and, during the festival days, relaxing his spirit more licentiously than is usual in time of war, P. Sulpicius, setting out from Naupactus, brought his fleet to land between Sicyon and Corinth and laid waste in profusion a territory of most renowned fertility. The report of this affair called Philip away from the games; and hurrying forth with his cavalry, after ordering the infantry to follow, he fell upon the Romans, who were scattered everywhere through the fields and heavy with booty—as men who feared nothing of the sort—and drove them onto their ships. The Roman fleet, by no means glad in its booty, returned to Naupactus. For Philip, even the remaining days of the games had had their celebrity—however great it was—enhanced by the fame of a victory won over the Romans, and the festal days were celebrated with vast rejoicing, all the more because, in a popular manner, having removed the insignia of the head, the purple, and other royal habit, he had made himself equal to the rest in appearance, than which nothing is more welcome to free cities; and by that act he would have offered no doubtful hope of liberty, had he not, by an insufferable lust, made all things foul and deformed.

uagabatur autem cum uno aut altero comite per maritas domos dies noctesque, et summittendo se in priuatum fastigium quo minus conspectus eo solutior erat, et libertatem, cum aliis uanam ostendisset, totam in suam licentiam uerterat. neque enim omnia emebat aut eblandiebatur, sed uim etiam flagitiis adhibebat, periculosumque et uiris et parentibus erat moram incommoda seueritate libidini regiae fecisse; uni etiam principi Achaeorum Arato adempta uxor nomine Polycratia ac spe regiarum nuptiarum in Macedoniam asportata fuerat.

he was wandering, moreover, with one or another companion through married households day and night, and by lowering himself into a private station, the less he was in sight, the more unrestrained he was; and the freedom which he had shown to others to be empty he had turned wholly into his own license. For he did not buy or wheedle everything, but he even applied force to his outrages, and it was perilous both for husbands and for parents to have caused, by inconvenient severity, any delay to the royal lust; even from one man, Aratus, a chief of the Achaeans, his wife named Polycratia was taken away and, with the hope of royal nuptials, was carried off to Macedonia.

Per haec flagitia sollemni Nemeorum peracto paucisque additis diebus, Dymas est profectus ad praesidium Aetolorum quod ab Eleis accitum acceptumque in urbem erat eiciendum. Cycliadas—penes eum summa imperii erat—Achaeique ad Dymas regi occurrere, et Eleorum accensi odio quod a ceteris Achaeis dissentirent, et infensi Aetolis quos Romanum quoque aduersus se mouisse bellum credebant. profecti ab Dymis coniuncto exercitu transeunt Larisum amnem, qui Eleum agrum ab Dymaeo dirimit.

Through these outrages, after the solemn Nemean festival was completed and a few days added, Dymas set out to expel the Aetolians’ garrison which had been summoned by the Eleans and admitted into the city. Cycliadas—in whose hands was the supreme command—and the Achaeans marched to Dyme to meet the king, both inflamed with hatred against the Eleans because they dissented from the other Achaeans, and hostile to the Aetolians, whom they believed had also stirred up the Roman to wage war against them. Setting out from Dyme, with their forces combined, they cross the river Larisus, which divides the Eleian territory from that of Dyme.

[32] Primum diem quo fines hostium ingressi sunt populando absumpserunt; postero die acie instructa ad urbem accesserunt praemissis equitibus qui obequitando portis promptum ad excursiones genus lacesserent Aetolorum. ignorabant Sulpicium cum quindecim nauibus ab Naupacto Cyllenen traiecisse et expositis in terram quattuor milibus armatorum silentio noctis ne conspici agmen posset intrasse Elim. itaque improuisa res ingentem iniecit terrorem postquam inter Aetolos Eleosque Romana signa atque arma cognouere.

[32] They spent the first day, on which they entered the enemy’s borders, in ravaging; on the following day, with the battle line drawn up, they approached the city, having sent ahead the cavalry to ride up and down before the gates and provoke the Aetolians, a race prompt to sallies. They were unaware that Sulpicius, with fifteen ships, had crossed from Naupactus to Cyllene, and, after putting ashore four thousand armed men, under cover of night—so that the column could not be seen—had entered Elis. Therefore the unforeseen affair cast immense terror, after they recognized Roman standards and arms among the Aetolians and the Eleans.

et primo recipere suos uoluerat rex; deinde contracto iam inter Aetolos et Tralles—Illyriorum id est genus—certamine cum urgeri uideret suos, et ipse rex cum equitatu in cohortem Romanam incurrit. ibi equus pilo traiectus cum prolapsum super caput regem effudisset, atrox pugna utrimque accensa est, et ab Romanis impetu in regem facto et protegentibus regiis. insignis et ipsius pugna fuit cum pedes inter equites coactus esset proelium inire; dein cum iam impar certamen esset caderentque circa eum multi et uolnerarentur, raptus ab suis atque alteri equo iniectus fugit.

and at first the king had wanted to draw in his own men; then, with the combat now joined between the Aetolians and the Tralles—that is a people of the Illyrians—when he saw his men being pressed, the king himself with the cavalry charged into a Roman cohort. There, when his horse, pierced by a pilum, had flung the king headlong over its head, a fierce battle was kindled on both sides, both by the Romans, who made an onrush against the king, and by the royal troops protecting him. Distinguished too was the king’s own fighting, since, on foot among horsemen, he was compelled to enter the battle; then, when the contest was now unequal and many around him were falling and being wounded, snatched up by his men and set upon another horse, he fled.

eo die castra quinque milia passuum ab urbe Eleorum posuit; postero die ad propinquum Eleorum castellum—Pyrgum uocant—copias omnes eduxit, quo agrestium multitudinem cum pecoribus metu populationum compulsam audierat. eam inconditam inermemque multitudinem primo statim terrore adueniens cepit; compensaueratque ea praeda quod ignominiae ad Elim acceptum fuerat. diuidenti praedam captiuosque—fuere autem quattuor milia hominum, pecorisque omnis generis ad uiginti milia—nuntius ex Macedonia uenit Aeropum quendam corrupto arcis praesidiique praefecto Lychnidum cepisse; tenere et Dassaretiorum quosdam uicos et Dardanos etiam concire.

on that day he pitched camp five miles from the city of the Eleans; on the following day to a nearby Elean fortress—they call it Pyrgus—he led out all the forces, to which he had heard that a multitude of rustics with their flocks, driven by fear of depredations, had been compelled. that ill-ordered and unarmed multitude he, arriving, seized at once at the very first terror; and by that booty he had counterbalanced what of ignominy had been incurred at Elis. while dividing the booty and the captives—there were, moreover, 4,000 men, and of cattle of every kind up to 20,000—a messenger came from Macedonia that a certain Aeropus, the prefect of the citadel and garrison having been corrupted, had taken Lychnidus; that he also held certain villages of the Dassaretii and was even stirring up the Dardanians.

omisso igitur Achaico atque Aetolico bello, relictis tamen duobus milibus et quingentis omnis generis armatorum cum Menippo et Polyphanta ducibus ad praesidium sociorum, profectus ab Dymis per Achaiam Boeotiamque et Euboeam decimis castris Demetriadem in Thessaliam peruenit.

Therefore, with the Achaean and Aetolian war laid aside, yet leaving 2,500 men-at-arms of every kind with Menippus and Polyphantes as commanders for the protection of the allies, he set out from Dyme, and through Achaea, Boeotia, and Euboea, on the tenth encampment he reached Demetrias in Thessaly.

[33] Ibi alii maiorem adferentes tumultum nuntii occurrunt, Dardanos in Macedoniam effusos Orestidem iam tenere ac descendisse in Argestaeum campum, famamque inter barbaros celebrem esse Philippum occisum. expeditione ea qua cum populatoribus agri ad Sicyonem pugnauit, in arborem inlatus impetu equi ad eminentem ramum cornu alterum galeae praefregit; id inuentum ab Aetolo quodam perlatumque in Aetoliam ad Scerdilaedum, cui notum erat insigne galeae, famam interfecti regis uolgauit. post profectionem ex Achaia regis Sulpicius Aeginam classe profectus cum Attalo sese coniunxit.

[33] There other messengers, bringing a greater tumult, meet him: that the Dardani, having poured into Macedonia, now hold Orestis and have descended into the Argestaean plain, and that a report was widely celebrated among the barbarians that Philip had been slain. In that expedition in which he fought with the ravagers of the countryside at Sicyon, being borne into a tree by the horse’s rush, he broke off one horn of his helmet against a projecting branch; that item, found by a certain Aetolian and carried into Aetolia to Scerdilaedus, to whom the insignia of the helmet were known, spread the rumor of the king’s having been killed. After the king’s departure from Achaia, Sulpicius, having set out with the fleet to Aegina, joined himself with Attalus.

Achaei cum Aetolis Eleisque haud procul Messene prosperam pugnam fecerunt. Attalus rex et P. Sulpicius Aeginae hibernarunt.

The Achaeans, together with the Aetolians and Eleians, fought a successful battle not far from Messene. King Attalus and P. Sulpicius wintered at Aegina.

Exitu huius anni T. Quinctius consul, dictatore comitiorum ludorumque faciendorum causa dicto T. Manlio Torquato, ex uolnere moritur; alii Tarenti, alii in Campania mortuum tradunt; ita quod nullo ante bello acciderat, duo consules sine memorando proelio interfecti uelut orbam rem publicam reliquerant. dictator Manlius magistrum equitum C. Seruilium—tum aedilis curulis erat—dixit. senatus quo die primum est habitus ludos magnos facere dictatorem iussit, quos M. Aemilius praetor urbanus C. Flaminio, Cn. Seruilio consulibus fecerat et in quinquennium uouerat; tum dictator et fecit ludos et in insequens lustrum uouit.

At the close of this year the consul T. Quinctius, T. Manlius Torquatus having been named dictator for the purpose of holding the elections and the games, dies of a wound; some report him to have died at Tarentum, others in Campania; thus—what had happened in no previous war—two consuls, slain without any memorable battle, had left the commonwealth as it were orphaned. The dictator Manlius named C. Servilius—at that time curule aedile—as Magister Equitum. On the day the senate was first convened, it ordered the dictator to celebrate the Great Games, which M. Aemilius, praetor urbanus, had held in the consulship of C. Flaminius and Cn. Servilius and had vowed for a quinquennium; then the dictator both held the games and vowed them for the following lustrum.

ceterum cum duo consulares exercitus tam prope hostem sine ducibus essent, omnibus aliis omissis una praecipua cura patres populumque incessit consules primo quoque tempore creandi et ut eos crearent potissimum quorum uirtus satis tuta a fraude Punica esset: cum toto eo bello damnosa praepropera ac feruida ingenia imperatorum fuissent, tum eo ipso anno consules nimia cupiditate conserendi cum hoste manum in necopinatam fraudem lapsos esse; ceterum deos immortales, miseritos nominis Romani, pepercisse innoxiis exercitibus, temeritatem consulum ipsorum capitibus damnasse.

But since two consular armies were so close to the enemy without leaders, with all other things set aside one principal care seized the Fathers and the People: to create consuls at the earliest possible time, and to elect preferably those whose virtue would be sufficiently safe from Punic fraud. For, whereas throughout that whole war the hasty and hot-blooded dispositions of commanders had been damaging, then in that very year the consuls, through an excessive desire of joining battle with the enemy, had slipped into an unforeseen stratagem; but the immortal gods, having taken pity on the Roman name, had spared the innocent armies and had condemned the rashness of the consuls upon their own heads.

