The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty-Six
by
Titus Livius
Part 3 out of 10
arms into Samnium. And, not to recite the long train of disasters
sustained by both nations, and the toils which they underwent, by
which, however, their stubborn breasts could not be subdued; even in
the course of the last year, the Samnites, with their own forces
separately, and also in conjunction with those of other nations, had
been defeated by four several armies, and four generals of the Romans,
in the territory of Sentinum, in that of the Pelignians, at Tifernum,
and in the plains of the Stellatians; had lost the general of the
highest character in their nation; and, now, saw their allies in the
war, the Etrurians, the Umbrians, and the Gauls, in the same situation
with themselves; but, although they could now no longer stand, either
by their own or by foreign resources, yet did they not desist from the
prosecution of hostilities. So far were they from being weary of
defending liberty, even though unsuccessfully: and they preferred
being defeated to not aspiring after victory. Who does not find his
patience tired, either in writing, or reading, of wars of such
continuance; and which yet exhausted not the resolution of the parties
concerned?
32. Quintus Fabius and Publius Decius were succeeded in the consulship
by Lucius Postumius Megellus and Marcus Atilius Regulus. The province
of Samnium was decreed to both in conjunction; because intelligence
had been received that the enemy had embodied three armies; with one
that Etruria was to be recovered; with another the ravages in Campania
were to be repeated; and the third was intended for the defence of
their frontiers. Sickness detained Postumius at Rome, but Atilius set
out immediately, with design to surprise the enemy in Samnium, before
they should have advanced beyond their own borders; for such had been
the directions of the senate. The Romans met the enemy, as if by
mutual appointment, at a spot where, while they could be hindered, not
only from ravaging, but even from entering the Samnite territory, they
could likewise hinder the Samnites from continuing their progress into
the countries which were quiet, and the lands of the allies of the
Roman people. While their camps lay opposite to each other, the
Samnites attempted an enterprise, which the Romans, so often their
conquerors, would scarcely have ventured to undertake; such is the
rashness inspired by extreme despair: this was to make an assault on
the Roman camp. And although this attempt, so daring, succeeded not in
its full extent, yet it was not without effect. There was a fog, which
continued through a great part of the day, so thick as to exclude the
light of the sun, and to prevent not only the view of any thing beyond
the rampart, but scarcely the sight of each other, when they should
meet. Depending on this, as a covering to the design, when the sun was
scarcely yet risen, and the light which he did afford was obscured by
the fog, the Samnites came up to an advanced guard of the Romans at
one of the gates, who were standing carelessly on their post. In the
sudden surprise, these had neither courage nor strength to make
resistance: an assault was then made, through the Decuman gate, in the
rear of the camp: the quaestor's quarters in consequence were taken,
and the quaestor, Lucius Opimius Pansa, was there slain; on this a
general alarm was given to take up arms.
33. The consul, being roused by the tumult, ordered two cohorts of the
allies, a Lucanian and Suessanian, which happened to be nearest, to
defend the head-quarters, and led the companies of the legions down
the principal street. These ran into the ranks, scarcely taking time
to furnish themselves with arms; and, as they distinguished the enemy
by their shout rather than by sight, could form no judgment how great
their number might be: thus, ignorant of the circumstances of their
situation, they at first drew back, and admitted the enemy into the
heart of the camp. Then when the consul cried out, asking them,
whether they intended to let themselves be beaten out beyond the
rampart, and then to return again to storm their own camp, they raised
the shout, and uniting their efforts, stood their ground; then made
advances, pushed closely on the enemy, and having forced them to give
way, drove them back, without suffering their first terror to abate.
They soon beat them out beyond the gate and the rampart, but not
daring to pursue them, because the darkness of the weather made them
apprehend an ambush, and content with having cleared the camp, they
retired within the rampart, having killed about three hundred of the
enemy. Of the Romans, including the first advanced guard and the
watchmen, and those who were surprised at the quaestor's quarters, two
hundred and thirty perished. This not unsuccessful piece of boldness
raised the spirits of the Samnites so high, that they not only did not
suffer the Romans to march forward into their country, but even to
procure forage from their lands; and the foragers were obliged to go
back into the quiet country of Sora. News of these events being
conveyed to Rome, with circumstances of alarm magnified beyond the
truth, obliged Lucius Postumius, the consul, though scarcely recovered
from his illness, to set out for the army. However, before his
departure, having issued a proclamation that his troops should
assemble at Sora, he dedicated the temple of Victory, for the building
of which he had provided, when curule aedile, out of the money arising
from fines; and, joining the army, he advanced from Sora towards
Samnium, to the camp of his colleague. The Samnites, despairing of
being able to make head against the two armies, retreated from thence,
on which the consuls, separating, proceeded by different routes to lay
waste the enemy's lands and besiege their towns.