[34] Cum circumspicerent patres quosnam consules facerent, longe ante alios eminebat C. Claudius Nero. ei collega quaerebatur; et uirum quidem eum egregium ducebant, sed promptiorem acrioremque quam tempora belli postularent aut hostis Hannibal; temperandum acre ingenium [eius] moderato et prudenti uiro adiuncto collega censebant. M. Liuius erat, multis ante annis ex consulatu populi iudicio damnatus, quam ignominiam adeo aegre tulerat ut rus migrarit et per multos annos et urbe et omni coetu careret hominum.

[34] When the senators were looking around for whom they should make consuls, far before the others stood out C. Claudius Nero. A colleague was being sought for him; and indeed they considered him an outstanding man, but more forward and keener than the circumstances of the war or the enemy Hannibal required; they judged that his sharp temperament [his] should be tempered by adjoining as colleague a restrained and prudent man. There was M. Livius, many years before condemned by the people’s judgment after his consulship, a disgrace which he had taken so hard that he had moved to the countryside and for many years lacked both the city and any gathering of men.

octauo ferme post damnationem anno M. Claudius Marcellus et M. Ualerius Laeuinus consules reduxerant eum in urbem; sed erat ueste obsoleta capilloque et barba promissa, prae se ferens in uoltu habituque insignem memoriam ignominiae acceptae. L. Ueturius et P. Licinius censores eum tonderi et squalorem deponere et in senatum uenire fungique aliis publicis muneribus coegerunt; sed tum quoque aut uerbo adsentiebatur aut pedibus in sententiam ibat donec cognati hominis eum causa M. Liuii Macati, cum fama eius ageretur, stantem coegit in senatu sententiam dicere. tunc ex tanto interuallo auditus conuertit ora hominum in se, causamque sermonibus praebuit indigno iniuriam a populo factam magnoque id damno fuisse quod tam graui bello nec opera nec consilio talis uiri usa res publica esset: C. Neroni neque Q. Fabium neque M. Ualerium Laeuinum dari collegam posse quia duos patricios creari non liceret; eandem causam in T. Manlio esse praeterquam quod recusasset delatum consulatum recusaturusque esset; egregium par consulum fore, si M. Liuium C. Claudio collegam adiunxissent.

About the eighth year after his condemnation, M. Claudius Marcellus and M. Valerius Laevinus, consuls, had brought him back into the city; but he was in shabby dress and with hair and beard grown long, bearing before him in his face and attire a conspicuous memorial of the ignominy received. L. Veturius and P. Licinius, censors, compelled him to be shorn and to lay aside his squalor and to come into the senate and to perform other public duties; but even then he either assented by word or went by his feet into the vote, until the case of a kinsman of his, that of M. Livius Macatus, when his repute was under discussion, compelled him, as he stood, to declare his opinion in the senate. Then, heard after so long an interval, he turned men’s faces toward himself, and furnished matter for talk that an injury had been done by the people to one undeserving it, and that it had been a great loss that in so grave a war the commonwealth had used neither the service nor the counsel of such a man: that to C. Nero neither Q. Fabius nor M. Valerius Laevinus could be given as colleague, because it was not permitted that two patricians be created; that the same reason held in the case of T. Manlius, besides the fact that he had refused the proffered consulship and would refuse it; that there would be an excellent pair of consuls if they joined M. Livius as colleague to C. Claudius.

nec populus mentionem eius rei ortam a patribus est aspernatus. unus eam rem in ciuitate is cui deferebatur honos abnuebat, leuitatem ciuitatis accusans: sordidati rei non miseritos candidam togam inuito offerre; eodem honores poenasque congeri. si uirum bonum ducerent, quid ita pro malo ac noxio damnassent?

Nor did the people spurn the mention of that matter, raised by the Fathers. The one person in the state who refused it was the very man to whom the honor was being conferred, accusing the levity of the state: that, not having pitied the case of a man in squalor, they were proffering the white toga to one unwilling; that honors and penalties were being heaped upon the same person. If they deemed him a good man, why then had they condemned him as an evil and noxious one?

si noxium comperissent, quid ita male credito priore consulatu alterum crederent? haec taliaque arguentem et querentem castigabant patres, et M. Furium memorantes reuocatum de exsilio patriam pulsam sede sua restituisse—ut parentium saeuitiam, sic patriae patiendo ac ferendo leniendam esse—, adnisi omnes cum <C.> Claudio M. Liuium consulem fecerunt.

if they had found him noxious, why, after discrediting his earlier consulship, would they entrust him with a second? As he was alleging these and suchlike things and complaining, the senators were chastising him, and, reminding him that M. Furius, recalled from exile, had restored his fatherland, driven from its own seat—just as the savagery of parents, so that of the fatherland must be softened by enduring and bearing it—they all strove and made M. Livius consul with <C.> Claudius.

[35] Post diem tertium eius diei praetorum comitia habita. praetores creati L. Porcius Licinus C. Mamilius C. et A. Hostilii Catones. comitiis perfectis ludisque factis dictator et magister equitum magistratu abierunt.

[35] On the third day after that day the elections of the praetors were held. The praetors elected were Lucius Porcius Licinus, Gaius Mamilius, and Gaius and Aulus Hostilius Cato. With the comitia completed and the games held, the dictator and the master of the horse left office.

C. Terentius Uarro in Etruriam pro praetore missus ut ex ea prouincia C. Hostilius Tarentum ad eum exercitum iret quem T. Quinctius consul habuerat; et L. Manlius trans mare legatus iret uiseretque quae res ibi gererentur; simul quod Olympiae ludicrum ea aestate futurum erat quod maximo coetu Graeciae celebraretur, ut si tuto per hostem posset adiret id concilium ut qui Siculi bello ibi profugi aut Tarentini ciues relegati ab Hannibale essent, domos redirent scirentque sua omnia iis quae ante bellum habuissent reddere populum Romanum.

C. Terentius Varro was sent into Etruria as propraetor, so that from that province C. Hostilius might go to Tarentum to that army which the consul T. Quinctius had commanded; and that L. Manlius, as legate, might go across the sea and inspect what affairs were being transacted there; at the same time, because at Olympia that summer there would be a spectacle, which was celebrated with the greatest concourse of Greece, that, if he could safely through the enemy, he should approach that council, to the end that those who were Sicilians, refugees there because of the war, or Tarentine citizens relegated by Hannibal, might return home and should know that the Roman people would restore to them all their own things which they had possessed before the war.

Quia periculosissimus annus imminere uidebatur neque consules in re publica erant, in consules designatos omnes uersi quam primum eos sortiri prouincias et praesciscere quam quisque eorum prouinciam, quem hostem haberet uolebant. de reconciliatione etiam gratiae eorum in senatu actum est principio facto a Q. Fabio Maximo; inimicitiae autem nobiles inter eos erant et acerbiores eas indignioresque Liuio sua calamitas fecerat quod spretum se in ea fortuna credebat. itaque is magis implacabilis erat et nihil opus esse reconciliatione aiebat: acrius et intentius omnia gesturos timentes ne crescendi ex se inimico collegae potestas fieret.

Because a most perilous year seemed to be impending and there were no consuls in the republic, all turned to the consuls-designate, wanting them as soon as possible to draw lots for the provinces and to ascertain beforehand which province each of them would have, what enemy he would face. About the reconciliation of their favor, too, business was done in the senate, the initiative having been taken by Q. Fabius Maximus; but there were noble enmities between them, and his own calamity had made these more bitter and more offensive to Livius, because he believed himself to have been scorned in that fortune. And so he was the more implacable and said there was no need of reconciliation: they would carry on everything more sharply and more intently, fearing lest his colleague’s power for growth should be created by his being an enemy.

uicit tamen auctoritas senatus ut positis simultatibus communi animo consilioque administrarent rem publicam. prouinciae iis non permixtae regionibus, sicut superioribus annis, sed diuersae extremis Italiae finibus, alteri aduersus Hannibalem Bruttii et Lucani, alteri Gallia aduersus Hasdrubalem quem iam Alpibus adpropinquare fama erat, decreta; exercitum e duobus qui in Gallia quique in Etruria esset addito urbano eligeret quem mallet, qui Galliam esset sortitus: cui Bruttii prouincia euenisset, nouis legionibus urbanis scriptis utrius mallet consulum prioris anni exercitum sumeret; relictum a consule exercitum Q. Fuluius proconsul acciperet eique in annum imperium esset. et C. Hostilio, cui pro Etruria Tarentum mutauerant prouinciam, pro Tarento Capuam mutauerunt; legio una data cui Fuluius proximo anno praefuerat.

Nevertheless the authority of the senate prevailed, that, with rivalries laid aside, they should administer the commonwealth with a common spirit and counsel. Provinces for them, not commingled in regions as in earlier years, but diverse at the far confines of Italy, were decreed: to the one, Bruttium and Lucania against Hannibal; to the other, Gaul against Hasdrubal, whom report already had approaching the Alps. The one who should have drawn Gaul by lot was to choose, from the two armies— that in Gaul and that in Etruria— with the Urban army added, whichever he preferred; for him to whom the province of Bruttium had fallen, once new Urban legions were enrolled, he was to take the army of whichever of the consuls of the previous year he preferred. Quintus Fulvius, proconsul, was to take over the army left by the consul, and to him command for a year was to belong. And for Gaius Hostilius, to whom they had changed the province from Etruria to Tarentum, they changed it from Tarentum to Capua; one legion was assigned, the one which Fulvius had commanded the previous year.

[36] De Hasdrubalis aduentu in Italiam cura in dies crescebat. Massiliensium primum legati nuntiauerant eum in Galliam transgressum erectosque aduentu eius, quia magnum pondus auri attulisse diceretur ad mercede auxilia conducenda, Gallorum animos. missi deinde cum iis legati ab Roma Sex.

[36] Concern about Hasdrubal’s advent into Italy was increasing by the day. The envoys of the Massiliots had first reported that he had crossed into Gaul, and that the spirits of the Gauls were raised by his arrival, because he was said to have brought a great weight of gold for hiring auxiliaries for pay. Then, along with them, envoys were sent from Rome, Sextus.

Antistius et M. Raecius ad rem inspiciendam rettulerant misisse se cum Massiliensibus ducibus qui per hospites eorum principes Gallorum omnia explorata referrent; pro comperto habere Hasdrubalem ingenti iam coacto exercitu proximo uere Alpes traiecturum, nec tum eum quicquam aliud morari nisi quod clausae hieme Alpes essent. in locum M. Marcelli P. Aelius Paetus augur creatus inauguratusque, et Cn. Cornelius Dolabella rex sacrorum inauguratus est in locum M. Marci qui biennio ante mortuus erat. hoc eodem anno et lustrum conditum est a censoribus P. Sempronio Tuditano et M. Cornelio Cethego.

Antistius and M. Raecius, for the purpose of inspecting the matter, had reported that they had sent men along with the Massilian leaders, who, through their hosts—the chiefs of the Gauls—would bring back everything reconnoitered; that they held as certain that Hasdrubal, with a huge army already assembled, would cross the Alps in the coming spring, and that nothing then delayed him except that the Alps were shut by winter. In the place of M. Marcellus, P. Aelius Paetus was created augur and inaugurated, and Cn. Cornelius Dolabella was inaugurated king of the sacred rites in the place of M. Marcius, who had died two years before. In this same year also the lustrum was closed by the censors P. Sempronius Tuditanus and M. Cornelius Cethegus.

censa ciuium capita centum triginta septem milia centum octo, minor aliquanto numerus quam qui ante bellum fuerat. eo anno primum ex quo Hannibal in Italiam uenisset comitium tectum esse memoriae proditum est, et ludos Romanos semel instauratos ab aedilibus curulibus Q. Metello et C. Seruilio. et plebeiis ludis biduum instauratum a C. Mamilio et M. Caecilio Metello aedilibus plebis; et tria signa ad Cereris iidem dederunt; et Iouis epulum fuit ludorum causa.