34. Postumius attempted to make himself master of Milionia, at first
by storm and an assault; but these not succeeding, he carried his
approaches to the walls, and thus gained an entrance into the place.
The fight was continued in all parts of the city from the fourth hour
until near the eighth, the result being a long time uncertain: the
Romans at last gained possession of the town. Three thousand two
hundred of the Samnites were killed, four thousand seven hundred
taken, besides the other booty. From thence the legions were conducted
to Ferentinum, out of which the inhabitants had, during the night,
retired in silence through the opposite gate, with all their effects
which could be either carried or driven. The consul, on his arrival,
approached the walls with the same order and circumspection, as if he
were to meet an opposition here equal to what he had experienced at
Milionia. Then, perceiving a dead silence in the city, and neither
arms nor men on the towers and ramparts, he restrains the soldiers,
who were eager to mount the deserted fortifications, lest they might
fall into a snare. He ordered two divisions of the confederate Latin
horse to ride round the walls, and explore every particular. These
horsemen observed one gate, and, at a little distance, another on the
same side, standing wide open, and on the roads leading from these
every mark of the enemy having fled by night. They then rode up
leisurely to the gates, from whence, with perfect safety, they took a
clear view through straight streets quite across the city. They report
to the consul, that the city was abandoned by the enemy, as was plain
from the solitude, the recent tracks on their retreat, and the things
which, in the confusion of the night, they had left scattered up and
down. On hearing this, the consul led round the army to that side of
the city which had been examined, and making the troops halt at a
little distance from the gate, gave orders that five horsemen should
ride into the city; and when they should have advanced a good way into
it, then, if they saw all things safe, three should remain there, and
the other two return to him with intelligence. These returned and
said, that they had proceeded to a part of the town from which they
had a view on every side, and that nothing but silence and solitude
reigned through the whole extent of it. The consul immediately led
some light-armed cohorts into the city; ordering the rest to fortify
a camp in the mean time. The soldiers who entered the town, breaking
open the doors, found only a few persons, disabled by age or sickness;
and such effects left behind as could not, without difficulty, be
removed. These were seized as plunder: and it was discovered from the
prisoners, that several cities in that quarter had, in pursuance of a
concerted plan, resolved on flight; that their towns-people had gone
off at the first watch, and they believed that the same solitude they
should find in the other places. The accounts of the prisoners proved
well-founded, and the consul took possession of the forsaken towns.
35. The war was by no means so easy with the other consul, Marcus
Atilius. As he was marching his legions towards Luceria, to which he
was informed that the Samnites had laid siege, the enemy met him on
the border of the Lucerian territory. Rage supplied them, on this
occasion, with strength to equal his: the battle was stubbornly
contested, and the victory doubtful; in the issue, however, more
calamitous on the side of the Romans, both because they were
unaccustomed to defeat, and that, on leaving the field, they felt more
sensibly, than during the heat of the action, how much more wounds and
bloodshed had been on their side. In consequence of this, such dismay
spread through the camp, as, had it seized them during the engagement,
a signal defeat would have been the result. Even as the matter stood,
they spent the night in great anxiety; expecting, every instant, that
the Samnites would assault the camp; or that, at the first light, they
should be obliged to stand a battle with a victorious enemy. On the
side of the enemy, however, although there was less loss, yet there
was not greater courage. As soon as day appeared, they wished to
retire without any more fighting; but there was only one road, and
that leading close by the post of their enemy; on their taking which,
they seemed as if advancing directly to attack the camp. The consul,
therefore, ordered his men to take arms, and to follow him outside the
rampart, giving directions to the lieutenants-general, tribunes, and
the praefects of the allies, in what manner he would have each of them
act. They all assured him that "they would do every thing in their
power, but that the soldiers were quite dejected; that, from their own
wounds, and the groans of the dying, they had passed the whole night
without sleep; that if the enemy had approached the camp before day,
so great were the fears of the troops, that they would certainly have
deserted their standards." "Even at present they were restrained from
flight merely by shame; and, in other respects, were little better
than vanquished men." This account made the consul judge it necessary
to go himself among the soldiers, and speak to them; and, as he came
up to each, he rebuked them for their backwardness in taking arms,
asking, "Why they loitered, and declined the fight? If they did not
choose to go out of the camp, the enemy would come into it; and they
must fight in defence of their tents, if they would not in defence of