The heads of citizens registered were 137,108, a number somewhat smaller than that which had been before the war. In that year, for the first time since Hannibal had come into Italy, it is handed down to memory that the Comitium was roofed; and the Roman Games were once renewed by the curule aediles Q. Metellus and C. Servilius. And at the Plebeian Games a two-day renewal was made by C. Mamilius and M. Caecilius Metellus, plebeian aediles; and the same men gave three statues to Ceres; and there was an Epulum of Jupiter for the sake of the games.

consulatum inde ineunt C. Claudius Nero et M. Liuius iterum, qui quia iam designati prouincias sortiti erant, praetores sortiti iusserunt. C. Hostilio iurisdictio urbana euenit; addita et peregrina, ut tres in prouincias exire possent. A. Hostilio Sardinia, C. Mamilio Sicilia, L. Porcio Gallia euenit.

then Gaius Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius, for a second time, enter upon the consulship; and because they, already designated, had by lot assigned their provinces, they ordered the praetors to draw lots. To Gaius Hostilius the urban jurisdiction fell; and the peregrine jurisdiction was added as well, so that three might be able to go out to their provinces. To Aulus Hostilius Sardinia fell, to Gaius Mamilius Sicily, to Lucius Porcius Gaul.

summa legionum trium et uiginti ita per prouincias diuisa: binae consulum essent, quattuor Hispania haberet, binas tres praetores, in Sicilia et Sardinia et Gallia, duas C. Terentius in Etruria, duas Q. Fuluius in Bruttiis, duas Q. Claudius circa Tarentum et Sallentinos, unam C. Hostilius Tubulus Capuae; duae urbanae ut scriberentur. primis quattuor legionibus populus tribunos creauit: in ceteras consules miserunt.

the total of the legions, 23, was thus divided among the provinces: the consuls were to have two apiece, Spain was to have four, the three praetors, in Sicily and Sardinia and Gaul, two apiece, C. Terentius in Etruria two, Q. Fulvius in the Bruttii two, Q. Claudius around Tarentum and the Sallentini two, C. Hostilius Tubulus at Capua one; and that two urban legions be enrolled. For the first four legions the people created tribunes; for the rest the consuls sent them.

[37] Priusquam consules proficiscerentur nouendiale sacrum fuit quia Ueiis de caelo lapidauerat. sub unius prodigii, ut fit, mentionem alia quoque nuntiata: Minturnis aedem Iouis et lucum Maricae, item Atellae murum et portam de caelo tactam; Minturnenses, terribilius quod esset, adiciebant sanguinis riuum in porta fluxisse; et Capuae lupus nocte portam ingressus uigilem laniauerat. haec procurata hostiis maioribus prodigia et supplicatio diem unum fuit ex decreto pontificum.

[37] Before the consuls set out there was a novendial sacrifice, because at Veii stones had rained from the sky. Under the mention of one prodigy, as often happens, others too were reported: at Minturnae the temple of Jupiter and the grove of Marica, likewise at Atella the wall and the gate, had been struck from the sky; the Minturnans, as it was more terrifying, added that a stream of blood had flowed at the gate; and at Capua a wolf by night entered the gate and had torn the watchman to pieces. These prodigies were expiated with greater victims, and, by decree of the pontiffs, there was a supplication for one day.

inde iterum nouendiale instauratum quod in Armilustro lapidibus uisum pluere. liberatas religione mentes turbauit rursus nuntiatum Frusinone natum esse infantem quadrimo parem nec magnitudine tam mirandum quam quod is quoque, ut Sinuessae biennio ante, incertus mas an femina esset natus erat. id uero haruspices ex Etruria acciti foedum ac turpe prodigium dicere: extorrem agro Romano, procul terrae contactu, alto mergendum.

then again a nine-day rite was renewed because at the Armilustrum it was seen to rain stones. minds freed from religious scruple were again disturbed by the report that at Frusino an infant had been born equal to a four-year-old; and not so much to be wondered at for its size as that it too, as at Sinuessa two years before, had been born uncertain whether male or female. the haruspices, summoned from Etruria, said this was a foul and shameful prodigy: it must be driven out from Roman territory, far from any contact with earth, to be sunk in the deep.

uiuum in arcam condidere prouectumque in mare proiecerunt. decreuere item pontifices ut uirgines ter nouenae per urbem euntes carmen canerent. id cum in Iouis Statoris aede discerent conditum ab Liuio poeta carmen, tacta de caelo aedis in Auentino Iunonis reginae; prodigiumque id ad matronas pertinere haruspices cum respondissent donoque diuam placandam esse, aedilium curulium edicto in Capitolium conuocatae quibus in urbe Romana intraque decimum lapidem ab urbe domicilia essent, ipsae inter se quinque et uiginti delegerunt ad quas ex dotibus stipem conferrent; inde donum peluis aurea facta lataque in Auentinum, pureque et caste a matronis sacrificatum.

they placed him alive in a chest and, when he had been carried out to the sea, they threw him in. The pontiffs likewise decreed that thrice nine virgins, going through the city, should sing a carmen. While they were learning the song in the temple of Jupiter Stator, composed by the poet Livius, the temple of Juno the Queen on the Aventine was struck from the sky; and when the haruspices replied that that prodigy pertained to the matrons and that the goddess must be appeased by a gift, the matrons were called together to the Capitol by edict of the curule aediles—those whose dwellings were in the city of Rome and within the tenth milestone from the city; they themselves among themselves chose five and twenty to whom they should contribute a collection from their dowries; then a gift, a golden basin, was made and carried to the Aventine, and, purely and chastely, sacrifice was offered by the matrons.

confestim ad aliud sacrificium eidem diuae ab decemuiris edicta dies, cuius ordo talis fuit. ab aede Apollinis boues feminae albae duae porta Carmentali in urbem ductae; post eas duo signa cupressea Iunonis reginae portabantur; tum septem et uiginti uirgines, longam indutae uestem, carmen in Iunonem reginam canentes ibant, illa tempestate forsitan laudabile rudibus ingeniis, nunc abhorrens et inconditum si referatur; uirginum ordinem sequebantur decemuiri coronati laurea praetextatique. a porta Iugario uico in forum uenere; in foro pompa constitit et per manus reste data uirgines sonum uocis pulsu pedum modulantes incesserunt.

Immediately a day was appointed by the decemvirs for another sacrifice to the same goddess, the order of which was as follows. From the temple of Apollo two white cows were led into the city through the Carmental Gate; after them two cypress-wood images of Queen Juno were carried; then 27 maidens, clothed in a long garment, went singing a hymn to Queen Juno—at that season perhaps laudable to unpolished talents, now, if it were reproduced, abhorrent and unshaped; the line of maidens was followed by the decemvirs, crowned with laurel and wearing the praetexta. From the gate they came by the Vicus Iugarius into the Forum; in the Forum the procession halted, and, with a rope passed through their hands, the maidens advanced, modulating the sound of their voice with the beat of their feet.

inde uico Tusco Uelabroque per bouarium forum in cliuum Publicium atque aedem Iunonis reginae perrectum. ibi duae hostiae ab decemuiris immolatae et simulacra cupressea in aedem inlata.

thence by the Vicus Tuscus and the Velabrum through the Forum Boarium up the Clivus Publicius and to the temple of Juno Regina they proceeded. There two victims were immolated by the decemvirs, and the cypress images were brought into the temple.

[38] Deis rite placatis dilectum consules habebant acrius intentiusque quam prioribus annis quisquam meminerat habitum; nam et belli terror duplicatus noui hostis in Italiam aduentu et minus iuuentutis erat unde scriberent milites. itaque colonos etiam maritimos, qui sacrosanctam uacationem dicebantur habere, dare milites cogebant. quibus recusantibus edixere in diem certam ut quo quisque iure uacationem haberet ad senatum deferret.

[38] With the gods duly appeased, the consuls were holding the levy more sharply and more intently than anyone remembered as having been held in earlier years; for both the terror of war was doubled by the arrival of a new enemy into Italy, and there was less youth from which they might enroll soldiers. Therefore they even compelled the maritime colonists, who were said to have a sacrosanct exemption, to furnish soldiers. When these refused, they issued an edict for a fixed day, that each should refer to the senate by what right he held his exemption.

ea die ad senatum hi populi uenerunt, Ostiensis Alsiensis Antias Anxurnas Minturnensis Sinuessanus, et ab supero mari Senensis. cum uacationes suas quisque populus recitaret, nullius cum in Italia hostis esset praeter Antiatem Ostiensemque uacatio obseruata est; et earum coloniarum iuniores iure iurando adacti supra dies triginta non pernoctaturos se extra moenia coloniae suae donec hostis in Italia esset.

on that day these peoples came to the senate, the Ostian, Alsian, Antiate, Anxurnan, Minturnan, Sinuessan, and from the upper sea the Senan. While each people was reciting its exemptions, the exemption of no one was observed, since an enemy was in Italy, except that of the Antiate and the Ostian; and the younger men of those colonies were compelled by oath not to spend the night outside the walls of their own colony for more than thirty days, so long as an enemy was in Italy.

Cum omnes censerent primo quoque tempore consulibus eundum ad bellum—nam et Hasdrubali occurrendum esse descendenti ab Alpibus ne Gallos Cisalpinos neue Etruriam erectam in spem rerum nouarum sollicitaret, et Hannibalem suo proprio occupandum bello ne emergere ex Bruttiis atque obuiam ire fratri posset—, Liuius cunctabatur parum fidens suarum prouinciarum exercitibus: collegam ex duobus consularibus egregiis exercitibus et tertio cui Q. Claudius Tarenti praeesset electionem habere; intuleratque mentionem de uolonibus reuocandis ad signa. senatus liberam potestatem consulibus fecit et supplendi unde uellent et eligendi de omnibus exercitibus quos uellent permutandique ex prouinciis quos e re publica censerent esse traducendos. ea omnia cum summa concordia consulum acta.

When all were of the opinion that the consuls should go to war at the earliest possible time—for both Hasdrubal had to be met as he was descending from the Alps, lest he agitate the Cisalpine Gauls and Etruria, raised into hope of new things, and Hannibal had to be occupied with a war of his own, lest he be able to emerge from Bruttium and go to meet his brother—, Livius hesitated, having little confidence in the armies of his provinces: his colleague had the choice from two consular crack armies and a third, over which Quintus Claudius would be in command at Tarentum; and he had brought forward a proposal about recalling the volunteers to the standards. The senate granted to the consuls free authority both to replenish from wherever they wished and to choose from all the armies those they wished, and to exchange from the provinces those whom they judged, in the interest of the commonwealth, ought to be transferred. All these measures were transacted with the highest concord of the consuls.

uolones in undeuicensimam et uicensimam legiones scripti. magni roboris auxilia ex Hispania quoque a P. Scipione M. Liuio missa quidam ad id bellum auctores sunt, octo milia Hispanorum Gallorumque et duo milia de legione militum, equitum mille octingentos mixtos Numidas Hispanosque; M. Lucretium has copias nauibus aduexisse; et sagittariorum funditorumque ad tria milia ex Sicilia C. Mamilium misisse.

Volunteers were enrolled into the 19th and 20th legions. Some authorities assert that auxiliaries of great strength were also sent from Spain by P. Scipio to M. Livius for that war: 8,000 Spaniards and Gauls and 2,000 legionary soldiers; of cavalry, 1,800, mixed Numidians and Spaniards. M. Lucretius conveyed these forces by ships; and from Sicily C. Mamilius sent up to 3,000 archers and slingers.