the rampart. Men who have arms in their hands, and contend with their
foe, have always a chance for victory; but the man who waits naked and
unarmed for his enemy, must suffer either death or slavery." To these
reprimands and rebukes they answered, that "they were exhausted by the
fatigue of the battle of yesterday; and had no strength, nor even
blood remaining; and besides, the enemy appeared more numerous than
they were the day before." The hostile army, in the mean time, drew
near; so that, seeing every thing more distinctly as the distance grew
less, they asserted that the Samnites carried with them pallisades for
a rampart, and evidently intended to draw lines of circumvallation
round the camp. On this the consul exclaimed, with great earnestness,
against submitting to such an ignominious insult, and from so
dastardly a foe. "Shall we even be blockaded," said he, "in our camp,
and die, with ignominy, by famine, rather than bravely by the sword,
if it must be so? May the gods be propitious! and let every one act in
the manner which he thinks becomes him. The consul Marcus Atilius,
should no other accompany him, will go out, even alone, to face the
enemy; and will fall in the middle of the Samnite battalions, rather
than see the Roman camp enclosed by their trenches." The
lieutenants-general, tribunes, every troop of the cavalry, and the
principal centurions, expressed their approbation of what the consul
said; and the soldiers at length, overcome by shame, took up their
arms, but in a spiritless manner; and in the same spiritless manner,
marched out of the camp. In a long train, and that not every where
connected, melancholy, and seemingly subdued, they proceeded towards
the enemy, whose hopes and courage, were not more steady than theirs.
As soon therefore as the Roman standards were beheld, a murmur spread
from front to rear of the Samnites, that, as they had feared, "the
Romans were coming out to oppose their march; that there was no road
open, through which they could even fly thence; in that spot they must
fall, or else cut down the enemy's ranks, and make their way over
their bodies."
36. They then threw the baggage in a heap in the centre, and, with
their arms prepared for battle, formed their line, each falling into
his post. There was now but a small interval between the two armies,
and both stood, waiting until the shout and onset should be begun by
their adversary. Neither party had any inclination to fight, and they
would have separated, and taken different roads, unhurt and untouched,
but that each had a dread of being harassed, in retreat, by the other.
Notwithstanding this shyness and reluctance, an engagement unavoidably
began, but spiritless, and with a shout which discovered neither
resolution nor steadiness; nor did any move a foot from his post. The
Roman consul, then, in order to infuse life into the action, ordered a
few troops of cavalry to advance out of the line and charge: most of
whom being thrown from their horses and the rest put in disorder,
several parties ran forward, both from the Samnite line, to cut off
those who had fallen, and from the Roman, to protect their friends. In
consequence the battle became a little more brisk, but the Samnites
had come forward with more briskness, and also in greater numbers, and
the disordered cavalry, with their affrighted horses, trod down their
own party who came to their relief. Flight commencing in this quarter,
caused the whole Roman line to turn their backs. And now the Samnites
had no employment for their arms but against the rear of a flying
enemy, when the consul, galloping on before his men to the gate of the
camp, posted there a body of cavalry, with orders to treat as an enemy
any person who should make towards the rampart, whether Roman or
Samnite; and, placing himself in the way of his men, as they pressed
in disorder towards the camp, denounced threats to the same purport:
"Whither are you going, soldiers?" said he; "here also you will find
both men and arms; nor, while your consul lives, shall you pass the
rampart, unless victorious. Choose therefore which you will prefer,
fighting against your own countrymen, or the enemy." While the consul
was thus speaking the cavalry gathered round, with the points of their
spears presented, and ordered the infantry to return to the fight. Not
only his own brave spirit, but fortune likewise aided the consul, for
the Samnites did not push their advantage; so that he had time to
wheel round his battalions, and to change his front from the camp
towards the enemy. The men then began to encourage each other to
return to the battle, while the centurions snatched the ensigns from
the standard-bearers and bore them forward, pointing out to the
soldiers the enemy, coming on in a hurry, few in number, and with
their ranks disordered. At the same time the consul, with his hands
lifted up towards heaven, and raising his voice so as to be heard at a
distance, vowed a temple to Jupiter Stator, if the Roman army should
rally from flight, and, renewing the battle, cut down and defeat the
Samnites. All divisions of the army, now, united their efforts to
restore the fight; officers, soldiers, the whole force, both of
cavalry and infantry; even the powers of heaven seemed to have looked,
with favour, on the Roman cause; so speedily was a thorough change
effected in the fortune of the day, the enemy being repulsed from the
camp, and, in a short time, driven back to the spot where the battle
had commenced. Here they stopped, being obstructed by the heap of
baggage, lying in their way, where they had thrown it together; and
then, to prevent the plundering of their effects, formed round them a
circle of troops. On this, the infantry assailed them vigorously in
front, while the cavalry, wheeling, fell on their rear: and, being
thus enclosed between the two, they were all either slain, or taken
prisoners. The number of the prisoners was seven thousand two hundred,
who were all sent under the yoke; the killed amounted to four thousand
eight hundred. The victory did not prove a joyous one, even on the
side of the Romans: when the consul took an account of the loss
sustained in the two days, the number returned, of soldiers lost, was
seven thousand three hundred. During these transactions in Apulia, the
Samnites with the other army having attempted to seize on Iteramna, a
Roman colony situated on the Latin road, did not however obtain the
town; whence, after ravaging the country, as they were driving off
spoil, consisting of men and cattle, together with the colonists whom
they had taken, they met the consul returning victorious from Luceria,
and not only lost their booty, but marching in disorder, in a long
train, and heavily encumbered, were themselves cut to pieces. The
consul, by proclamation, summoned the owners to Interamna, to claim
and receive again their property, and leaving his army there, went to
Rome to hold the elections. On his applying for a triumph, that honour
was refused him, because he had lost so many thousands of his
soldiers; and also, because he had sent the prisoners under the yoke
without imposing any conditions.
37. The other consul, Postumius, because there was no employment for
his arms in Samnium, having led over his forces into Etruria, first
laid waste the lands of the Volsinians; and afterwards, on their
marching out to protect their country, gained a decisive victory over
them, at a small distance from their own walls. Two thousand two
hundred of the Etrurians were slain; the proximity of their city
protected the rest. The army was then led into the territory of
Rusella, and there, not only were the lands wasted, but the town
itself taken. More than two thousand men were made prisoners, and
somewhat less than that number killed on the walls. But a peace,
effected that year in Etruria, was still more important and honourable
than the war had been. Three very powerful cities, the chief ones of
Etruria, (Volsinii, Perusia, and Arretium,) sued for peace; and having
stipulated with the consul to furnish clothing and corn for his army,
on condition of being permitted to send deputies to Rome, they
obtained a truce for forty years, and a fine was imposed on each state
of five hundred thousand _asses_,[Footnote: L1614. _11s
8d_] to be immediately paid. When the consul demanded a triumph
from the senate, in consideration of these services, rather to comply
with the general practice, than in hope of succeeding; and when he saw
that one party, his own personal enemies, another party, the friends
of his colleague, refused him the triumph, the latter to console a
similar refusal, some on the plea that he had been rather tardy in
taking his departure from the city; others, that he had passed from
Samnium into Etruria without orders from the senate; he said,
"Conscript fathers, I shall not be so far mindful of your dignity, as
to forget that I am consul. By the same right of office by which I
conducted the war, I shall now have a triumph, when this war has been
brought to a happy conclusion, Samnium and Etruria being subdued, and
victory and peace procured. With these words he left the senate." On
this arose a contention between the plebeian tribunes; some of them
declaring that they would protest against his triumphing in a manner
unprecedented; others, that they would support his pretensions, in
opposition to their colleagues. The affair came at length to be
discussed before the people, and the consul being summoned to attend,
when he represented, that Marcus Horatius and Lucius Valerius, when
consuls, and lately Caius Marcus Rutilus, father of the present
censor, had triumphed, not by direction of the senate, but by that of
the people; he then added that "he would in like manner have laid his
request before the public, had he not known that some plebeian
tribunes, the abject slaves of the nobles, would have obstructed the
law. That the universal approbation and will of the people were and
should be with him equivalent to any order whatsoever." Accordingly,
on the day following, by the support of three plebeian tribunes, in
opposition to the protest of the other seven, and the declared
judgment of the senate, he triumphed; and the people paid every honour
to the day. The historical accounts regarding this year are by no
means consistent; Claudius asserts, that Postumius, after having taken
several cities in Samnium, was defeated and put to flight in Apulia;
and that, being wounded himself, he was driven, with a few attendants,
into Luceria. That the war in Etruria was conducted by Atilius, and
that it was he who triumphed. Fabius writes, that the two consuls
acted in conjunction, both in Samnium and at Luceria; that an army was
led over into Etruria, but by which of the consuls he has not
mentioned; that at Luceria, great numbers were slain on both sides;
and that in that battle, the temple of Jupiter Stator was vowed, the
same vow having been formerly made by Romulus, but the fane only, that
is, the area appropriated for the temple, had been yet consecrated.