[39] Auxerunt Romae tumultum litterae ex Gallia allatae ab L. Porcio praetore: Hasdrubalem mouisse ex hibernis et iam Alpes transire; octo milia Ligurum conscripta armataque coniunctura se transgresso in Italiam esse nisi mitteretur in Ligures qui eos bello occuparet; se cum inualido exercitu quoad tutum putaret progressurum. hae litterae consules raptim confecto dilectu maturius quam constituerant exire in prouincias coegerunt ea mente ut uterque hostem in sua prouincia contineret neque coniungi aut conferre in unum uires pateretur. plurimum in eam rem adiuuit opinio Hannibalis quod, etsi ea aestate transiturum in Italiam fratrem crediderat, recordando quae ipse in transitu nunc Rhodani nunc Alpium cum hominibus locisque pugnando per quinque menses exhausisset, haudquaquam tam facilem maturumque transitum exspectabat; ea tardius mouendi ex hibernis causa fuit.

[39] The letters brought from Gaul by the praetor L. Porcius increased the tumult at Rome: that Hasdrubal had moved from his winter-quarters and was now crossing the Alps; that eight thousand Ligurians had been enrolled and armed, and would join him once he had crossed over into Italy, unless someone were sent against the Ligurians to occupy them with war; that he himself, with an enfeebled army, would advance as far as he deemed safe. These letters, the levy having been hastily completed, compelled the consuls to go out to their provinces earlier than they had arranged, with this intention: that each should confine the enemy in his own province and not allow them to unite or to bring their forces together into one. Hannibal’s opinion contributed very much to that plan, because, although he had believed that his brother would cross into Italy that summer, by recalling how in his own crossing—now at the Rhone, now at the Alps—he had worn himself out for five months by fighting with both men and terrain, he by no means expected so easy and early a passage; this was the reason for moving more slowly from the winter-quarters.

ceterum Hasdrubali et sua et aliorum spe omnia celeriora atque expeditiora fuere. non enim receperunt modo Aruerni eum deincepsque aliae Gallicae atque Alpinae gentes, sed etiam secutae sunt ad bellum; et cum per munita pleraque transitu fratris quae antea inuia fuerant ducebat, tum etiam duodecim annorum adsuetudine peruiis Alpibus factis inter mitiora iam transibant hominum ingenia. inuisitati namque antea alienigenis nec uidere ipsi aduenam in sua terra adsueti, omni generi humano insociabiles erant; et primo ignari quo Poenus pergeret suas rupes suaque castella et pecorum hominumque praedam peti crediderant; fama deinde Punici belli quo duodecimum annum Italia urebatur satis edocuerat uiam tantum Alpes esse; duas praeualidas urbes magno inter se maris terrarumque spatio discretas de imperio et opibus certare.

However, for Hasdrubal, by his own hope and that of others, all things were swifter and more expeditious. For not only did the Arverni receive him, and thereafter other Gallic and Alpine peoples, but they even followed to war; and whereas he led through most places made secure by his brother’s transit—places which previously had been trackless—then also, with the Alps made passable by the habituation of twelve years, they were now passing among gentler dispositions of men. For, unvisited previously by foreigners and themselves not accustomed to see a newcomer in their land, they had been unsociable to every kind of humankind; and at first, unaware whither the Carthaginian was proceeding, they had believed that their own crags and strongholds and the booty of their cattle and men were being sought. Then the report of the Punic war, by which Italy was being scorched for the twelfth year, had sufficiently taught that the Alps were only the road: that two very powerful cities, separated from one another by a great expanse of sea and lands, were contending for dominion and resources.

Hae causae aperuerant Alpes Hasdrubali. ceterum quod celeritate itineris profectum erat, id mora ad Placentiam dum frustra obsidet magis quam oppugnat corrupit. crediderat campestris oppidi facilem expugnationem esse, et nobilitas coloniae induxerat eum, magnum se excidio eius urbis terrorem ceteris ratum iniecturum.

These causes had opened the Alps to Hasdrubal. But what had been gained by the speed of the march was spoiled by the delay at Placentia, while he in vain besieges rather than assaults. He had believed the expugnation of the town on the plain to be easy, and the nobility of the colony had led him on, that by the destruction of that city he would assuredly inject a great terror into the rest.

non ipse se solum ea oppugnatione impediit, sed Hannibalem post famam transitus eius tanto spe sua celeriorem iam mouentem ex hibernis continuerat, quippe reputantem non solum quam lenta urbium oppugnatio esset sed etiam quam ipse frustra eandem illam coloniam ab Trebia uictor regressus temptasset.

he not only hindered himself by that assault, but had also held Hannibal back, after the report of his crossing, already moving from winter quarters all the faster in his own hope; for he was reckoning not only how slow the siege of cities was, but also how he himself, returning as victor from the Trebia, had in vain attempted that same colony.

[40] Consules diuersis itineribus profecti ab urbe uelut in duo pariter bella distenderant curas hominum, simul recordantium quas primus aduentus Hannibalis intulisset Italiae clades, simul cum illa angeret cura, quos tam propitios urbi atque imperio fore deos ut eodem tempore utrobique res publica prospere gereretur? adhuc aduersa secundis pensando rem ad id tempus extractam esse. cum in Italia ad Trasumennum et Cannas praecipitasset Romana res, prospera bella in Hispania prolapsam eam erexisse; postea, cum in Hispania alia super aliam clades duobus egregiis ducibus amissis duos exercitus ex parte delesset, multa secunda in Italia Siciliaque gesta quassatam rem publicam excepisse; et ipsum interuallum loci, quod in ultimis terrarum oris alterum bellum gereretur, spatium dedisse ad respirandum.

[40] The consuls, having set out from the city by diverse routes, had, as it were, stretched the anxieties of men into two wars at once—men at the same time recalling what disasters Hannibal’s first arrival had brought upon Italy, and at the same time tormented by this care: what gods would be so propitious to the City and the Empire that at the same moment on both sides the commonwealth would be conducted prosperously? By weighing adversities against successes, they judged that the state had been dragged along to that time: when in Italy at Trasimene and Cannae the Roman cause had plunged headlong, successful wars in Spain had raised it up when it had slipped; afterward, when in Spain disaster upon disaster, with two outstanding commanders lost, had in part destroyed two armies, many favorable achievements in Italy and Sicily had supported the shaken commonwealth; and the very interval of distance—because the other war was being waged on the farthest borders of the earth—had given breathing-space.

nunc duo bella in Italiam accepta, duo celeberrimi nominis duces circumstare urbem Romanam, et unum in locum totam periculi molem, omne onus incubuisse. qui eorum prior uicisset, intra paucos dies castra cum altero iuncturum. terrebat et proximus annus lugubris duorum consulum funeribus.

now two wars had been admitted into Italy, two generals of most celebrated name were encircling the Roman city, and upon one place the whole mass of peril, the entire onus had pressed. whichever of them should first be victorious would, within a few days, join camp with the other. and the nearest year too was terrifying, lugubrious with the funerals of two consuls.

his anxii curis homines digredientes in prouincias consules prosecuti sunt. memoriae proditum est plenum adhuc irae in ciues M. Liuium ad bellum proficiscentem monenti Q. Fabio ne priusquam genus hostium cognosset temere manum consereret, respondisse ubi primum hostium agmen conspexisset pugnaturum. cum quaereretur quae causa festinandi esset, 'aut ex hoste egregiam gloriam' inquit 'aut ex ciuibus uictis gaudium meritum certe, etsi non honestum, capiam'.

With these anxious cares, men escorted the consuls departing into their provinces. It has been handed down to memory that M. Livius, still full of anger against his fellow citizens, as he was setting out to war, when Q. Fabius was warning him not to join battle rashly before he had learned the kind of enemy, replied that he would fight as soon as he had caught sight of the first battle-line of the enemy. When it was asked what the cause of his hastening was, he said, 'either from the foe I shall seize distinguished glory, or from citizens once conquered a joy deserved indeed, although not honorable, I shall take.'

Priusquam Claudius consul in prouinciam perueniret per extremum finem agri ~Larinatis ducentem in Sallentinos exercitum Hannibalem expeditis cohortibus adortus C. Hostilius Tubulus incomposito agmini terribilem tumultum intulit; ad quattuor milia hominum occidit, nouem signa militaria cepit. mouerat ex hibernis ad famam hostis Q. Claudius, qui per urbes agri Sallentini castra disposita habebat. itaque ne cum duobus exercitibus simul confligeret Hannibal nocte castra ex agro Tarentino mouit atque in Bruttios concessit.

Before the consul Claudius arrived in his province, as Hannibal was leading his army along the farthest border of the Larinian territory into the Salentines, C. Hostilius Tubulus, with light-armed cohorts, assailed him and brought a terrible tumult upon his disordered column; he killed about four thousand men and captured 9 military standards. At the rumor of the enemy, Q. Claudius had moved from winter quarters, who had his camp disposed among the cities of the Salentine territory. And so, lest he should engage at once with two armies, Hannibal by night moved his camp out of the Tarentine land and withdrew into Bruttium.

Claudius in Sallentinos agmen conuertit, Hostilius Capuam petens obuius ad Uenusiam fuit consuli Claudio. ibi ex utroque exercitu electa peditum quadraginta milia, duo milia et quingenti equites, quibus consul aduersus Hannibalem rem gereret: reliquas copias Hostilius Capuam ducere iussus ut Q. Fuluio proconsuli traderet.

Claudius turned his column into the territory of the Sallentini; Hostilius, making for Capua, met the consul Claudius near Venusia. There were selected from both armies forty thousand infantry, and two thousand five hundred cavalry, with which the consul might conduct the operation against Hannibal; Hostilius was ordered to lead the remaining forces to Capua to hand them over to Q. Fulvius, the proconsul.

[41] Hannibal undique contracto exercitu quem in hibernis aut in praesidiis agri Bruttii habuerat, in Lucanos ad Grumentum uenit spe recipiendi oppida quae per metum ad Romanos defecissent. eodem a Uenusia consul Romanus exploratis itineribus contendit et mille fere et quingentos passus castra locat ab hoste. Grumenti moenibus prope iniunctum uidebatur Poenorum uallum; quingenti passus intererant.

[41] Hannibal, having on every side drawn together the army which he had had in winter quarters or in the garrisons of the Bruttian territory, came into the Lucanians to Grumentum in the hope of recovering the towns which had defected to the Romans through fear. To the same place from Venusia the Roman consul, the routes having been reconnoitered, hastened, and he pitches camp about one thousand five hundred paces from the enemy. The Punic rampart seemed almost joined to the walls of Grumentum; five hundred paces intervened.

castra Punica ac Romana interiacebat campus: colles imminebant nudi sinistro lateri Carthaginiensium, dextro Romanorum, neutris suspecti quod nihil siluae neque ad insidias latebrarum habebant. in medio campo ab stationibus procursantes certamina haud satis digna dictu serebant. id modo Romanum quaerere apparebat ne abire hostem pateretur: Hannibal inde euadere cupiens totis uiribus in aciem descendebat.