However, in this year, the state having been twice bound by the same
vow, it became a matter of religious obligation that the senate should
order the temple to be erected.
38. In the next year, we find a consul, distinguished by the united
splendour of his own and his father's glory, Lucius Papirius Cursor,
as also a war of vast importance, and a victory of such consequence,
as no man, excepting Lucius Papirius, the consul's father, had ever
before obtained over the Samnites. It happened too that these had,
with the same care and pains as on the former occasion, decorated
their soldiers with the richest suits of splendid armour; and they
had, likewise, called in to their aid the power of the gods, having,
as it were, initiated the soldiers, by administering the military
oath, with the solemn ceremonies practised in ancient times, and
levied troops in every part of Samnium, under an ordinance entirely
new, that "if any of the younger inhabitants should not attend the
meeting, according to the general's proclamation, or shall depart
without permission, his head should be devoted to Jupiter." Orders
being then issued, for all to assemble at Aquilonia, the whole
strength of Samnium came together, amounting to forty thousand men.
There a piece of ground, in the middle of the camp, was enclosed with
hurdles and boards, and covered overhead with linen cloth, the sides
being all of an equal length, about two hundred feet. In this place
sacrifices were performed, according to directions read out of an old
linen book, the priest being a very old man, called Ovius Paccius, who
affirmed, that he took these ceremonials from the ancient ritual of
the Samnites, being the same which their ancestors used, when they had
formed the secret design of wresting Capua from the Etrurians. When
the sacrifices were finished, the general ordered a beadle to summon
every one of those who were most highly distinguished by their birth
or conduct: these were introduced singly. Besides the other
exhibitions of the solemnity, calculated to impress the mind with
religious awe, there were, in the middle of the covered enclosure,
altars erected, about which lay the victims slain, and the centurions
stood around with their swords drawn. The soldier was led up to the
altars, rather like a victim, than a performer in the ceremony, and
was bound by an oath not to divulge what he should see and hear in
that place. He was then compelled to swear, in a dreadful kind of
form, containing execrations on his own person, on his family and
race, if he did not go to battle, whithersoever the commanders should
lead; and, if either he himself fled from the field, or, in case he
should see any other flying, did not immediately kill him. At first
some, refusing to take the oath, were put to death round the altars,
and lying among the carcasses of the victims, served afterwards as a
warning to others not to refuse it. When those of the first rank in
the Samnite nation had been bound under these solemnities, the general
nominated ten, whom he desired to choose each a man, and so to proceed
until they should have called up the number of sixteen thousand. This
body, from the covering of the enclosure wherein the nobility had been
thus devoted, was called the linen legion. They were furnished with
splendid armour and plumed helmets, to distinguish them above the
rest. They had another body of forces, amounting to somewhat more than
twenty thousand, not inferior to the linen legion, either in personal
appearance, or renown in war, or their equipment. This number,
composing the main strength of the nation, sat down at Aquilonia.