A plain lay between the Punic and Roman camps: bare hills overhung the left flank of the Carthaginians and the right of the Romans, suspect to neither, because they had no woods nor hiding-places for ambuscades. In the middle of the plain, men sallying out from the outposts were carrying on contests not quite worthy to be told. It appeared that the Roman sought only this—that he should not allow the enemy to depart; Hannibal, wishing to get out from there, with all his strength came down into the battle-line.

tum consul ingenio hostis usus, quo minus in tam apertis collibus timeri insidiae poterant, quinque cohortes additis quinque manipulis nocte iugum superare et in auersis collibus considere iubet: tempus exsurgendi ex insidiis et adgrediendi hostem Ti. Claudium Asellum tribunum militum et P. Claudium praefectum socium edocet, quos cum iis mittebat. ipse luce prima copias omnes peditum equitumque in aciem eduxit. paulo post et ab Hannibale signum pugnae propositum est clamorque in castris ad arma discurrentium est sublatus; inde eques pedesque certatim portis ruere ac palati per campum properare ad hostes.

Then the consul, using the enemy’s disposition—whereby on such open hills ambushes could the less be feared—orders five cohorts, with five maniples added, by night to surmount the ridge and to take position on the reverse slopes; he instructs Tiberius Claudius Asellus, tribune of the soldiers, and Publius Claudius, prefect of the allies, whom he was sending with them, as to the time for rising from the ambuscade and assailing the enemy. He himself at first light led out all the forces of infantry and cavalry into battle line. A little after, the signal for battle was likewise displayed by Hannibal, and a shout was raised in the camp as men ran about to arms; from there horse and foot in emulation rushed from the gates and, scattered over the plain, hastened toward the enemy.

quos ubi effusos consul uidet, tribuno militum tertiae legionis C. Aurunculeio imperat ut equites legionis quanto maximo impetu possit in hostem emittat: ita pecorum modo incompositos toto passim se campo fudisse ut sterni obterique priusquam instruantur possint.

When the consul sees them poured out, he orders Gaius Aurunculeius, military tribune of the Third Legion, to send out the legion’s cavalry against the enemy with as great an onset as he can: thus, like cattle, they have scattered themselves, uncomposed, everywhere over the whole field, so that they can be strewn down and crushed before they can be drawn up.

[42] Nondum Hannibal e castris exierat cum pugnantium clamorem audiuit; itaque excitus tumultu raptim ad hostem copias agit. iam primos occupauerat equestris terror; peditum etiam prima legio et dextra ala proelium inibat. incompositi hostes, ut quemque aut pediti aut equiti casus obtulit, ita conserunt manus.

[42] Hannibal had not yet gone out from the camp when he heard the shouting of the combatants; therefore, roused by the tumult, he swiftly drives his forces against the enemy. Already the foremost had been overtaken by cavalry terror; the first legion of the infantry and the right wing as well were entering battle. Unarrayed, the enemy, as chance offered each man either to a foot-soldier or a horseman, thus join combat.

crescit pugna subsidiis et procurrentium ad certamen numero augetur; pugnantesque —quod nisi in uetere exercitu et duce ueteri haud facile est—inter tumultum ac terrorem instruxisset Hannibal, ni cohortium ac manipulorum decurrentium per colles clamor ab tergo auditus metum ne intercluderentur a castris iniecisset. inde pauor incussus et fuga passim fieri coepta est; minorque caedes fuit, quia propinquitas castrorum breuiorem fugam perculsis fecit. equites enim tergo inhaerebant; in transuersa latera inuaserant cohortes secundis collibus uia nuda ac facili decurrentes.

the battle grows with reinforcements and is increased by the number of those running forward to the contest; and Hannibal would have drawn up the combatants — which is not easy unless in a veteran army and with a veteran leader — amid tumult and terror, if the shout of the cohorts and maniples running down over the hills, heard from the rear, had not injected fear that they would be cut off from the camp. Then panic was struck in, and flight began to occur everywhere; the slaughter was smaller, because the nearness of the camp made the flight of the stricken shorter. For the horsemen were clinging to their rear; the cohorts had attacked the flanks athwart, running down from favoring hills along a road bare and easy.

tamen supra octo milia hominum occisa, [supra] septingenti capti; signa militaria nouem adempta; elephanti etiam, quorum nullus usus in repentina ac tumultuaria pugna fuerat, quattuor occisi, duo capti. circa quingentos Romanorum sociorumque uictores ceciderunt.

nevertheless more than eight thousand men were slain, [more than] seven hundred captured; nine military standards were taken; the elephants too—of which there had been no use in the sudden and tumultuary battle—four were killed, two captured. around five hundred of the victors, Romans and allies, fell.

Postero die Poenus quieuit: Romanus, in aciem copiis eductis postquam neminem signa contra efferre uidit, spolia legi caesorum hostium et suorum corpora conlata in unum sepeliri iussit. inde insequentibus continuis diebus aliquot ita institit portis ut prope inferre signa uideretur, donec Hannibal tertia uigilia crebris ignibus tabernaculisque quae pars castrorum ad hostes uergebat et Numidis paucis qui in uallo portisque se ostenderent relictis profectus Apuliam petere intendit. ubi inluxit, successit uallo Romana acies, et Numidae ex composito paulisper in portis se ualloque ostentauere, frustratique aliquamdiu hostes citatis equis agmen suorum adsequuntur.

On the next day the Carthaginian kept quiet: the Roman, after he had led out his forces into the battle-line and saw that no one was carrying out standards against him, ordered the spoils of the slain enemies to be gathered and the bodies of his own, brought together in one place, to be buried. Thence, for several successive days, he so pressed the gates that he seemed about to bring the standards almost up, until Hannibal, at the third watch, with numerous fires and tents left on the side of the camp that faced the enemy, and with a few Numidians left to show themselves on the rampart and at the gates, set out, intending to make for Apulia. When it grew light, the Roman battle-line advanced to the rampart, and the Numidians, by pre-arrangement, for a little while displayed themselves in the gates and on the rampart, and, having for some time frustrated the enemy, with horses sped on they overtake the column of their own men.

consul ubi silentium in castris et ne paucos quidem qui prima luce obambulauerant parte ulla cernebat, duobus equitibus speculatum in castra praemissis postquam satis tuta omnia esse exploratum est, inferri signa iussit; tantumque ibi moratus dum milites ad praedam discurrunt receptui deinde cecinit multoque ante noctem copias reduxit. postero die prima luce profectus magnis itineribus famam et uestigia agminis sequens haud procul Uenusia hostem adsequitur. ibi quoque tumultuaria pugna fuit; supra duo milia Poenorum caesa.

When the consul, seeing silence in the camp and perceiving in no quarter even a few who at first light had been strolling about, had sent forward two horsemen to reconnoiter the camp, and after it was ascertained that all was sufficiently safe, he ordered the standards to be carried in; and, having tarried there only so long as the soldiers ran about for plunder, he then sounded the recall and, well before night, led the forces back. On the next day, setting out at first light and by great marches following the report and the tracks of the column, he comes up with the enemy not far from Venusia. There too there was a tumultuary fight; above 2,000 Carthaginians were slain.

inde nocturnis montanisque itineribus Poenus ne locum pugnandi daret Metapontum petiit. Hanno inde—is enim praesidio eius loci praefuerat—in Bruttios cum paucis ad exercitum nouum comparandum missus: Hannibal copiis eius ad suas additis Uenusiam retro quibus uenerat itineribus repetit atque inde Canusium procedit. nunquam Nero uestigiis hostis abstiterat et Q. Fuluium, cum Metapontum ipse proficisceretur, in Lucanos ne regio ea sine praesidio esset arcessierat.

Thence, by nocturnal and mountainous marches, the Carthaginian, in order not to give a place for fighting, made for Metapontum. Hanno from there—for he had been in command of the garrison of that place—was sent into the Bruttii with a few men to assemble a new army; Hannibal, after adding those troops to his own, retraced to Venusia by the routes by which he had come and from there proceeded to Canusium. Nero had never ceased from the enemy’s tracks, and he had summoned Q. Fulvius into the Lucanians, while he himself was setting out to Metapontum, lest that region be without a garrison.

[43] Inter haec ab Hasdrubale postquam a Placentiae obsidione abscessit quattuor Galli equites, duo Numidae cum litteris missi ad Hannibalem cum per medios hostes totam ferme longitudinem Italiae emensi essent, dum Metapontum cedentem Hannibalem sequuntur incertis itineribus Tarentum delati, a uagis per agros pabulatoribus Romanis ad Q. Claudium propraetorem deducuntur. eum primo incertis implicantes responsis ut metus tormentorum admotus fateri uera coegit, edocuerunt litteras se ab Hasdrubale ad Hannibalem ferre. cum iis litteris, sicut erant, signatis L. Uerginio tribuno militum ducendi ad Claudium consulem traduntur; duae simul turmae Samnitium praesidii causa missae.

[43] Meanwhile, after Hasdrubal had withdrawn from the siege of Placentia, four Gallic horsemen and two Numidians, sent with letters to Hannibal, after they had traversed almost the whole length of Italy through the midst of the enemy, while they were following Hannibal as he was retreating to Metapontum by uncertain routes, were carried off to Tarentum, and by Roman foragers wandering through the fields were brought to Q. Claudius, the propraetor. Entangling him at first with uncertain, evasive answers, when the fear of torture was applied and they were forced to confess the truth, they made it known that they were bearing letters from Hasdrubal to Hannibal. With those letters, just as they were, sealed, they were handed over to L. Verginius, tribune of soldiers, to be led to Claudius the consul; at the same time two squadrons of Samnites were sent for protection.

qui ubi ad consulem peruenerunt litteraeque lectae per interpretem sunt et ex captiuis percontatio facta, tum Claudius non id tempus esse rei publicae ratus quo consiliis ordinariis prouinciae suae quisque finibus per exercitus suos cum hoste destinato ab senatu bellum gereret—audendum ac nouandum aliquid improuisum, inopinatum, quod coeptum non minorem apud ciues quam hostes terrorem faceret, perpetratum in magnam laetitiam ex magno metu uerteret—, litteris Hasdrubalis Romam ad senatum missis simul et ipse patres conscriptos quid pararet edocet; monet ut cum in Umbria se occursurum Hasdrubal fratri scribat legionem a Capua Romam arcessant, dilectum Romae habeant, exercitum urbanum ad Narniam hosti opponant. haec senatu scripta. praemissi item per agrum Larinatem Marrucinum Frentanum Praetutianum, qua exercitum ducturus erat, ut omnes ex agris urbibusque commeatus paratos militi ad uescendum in uiam deferrent, equos iumentaque alia producerent ut uehiculorum fessis copia esset.

when they had reached the consul and the letters had been read through an interpreter and an interrogation had been conducted from the captives, then Claudius, thinking that this was not a time for the commonwealth when, by ordinary counsels, each would wage war within the borders of his own province with his own armies against an enemy assigned by the senate—something must be dared and innovated, unforeseen, unexpected, which, once begun, would create no less terror among the citizens than among the enemies, but, once carried through, would turn great fear into great rejoicing—sent Hasdrubal’s letters to Rome to the senate, and at the same time himself informs the Conscript Fathers what he is preparing; he advises that, since Hasdrubal writes that he will meet his brother in Umbria, they should summon a legion from Capua to Rome, hold a levy at Rome, and set the urban army over against the enemy at Narnia. These things were written to the senate. Likewise men were sent ahead through the Larinatian, Marrucinian, Frentanian, and Praetutian country, where he was going to lead the army, that all from fields and towns should carry down onto the road provisions prepared for the soldier to feed upon, and should bring out horses and other draught-animals, so that there might be an abundance of vehicles for the weary.

ipse de toto exercitu ciuium sociorumque quod roboris erat delegit, sex milia peditum, mille equites; pronuntiat occupare se in Lucanis proximam urbem Punicumque in ea praesidium uelle; ut ad iter parati omnes essent. profectus nocte flexit in Picenum. et consul quidem quantis maximis itineribus poterat ad collegam ducebat, relicto Q. Catio legato qui castris praeesset.

he himself, from the whole army of citizens and allies, chose what was the strength: 6,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry; he announces that he is going to occupy the nearest city among the Lucanians and wants a Punic garrison in it; that all should be prepared for the march. Setting out by night, he turned into Picenum. And the consul indeed was leading to his colleague by the greatest marches he could, leaving the legate Q. Catius to command the camp.

[44] Romae haud minus terroris ac tumultus erat quam fuerat quadriennio ante cum castra Punica obiecta Romanis moenibus portisque fuerant. neque satis constabat animis tam audax iter consulis laudarent uituperarentne; apparebat, quo nihil iniquius est, ex euentu famam habiturum: castra prope Hannibalem hostem relicta sine duce cum exercitu cui detractum foret omne quod roboris, quod floris fuerit; et consulem in Lucanos ostendisse iter cum Picenum et Galliam peteret, castra relinquentem nulla alia re tutiora quam errore hostis qui ducem inde atque exercitus partem abisse ignoraret. quid futurum, si id palam fiat et aut insequi Neronem cum sex milibus armatorum profectum Hannibal toto exercitu uelit aut castra inuadere praedae relicta, sine uiribus, sine imperio, sine auspicio?

[44] At Rome there was no less terror and tumult than there had been four years before, when the Punic camp had been thrown up opposite the Roman walls and gates. Nor was it sufficiently settled in their minds whether they should praise or blame the consul’s so bold march; it was apparent—than which nothing is more inequitable—that he would have his fame from the outcome: the camp near Hannibal, the enemy, left without a leader, with an army from which all that was of strength, that was of the flower, had been taken away; and that the consul had pointed out a route into the Lucanians while he was actually making for Picenum and Gaul, leaving the camp protected by nothing else than the error of the enemy, who would be unaware that the general and part of the army had gone away. What will happen, if this becomes public, and either Hannibal should wish to pursue Nero, who has set out with 6,000 armed men, with his whole army, or to storm the camp, left as booty, without strength, without command, without auspices?

ueteres eius belli clades, duo consules proximo anno interfecti terrebant: et ea omnia accidisse cum unus imperator, unus exercitus hostium in Italia esset: nunc duo bella Punica facta, duos ingentes exercitus, duos prope Hannibales in Italia esse. quippe et Hasdrubalem patre eodem Hamilcare genitum, aeque impigrum ducem, per tot annos in Hispania Romano exercitatum bello, gemina uictoria insignem, duobus exercitibus cum clarissimis ducibus deletis. nam itineris quidem celeritate ex Hispania et concitatis ad arma Gallicis gentibus multo magis quam Hannibalem ipsum gloriari posse; quippe in iis locis hunc coegisse exercitum quibus ille maiorem partem militum fame ac frigore, quae miserrima mortis genera sint, amisisset.

the ancient calamities of that war, the two consuls slain in the previous year, were terrifying: and that all had happened when there was one commander, one army of the enemy in Italy; now two Punic wars had been made, two vast armies, almost two Hannibals, in Italy. For indeed Hasdrubal, begotten from the same father Hamilcar, a leader equally indefatigable, trained through so many years in Spain in war against the Roman, distinguished by twin victory, with two armies and their most illustrious commanders destroyed. For in the celerity of his march from Spain, and in having incited the Gallic nations to arms, he could boast much more than Hannibal himself; for in those regions this man had driven his army where that one had lost the greater part of his soldiers by hunger and cold, which are the most wretched kinds of death.

adiciebant etiam periti rerum Hispaniae haud cum ignoto eum duce C. Nerone congressurum sed quem in saltu impedito deprensus forte haud secus quam puerum conscribendis fallacibus condicionibus pacis frustratus elusisset. omnia maiora etiam uero praesidia hostium, minora sua, metu interprete semper in deteriora inclinato, ducebant.

Those experienced in the affairs of Spain also added that he would be coming to grips not with an unknown commander in Gaius Nero, but with one whom, when he himself had been caught by chance in a hindered pass, he had, no differently than a boy, foiled by drafting deceptive conditions of peace and had made sport of. They were construing everything—the enemy’s supports as even greater in truth, their own as smaller—fear as interpreter always inclined toward the worse.

[45] Nero postquam iam tantum interualli ab hoste fecerat ut detegi consilium satis tutum esset, paucis milites adloquitur. negat ullius consilium imperatoris in speciem audacius, re ipsa tutius fuisse quam suum: ad certam eos se uictoriam ducere; quippe ad quod bellum collega non ante quam ad satietatem ipsius peditum atque equitum datae ab senatu copiae fuissent, maiores instructioresque quam si aduersus ipsum Hannibalem iret, profectus sit, eos ipsos quantumcumque uirium momentum addiderint rem omnem inclinaturos. auditum modo in acie—nam ne ante audiatur, daturum operam—alterum consulem et alterum exercitum aduenisse haud dubiam uictoriam facturum.

[45] After Nero had now made so much interval from the enemy that for his plan to be uncovered would be safe enough, he addresses the soldiers in a few words. He says that no commander’s plan has been bolder in appearance, in reality safer, than his own: that he is leading them to a sure victory; for to that war his colleague had set out not before the forces granted by the senate, of infantry and cavalry, had been to his satiety, larger and better equipped than if he were going against Hannibal himself; those same forces, whatever increment of strength they add, will tip the whole affair. Once it is heard in the battle line—for he will take care that it not be heard before—that another consul and another army have arrived, it will make the victory beyond doubt.

famam bellum conficere et parua momenta in spem metumque impellere animos. gloriae quidem ex re bene gesta partae fructum prope omnem ipsos laturos; semper quod postremum adiectum sit id rem totam uideri traxisse. cernere ipsos quo concursu, qua admiratione, quo fauore hominum iter suum celebretur.

that rumor brings a war to completion, and slight moments impel minds into hope and fear. that they themselves will bear almost all the fruit of glory earned from a deed well done; that always what has been added last seems to have carried the whole affair. they see for themselves with what concourse, with what admiration, with what favor of men their march is celebrated.

Et hercule per instructa omnia ordinibus uirorum mulierumque undique ex agris effusorum inter uota ac preces et laudes ibant. illos praesidia rei publicae, uindices urbis Romanae imperiique appellabant: in illorum armis dextrisque suam liberorumque suorum salutem ac libertatem repositam esse. deos omnes deasque precabantur ut illis faustum iter, felix pugna, matura ex hostibus uictoria esset, damnarenturque ipsi uotorum quae pro iis suscepissent ut, quemadmodum nunc solliciti prosequerentur eos, ita paucos post dies laeti ouantibus uictoria obuiam irent.

And by Hercules, through everything arrayed, with ranks of men and women poured out from the fields on every side, they went amid vows and prayers and praises. They called them the bulwarks of the commonwealth, the vindicators of the Roman city and of the empire: that in their arms and right hands their own and their children’s safety and liberty were reposed. They prayed to all the gods and goddesses that for them the journey be auspicious, the fight happy, the victory over the enemies timely, and that they themselves be bound under the vows which they had undertaken for them, so that, just as now they anxiously attended them on their way, so a few days later they might go gladly to meet them, as they, in an ovation of victory, exulted.

inuitare inde pro se quisque et offerre et fatigare precibus ut quae ipsis iumentisque usui essent ab se potissimum sumerent; benigne omnia cumulata dare. modestia certare milites ne quid ultra usum necessarium sumerent; nihil morari, nec ab signis absistere cibum capientes; diem ac noctem ire; uix quod satis ad naturale desiderium corporum esset quieti dare. et ad collegam praemissi erant qui nuntiarent aduentum percontarenturque clam an palam, interdiu an noctu uenire sese uellet, iisdem an aliis considere castris.

thereupon each man for himself would invite and offer and wear them out with entreaties, that they should take from him above all whatever was of use to themselves and to the draft-animals; to give kindly all things heaped up. the soldiers vied in modesty, that they might take nothing beyond what was necessary for use; to delay nothing, nor, while taking food, to withdraw from the standards; to go by day and by night; to grant to rest scarcely what was enough for the natural desire of bodies. and men had been sent on ahead to the colleague to announce the arrival and to inquire whether he wished to come secretly or openly, by day or by night, to encamp in the same camp or in another.

nocte clam ingredi uisum est.

it seemed best to enter secretly by night.

[46] Tessera per castra ab Liuio consule data erat ut tribunus tribunum, centurio centurionem, eques equitem, pedes peditem acciperet: neque enim dilatari castra opus esse, ne hostis aduentum alterius consulis sentiret; et coartatio plurium in angusto tendentium facilior futura erat quod Claudianus exercitus nihil ferme praeter arma secum in expeditionem tulerat. ceterum in ipso itinere auctum uoluntariis agmen erat, offerentibus ultro sese et ueteribus militibus perfunctis iam militia et iuuenibus, quos certatim nomina dantes, si quorum corporis species roburque uirium aptum militiae uidebatur, conscripserat. ad Senam castra alterius consulis erant, et quingentos ferme [inde] passus Hasdrubal aberat.

[46] A tessera had been given through the camp by the consul Livius, that a tribune should receive a tribune, a centurion a centurion, a horseman a horseman, a foot-soldier a foot-soldier; for there was no need that the camp be enlarged, lest the enemy perceive the arrival of the other consul; and the constriction of more men pitching in a narrow space would be easier, because the Claudian army had brought with it on the expedition almost nothing besides arms. Moreover, on the very march the column had been augmented by volunteers, men offering themselves of their own accord both among the old soldiers already discharged from military service and among the youths; and he enrolled those—while they vied to give in their names—whose bodily appearance and strength of sinews seemed apt for soldiery. At Sena was the camp of the other consul, and Hasdrubal was scarcely about five hundred paces away from there.

itaque cum iam appropinquaret, tectus montibus substitit Nero ne ante noctem castra ingrederetur. silentio ingressi ab sui quisque ordinis hominibus in tentoria abducti cum summa omnium laetitia hospitaliter excipiuntur. postero die consilium habitum, cui et L. Porcius Licinus praetor adfuit.

and so, when he was now drawing near, Nero, covered by the mountains, halted, lest he enter the camp before night. Having entered in silence, each, led off into the tents by men of his own rank, is received hospitably with the utmost joy of all. On the next day a council was held, at which the praetor L. Porcius Licinus also was present.

castra iuncta consulum castris habebat, et ante aduentum eorum per loca alta ducendo exercitum cum modo insideret angustos saltus ut transitum clauderet, modo ab latere aut ab tergo carperet agmen, ludificatus hostem omnibus artibus belli fuerat; is tum in consilio aderat. multorum eo inclinant sententiae ut, dum fessum uia ac uigiliis reficeret militem Nero, simul et ad noscendum hostem paucos sibi sumeret dies, tempus pugnandi differretur. Nero non suadere modo sed summa ope orare institit ne consilium suum quod tutum celeritas fecisset temerarium morando facerent; errore qui non diuturnus futurus esset uelut torpentem Hannibalem nec castra sua sine duce relicta adgredi nec ad sequendum se iter intendisse.

he had his camp joined to the consuls’ camp, and before their arrival, by leading the army through high places—now occupying narrow passes to close the transit, now nipping at the column from the flank or the rear—he had outplayed the enemy by all the arts of war; he was then present in the council. The opinions of many inclined to this: that, while Nero refreshed the soldiers wearied by the road and the night-watches, and at the same time took for himself a few days to get to know the enemy, the time of fighting should be deferred. Nero began not only to advise but to entreat with utmost effort that they not make his plan, which speed had made safe, reckless by delaying; that, by an error which would not be of long duration, Hannibal was, as it were, torpid, and had neither attacked the camp left without its leader nor directed his march to pursue himself.

antequam se moueat deleri exercitum Hasdrubalis posse redirique in Apuliam. qui prolatando spatium hosti det, eum et illa castra prodere Hannibali et aperire in Galliam iter ut per otium ubi uelit Hasdrubali coniungatur. extemplo signum dandum et exeundum in aciem abutendumque errore hostium absentium praesentiumque dum neque illi sciant cum paucioribus nec hi cum pluribus et ualidioribus rem esse.

before he moves, Hasdrubal’s army can be destroyed and a return made into Apulia. he who by protracting gives scope to the enemy, that man both betrays that camp to Hannibal and opens the route into Gaul, so that at his leisure Hasdrubal may be joined wherever he wishes. at once the signal must be given and we must go out into the battle-line, and we must make full use of the error of the enemies both absent and present, while neither the former know that the matter is with fewer, nor the latter that it is with more and stronger.

consilio dimisso signum pugnae proponitur confestimque in aciem procedunt.

the council having been dismissed, the signal for battle is displayed, and immediately they advance into the battle line.

[47] Iam hostes ante castra instructi stabant. moram pugnae attulit quod Hasdrubal prouectus ante signa cum paucis equitibus scuta uetera hostium notauit quae ante non uiderat et strigosiores equos; multitudo quoque maior solita uisa est. suspicatus enim id quod erat, receptui propere cecinit ac misit ad flumen unde aquabantur ubi et excipi aliqui possent et notari oculis si qui forte adustioris coloris ut ex recenti uia essent; simul circumuehi procul castra iubet specularique num auctum aliqua parte sit uallum, et ut attendant semel bisne signum canat in castris.

[47] Already the enemy stood drawn up before the camp. A delay of the battle was brought about because Hasdrubal, advanced before the standards with a few horsemen, noted the enemy’s old shields, which he had not seen before, and more gaunt horses; the multitude too seemed greater than usual. Suspecting, in fact, what was the case, he promptly sounded the retreat and sent men to the river whence they were drawing water, where both some might be intercepted and noted with the eyes if any by chance were of a more sunburnt color, as from a recent march; at the same time he orders the camp to be ridden around at a distance and to spy out whether the rampart has been increased in any part, and to attend whether the signal sounded once or twice in the camp.

ea cum ordine relata omnia essent, castra nihil aucta errorem faciebant; bina erant, sicut ante aduentum consulis alterius fuerant, una M. Liui, altera L. Porci; neutris quicquam quo latius tenderetur ad munimenta adiectum. illud ueterem ducem adsuetumque Romano hosti mouit quod semel in praetoriis castris signum, bis in consularibus referebant cecinisse; duos profecto consules esse, et quonam modo alter ab Hannibale abscessisset cura angebat. minime id quod erat suspicari poterat, tantae rei frustratione Hannibalem elusum ut ubi dux, ubi exercitus esset cum quo castra coniuncta habuerit ignoraret: profecto haud mediocri clade absterritum insequi non ausum; magno opere uereri ne perditis rebus serum ipse auxilium uenisset Romanisque eadem iam fortuna in Italia quae in Hispania esset.

when all these things had been reported in order, the camps, not increased at all, were creating a misperception; they were two, just as before the arrival of the other consul they had been, one of M. Livius, the other of L. Porcius; in neither had anything been added whereby it might be stretched more widely toward the fortifications. what moved the veteran leader, accustomed to the Roman enemy, was that they kept reporting the signal had sounded once in the praetorian camp, twice in the consular; assuredly there were two consuls, and anxiety vexed him as to how the other had withdrawn from Hannibal. least of all could he suspect what was the case: that Hannibal had been outplayed by a frustration in so great a matter, so that he did not know where the commander was, where the army, with whom he had had conjoined camps. assuredly, deterred by no moderate disaster, he had not dared to pursue; he was greatly afraid lest, with affairs ruined, he himself had come with aid too late, and that the same fortune was now for the Romans in Italy as was in Spain.

interdum litteras suas ad eum non peruenisse credere interceptisque iis consulem ad sese opprimendum accelerasse. his anxius curis, exstinctis ignibus, uigilia prima dato signo ut taciti uasa conligerent, signa ferri iussit. in trepidatione et nocturno tumultu duces parum intente adseruati, alter in destinatis iam ante animo latebris subsedit, alter per uada nota Metaurum flumen tranauit.

at times he believed that his letters had not reached him, and that, these having been intercepted, the consul had hastened to crush him. troubled by these anxieties, with the fires extinguished, at the first watch, a signal having been given that they should silently collect the baggage, he ordered the standards to be borne. in the alarm and nocturnal tumult the guides, guarded too inattentively, one lurked in hiding-places previously determined in his mind, the other crossed the Metaurus River by known fords.

ita desertum ab ducibus agmen primo per agros palatur, fessique aliquot somno ac uigiliis sternunt corpora passim atque infrequentia relinquunt signa. Hasdrubal dum lux uiam ostenderet ripa fluminis signa ferri iubet, et per tortuosi amnis sinus flexusque cum errorem uoluens haud multum processisset, ubi prima lux transitum opportunum ostendisset transiturus erat. sed cum, quantum a mari abscedebat, tanto altioribus coercentibus amnem ripis non inueniret uada, diem terendo spatium dedit ad insequendum sese hosti.

Thus, the column, deserted by its leaders, at first straggles through the fields, and several, weary from sleep and the watches, lay their bodies down here and there and leave the standards thinly attended. Hasdrubal, until the light should show the way, orders the standards to be carried along the riverbank; and, winding with the bends and flexures of the tortuous stream and turning his uncertainty over, he had not advanced far, intending to cross when first light should reveal a suitable ford. But since, the farther he withdrew from the sea, by so much higher banks hemmed in the river and he could not find fords, by wearing away the day he gave the enemy time to pursue him.

[48] Nero primum cum omni equitatu aduenit: Porcius deinde adsecutus cum leui armatura. qui cum fessum agmen carperent ab omni parte incursarentque, et iam omisso itinere quod fugae simile erat castra metari Poenus in tumulo super fluminis ripam uellet, aduenit Liuius peditum omnibus copiis non itineris modo sed ad conserendum extemplo proelium instructis armatisque. sed ubi omnes copias coniunxerunt directaque acies est, Claudius dextro in cornu, Liuius ab sinistro pugnam instruit: media acies praetori tuenda data.

[48] Nero was the first to arrive with all the cavalry; then Porcius came up with the light-armed troops. As they harried the weary column and made incursions from every side, and now, the march—which was like a flight—having been abandoned, the Carthaginian wished to lay out a camp on a mound above the river’s bank; but Livius arrived with all the infantry forces, drawn up and armed not merely for a march but to join battle at once. When, however, they had united all their forces and the battle-line was formed, Claudius marshalled the fight on the right wing, Livius on the left; the center was given to the praetor to hold.

Hasdrubal omissa munitione castrorum postquam pugnandum uidit, in prima acie ante signa elephantos conlocat: circa eos laeuo in cornu aduersus Claudium Gallos opponit, haud tantum iis fidens quantum ab hoste timeri eos credebat: ipse dextrum cornu aduersus M. Liuium sibi atque Hispanis—et ibi maxime in uetere milite spem habebat—sumpsit: Ligures in medio post elephantos positi. sed longior quam latior acies erat; Gallos prominens collis tegebat; ea frons quam Hispani tenebant cum sinistro Romanorum cornu concurrit: dextra omnis acies extra proelium eminens cessabat; collis oppositus arcebat ne aut a fronte aut ab latere adgrederentur.

Hasdrubal, the fortification of the camp having been abandoned after he saw that there must be fighting, places the elephants in the front line before the standards; around them, on the left wing against Claudius, he sets the Gauls, trusting them not so much as he believed they would be feared by the enemy; he himself took the right wing against M. Livius for himself and the Spaniards—and there especially he placed his hope in the veteran soldiery; the Ligurians were stationed in the middle behind the elephants. But the line of battle was longer than it was broad; a projecting hill screened the Gauls; that front which the Spaniards held clashed with the left wing of the Romans; the entire right of the line, standing out beyond the battle, was inactive; the hill set opposite kept them from being approached either from the front or from the flank.

Inter Liuium Hasdrubalemque ingens contractum certamen erat, atroxque caedes utrimque edebatur. ibi duces ambo, ibi pars maior peditum equitumque Romanorum, ibi Hispani uetus miles peritusque Romanae pugnae, et Ligures durum in armis genus. eodem uersi elephanti, qui primo impetu turbauerant antesignanos et iam signa mouerant loco; deinde crescente certamine et clamore impotentius iam regi et inter duas acies uersari uelut incerti quorum essent, haud dissimiliter nauibus sine gubernaculo uagis.

Between Livius and Hasdrubal a huge contracted contest was in progress, and a savage slaughter was being wrought on both sides. There were both commanders, there the greater part of the Roman infantry and cavalry, there the Spaniards, veteran soldiery and skilled in Roman-style fighting, and the Ligurians, a race hard in arms. Thither too the elephants turned, who at the first onset had thrown the front-rankers into turmoil and had now dislodged the standards from their place; then, as the struggle and the clamor grew, being now less able to be ruled and wandering between the two battle-lines as if uncertain whose they were, not unlike ships wandering without a rudder.

Claudius 'quid ergo praecipiti cursu tam longum iter emensi sumus?' clamitans militibus cum in aduersum collem frustra signa erigere conatus esset, postquam ea regione penetrari ad hostem non uidebat posse, cohortes aliquot subductas e dextro cornu, ubi stationem magis segnem quam pugnam futuram cernebat, post aciem circumducit, et non hostibus modo sed etiam suis inopinantibus in sinistrum <euectus in dextrum> hostium latus incurrit; tantaque celeritas fuit ut cum ostendissent se ab latere mox in terga iam pugnarent. ita ex omnibus partibus, ab fronte, ab latere, ab tergo, trucidantur Hispani Liguresque; et ad Gallos iam caedes peruenerat. ibi minimum certaminis fuit; nam et pars magna ab signis aberant nocte dilapsi stratique somno passim per agros, et qui aderant itinere ac uigiliis fessi, intolerantissima laboris corpora, uix arma umeris gerebant; et iam diei medium erat, sitisque et calor hiantes caedendos capiendosque adfatim praebebat.

Claudius—shouting to the soldiers, “Why then have we traversed so long a march at a headlong run?”—when he had tried in vain to raise the standards against the opposing hill, after he saw that by that region it could not be penetrated to the enemy, withdrew several cohorts from the right wing, where he perceived a posting would be more sluggish than a battle, leads them around behind the line, and, taking by surprise not only the enemies but even his own men, charges into the left <borne out to the right> flank of the enemy; and such was the celerity that, when they had shown themselves on the flank, presently they were already fighting upon the rear. Thus from all parts—front, flank, and rear—the Spaniards and Ligurians are butchered; and already the slaughter had reached the Gauls. There was the least fighting there; for a great part were away from their standards, having slipped off in the night and, strewn with sleep here and there through the fields; and those who were present, wearied by march and vigils, bodies most intolerant of labor, were scarcely bearing their arms on their shoulders; and now it was the middle of the day, and thirst and heat, gaping, offered them in plenty to be cut down and taken prisoner.

[49] Elephanti plures ab ipsis rectoribus quam ab hoste interfecti. fabrile scalprum cum malleo habebant; id, ubi saeuire beluae ac ruere in suos coeperant, magister inter aures positum ipsa in compage qua iungitur capiti ceruix quanto maximo poterat ictu adigebat. ea celerrima uia mortis in tantae molis belua inuenta erat ubi regendi spem ui uicissent, primusque id Hasdrubal instituerat, dux cum saepe alias memorabilis tum illa praecipue pugna.

[49] More elephants were killed by their own drivers than by the enemy. They had a smith’s chisel with a mallet; this, whenever the beasts began to rage and to rush upon their own men, the master, placed between the ears, drove into the very joint where the neck is joined to the head, with the greatest blow he could. This quickest way to death for a beast of such mass had been discovered, when the hope of controlling it had been overcome by their violence; and Hasdrubal was the first to institute it, a commander memorable often on other occasions, but especially in that battle.

ille pugnantes hortando pariterque obeundo pericula sustinuit; ille fessos abnuentesque taedio et labore nunc precando, nunc castigando accendit; ille fugientes reuocauit omissamque pugnam aliquot locis restituit; postremo cum haud dubie fortuna hostium esset, ne superstes tanto exercitui suum nomen secuto esset concitato equo se in cohortem Romanam immisit; ibi, ut patre Hamilcare et Hannibale fratre dignum erat, pugnans cecidit.

he sustained the fighters by exhorting them and by himself equally facing the dangers; he kindled the weary and those refusing from tedium and labor, now by entreaty, now by castigating; he recalled the fleeing and in several places restored the battle that had been abandoned; at last, when without doubt the fortune of battle was the enemy’s, lest he survive the great army that had followed his name, with his horse spurred he dashed into a Roman cohort; there, as was worthy of his father Hamilcar and his brother Hannibal, he fell fighting.

Nunquam eo bello una acie tantum hostium interfectum est, redditaque aequa Cannensi clades uel ducis uel exercitus interitu uidebatur. quinquaginta septem milia hostium occisa, capta quinque milia et quadringenti; magna praeda alia cum omnis generis tum auri etiam argentique; ciuium etiam Romanorum qui capti apud hostes erant supra quattuor milia capitum recepta. id solatii fuit pro amissis eo proelio militibus.

Never in that war was so many of the enemy slain in a single battle, and the disaster of Cannae seemed to have been repaid on equal terms by the destruction either of the commander or of the army. Fifty‑seven thousand of the enemy were killed, five thousand four hundred captured; great booty, both of every kind and of gold and also of silver; of Roman citizens too, who had been taken captive among the enemy, over 4,000 persons were recovered. That was a solace for the soldiers lost in that battle.

nam haudquaquam incruenta uictoria fuit: octo ferme milia Romanorum sociorumque occisa, adeoque etiam uictores sanguinis caedisque ceperat satias ut postero die cum esset nuntiatum Liuio consuli Gallos Cisalpinos Liguresque qui aut proelio non adfuissent aut inter caedem effugissent uno agmine abire sine certo duce sine signis sine ordine ullo aut imperio; posse, si una equitum ala mittatur, omnes deleri; 'quin supersint' inquit 'aliqui nuntii et hostium cladis et nostrae uirtutis.'

for the victory was by no means bloodless: about eight thousand of Romans and their allies were slain, and to such a degree had even the victors taken a satiety of blood and slaughter that on the following day, when it had been announced to the consul Livius that the Cisalpine Gauls and the Ligurians, who either had not been present at the battle or had escaped amid the carnage, were going off in one column, without a sure leader, without standards, without any order or command; that, if a single wing of cavalry were sent, all could be wiped out; “nay rather,” he said, “let there remain some messengers both of the enemy’s disaster and of our virtus.”

[50] Nero ea nocte quae secuta est pugnam <profectus in Apuliam> citatiore quam inde uenerat agmine, die sexto ad statiua sua atque ad hostem peruenit. iter eius frequentia minore—nemo enim praecesserat nuntius—laetitia uero tanta uix ut compotes mentium prae gaudio essent celebratum est. nam Romae neuter animi habitus satis dici enarrarique potest, nec quo incerta exspectatione euentus ciuitas fuerat nec quo uictoriae famam accepit.

[50] Nero, on the night which followed the battle, <having set out into Apulia>, with a swifter column than that by which he had come from there, on the sixth day reached his standing-camp and the enemy. His march was celebrated with a smaller throng—for no messenger had gone before—but with such joy that they were scarcely in possession of their minds for gladness. For at Rome neither disposition of spirit can be sufficiently told and recounted, neither that in which the community had been in uncertain expectation of the outcome nor that in which it received the report of victory.

nunquam per omnes dies ex quo Claudium consulem profectum fama attulit ab orto sole ad occidentem aut senator quisquam a curia atque ab magistratibus abscessit aut populus e foro; matronae quia nihil in ipsis opis erat in preces obtestationesque uersae per omnia delubra uagae suppliciis uotisque fatigare deos. tam sollicitae ac suspensae ciuitati fama incerta primo accidit duos Narnienses equites in castra quae in faucibus Umbriae opposita erant uenisse ex proelio nuntiantes caesos hostes. et primo magis auribus quam animis id acceptum erat, ut maius laetiusque quam quod mente capere aut satis credere possent; et ipsa celeritas fidem impediebat quod biduo ante pugnatum dicebatur.

Never, through all the days since rumor brought word that Claudius the consul had set out, from sunrise to sunset did either any senator withdraw from the curia and from the magistrates, or the people from the forum; the matrons, because there was no aid in themselves, turned to prayers and obtestations, wandering through all the shrines to fatigue the gods with supplications and vows. To a city so anxious and in suspense an uncertain report first befell: that two cavalrymen from Narnia had come into the camp which had been posted at the defiles of Umbria, reporting that the enemy had been cut down. And at first that was received more by the ears than by their minds, as something greater and more gladsome than they could grasp with understanding or sufficiently believe; and the very speed impeded credence, because it was said that the battle had been fought two days before.

litterae deinde ab L. Manlio Acidino missae ex castris adferuntur de Narniensium equitum aduentu. hae litterae per forum ad tribunal praetoris latae senatum curia exciuerunt; tantoque certamine ac tumultu populi ad fores curiae concursum est ut adire nuntius non posset, sed traheretur a percontantibus uociferantibusque ut in rostris prius quam in senatu litterae recitarentur. tandem summoti et coerciti a magistratibus, dispensarique laetitia inter impotentes eius animos potuit.

Then letters, sent by L. Manlius Acidinus, are brought from the camp concerning the arrival of the horsemen of Narni. These letters, carried through the forum to the tribunal of the praetor, convened the senate in the Curia; and with such contention and tumult did the people run together to the doors of the Curia that the messenger could not approach, but was dragged by those questioning and vociferating that the letters be read on the Rostra before in the senate. At length, the crowd having been removed and restrained by the magistrates, their joy could be dispensed among spirits unable to control it.

in senatu primum, deinde in contione litterae recitatae sunt; et pro cuiusque ingenio aliis iam certum gaudium, aliis nulla ante futura fides erat quam legatos consulumue litteras audissent.

In the Senate first, then in the assembly, the letters were recited; and, according to each person’s disposition, for some there was already sure joy, for others no credence would be forthcoming before they had heard the envoys or the consuls’ letters.

[51] Ipsos deinde adpropinquare legatos allatum est. tunc enimuero omnis aetas currere obuii, primus quisque oculis auribusque haurire tantum gaudium cupientes. ad Muluium usque pontem continens agmen peruenit.

[51] Then it was brought word that the legates themselves were drawing near. Then indeed every age ran to meet them, each eager, to be first, to drink in with eyes and ears so great a joy. A continuous column reached all the way to the Mulvian bridge.

legati —erant L. Ueturius Philo P. Licinius Uarus Q. Caecilius Metellus—circumfusi omnis generis hominum frequentia in forum peruenerunt, cum alii ipsos, alii comites eorum quae acta essent percontarentur; et ut quisque audierat exercitum hostium imperatoremque occisum, legiones Romanas incolumes, saluos consules esse, extemplo aliis porro impertiebant gaudium suum. cum aegre in curiam peruentum esset, multo aegrius summota turba ne patribus misceretur, litterae in senatu recitatae sunt. inde traducti in contionem legati.

the envoys —they were L. Veturius Philo, P. Licinius Varus, Q. Caecilius Metellus—surrounded by a crowd of men of every sort, arrived in the Forum, while some questioned them themselves, others their companions, about what had been done; and as each person heard that the enemy’s army and commander had been slain, that the Roman legions were unscathed, that the consuls were safe, immediately they in turn imparted their joy to others. When with difficulty they had reached the Curia, and, more difficult by far, once the crowd had been removed lest it be mingled with the senators, the letters were read in the senate. Thence the envoys were led across into the public assembly.

L. Ueturius litteris recitatis, ipse planius omnia quae acta erant exposuit cum ingenti adsensu, postremo etiam clamore uniuersae contionis cum uix gaudium animis caperent. discursum inde ab aliis circa templa deum ut grates agerent, ab aliis domos ut coniugibus liberisque tam laetum nuntium impertirent. senatus quod M. Liuius et C. Claudius consules incolumi exercitu ducem hostium legionesque occidissent supplicationem in triduum decreuit.

L. Veturius, after the letters had been recited, himself set forth more plainly all that had been done, with immense assent—and at last even with the shouting of the whole assembly—since they could scarcely contain the joy in their hearts. From there people ran about, some around the temples of the gods to give thanks, others to their homes to impart so joyful a message to their wives and children. The senate, because M. Livius and C. Claudius, the consuls, with the army unscathed, had slain the leader of the enemies and their legions, decreed a supplication for three days.

eam supplicationem C. Hostilius praetor pro contione edixit, celebrataque a uiris feminisque est. omnia templa per totum triduum aequalem turbam habuere, cum matronae amplissima ueste cum liberis perinde ac si debellatum foret omni solutae metu deis immortalibus grates agerent. statum quoque ciuitatis ea uictoria mouit, ut iam inde haud secus quam in pace res inter se contrahere uendendo, emendo, mutuum dando argentum creditumque soluendo auderent.

That supplication Gaius Hostilius, the praetor, proclaimed before the assembly, and it was celebrated by men and women. All the temples for the whole three days held a steady throng, while the matrons, in most ample attire, with their children, just as if the war had been fully fought to an end, freed from all fear, were giving thanks to the immortal gods. That victory also moved the condition of the commonwealth, so that from then on they dared to contract their affairs with one another no differently than in peace—by selling, buying, giving money on loan, and by paying off silver advanced on credit.

C. Claudius consul cum in castra redisset, caput Hasdrubalis quod seruatum cum cura attulerat proici ante hostium stationes, captiuosque Afros uinctos ut erant ostendi, duos etiam ex iis solutos ire ad Hannibalem et expromere quae acta essent iussit. Hannibal tanto simul publico familiarique ictus luctu, adgnoscere se fortunam Carthaginis fertur dixisse; castrisque inde motis ut omnia auxilia quae diffusa latius tueri non poterat in extremum Italiae angulum Bruttios contraheret, et Metapontinos ciuitatem uniuersam excitos sedibus suis et Lucanorum qui suae dicionis erant in Bruttium agrum traduxit.

Gaius Claudius the consul, when he had returned to camp, had the head of Hasdrubal—which he had brought with care preserved—cast before the enemy outposts, and ordered that the African captives be shown just as they were, in bonds; he even had two of them released to go to Hannibal and to set forth what had been done. Hannibal, struck at once by so great a grief both public and familial, is reported to have said that he recognized the fortune of Carthage; and then, moving his camp, in order to concentrate in Bruttium—the far corner of Italy—all the auxiliaries which, being more widely dispersed, he could not protect, he transferred the Metapontines, the entire citizen-body roused from their homes, and those of the Lucanians who were under his sway, into the territory of Bruttium.