39. On the other side, the consuls set out from the city. First,
Spurius Carvilius, to whom had been decreed the veteran legions, which
Marcus Atilius, the consul of the preceding year, had left in the
territory of Interamna, marched at their head into Samnium; and, while
the enemy were busied in their superstitious rites, and holding their
secret meeting, he took by storm the town of Amiternum. Here were
slain about two thousand eight hundred men; and four thousand two
hundred and seventy were made prisoners. Papirius, with a new army,
which he raised in pursuance of a decree of the senate, made himself
master of the city of Duronia. He took fewer prisoners than his
colleague; but slew much greater numbers. Rich booty was acquired in
both places. The consuls then, overrunning Samnium, and wasting the
province of Atinum with particular severity, arrived, Carvilius at
Cominium, and Papirius at Aquilonia, where the main force of the
Samnites were posted. Here, for some time, there was neither a
cessation of action, nor any vigorous effort. The day was generally
spent in provoking the enemy when quiet, and retiring when they
offered resistance; in menacing, rather than making an attack. By
which practice of beginning, and then desisting, even those trifling
skirmishes were continually left without a decision. The other Roman
camp was twenty miles distant, and the advice of his absent colleague
was appealed to on every thing which he undertook, while Carvilius, on
his part, directed a greater share of his attention to Aquilonia,
where the state of affairs was more critical and important, than to
Cominium, which he himself was besieging. When Papirius had fully
adjusted every measure, preparatory to an engagement, he despatched a
message to his colleague, that "he intended, if the auspices
permitted, to fight the enemy on the day following; and that it would
be necessary that he (Carvilius) should at the same time make an
assault on Cominium, with his utmost force, that the Samnites there
might have no leisure to send any succour to Aquilonia." The messenger
had the day for the performance of his journey, and he returned in the
night, with an answer to the consul, that his colleague approved of
the plan. Papirius, on sending off the messenger, had instantly called
an assembly, where he descanted, at large, on the nature of the war in
general, and on the present mode of equipment adopted by the enemy,
which served for empty parade, rather than for any thing effectual
towards insuring success; for "plumes," he said, "made no wounds; that
a Roman javelin would make its way through shields, however painted
and gilt; and that the army, refulgent from the whiteness of their
tunics, would soon be besmeared with blood, when matters came to be
managed with the sword. His father had formerly cut off, to a man, a
gold and silver army of the Samnites; and such accoutrements had made
a more respectable figure, as spoils, in the hands of the conquering
foe, than as arms in those of the wearers. Perhaps it was allotted, by
destiny, to his name and family, that they should be opposed in
command against the most powerful efforts of the Samnites; and should
bring home spoils, of such beauty, as to serve for ornaments to the
public places. The immortal gods were certainly on his side, on
account of the leagues so often solicited and so often broken.
Besides, if a judgment might be formed of the sentiments of the
deities, they never were more hostile to any army, than to that which,
smeared with the blood of human beings mixed with that of cattle in
their abominable sacrifice, doomed to the twofold resentment of the
gods, dreading on the one hand the divinities, witnesses of the
treaties concluded with the Romans, on the other hand the imprecations
expressed in the oath sworn in contradiction to those treaties, swore
with reluctance, abhorred the oath, and feared at once the gods, their
countrymen, and their enemies."
40. When the consul had recounted these particulars, ascertained from
the information of the deserters, to the soldiers already enraged of
themselves, they then, filled with confidence in both divine and human
aid, with one universal shout, demanded the battle; were dissatisfied
at the action being deferred to the following day; they are impatient
under the intended delay of a day and a night. Papirius, at the third
watch, having received his colleague's letter, arose in silence, and
sent the keeper of the chickens to take the auspices. There was no one
description of men in the camp who felt not earnest wishes for the
fight: the highest and the lowest were equally eager; the general
watching the ardour of the soldiers, and the soldiers that of the
general. This universal zeal spread even to those employed in taking
the auspices; for the chickens having refused to feed, the auspex
ventured to misrepresent the omen, and reported to the consul that
they had fed voraciously.[Footnote: When the auspices were to be
taken from the chickens, the keeper threw some of them food upon the
ground, in their sight, and opened the door of then coop. If they did
not come out; if they came out slowly; if they refused to feed, or ate
in a careless manner, the omen was considered as bad. On the contrary,
if they rushed out hastily and ate greedily, so that some of the food
fell from their mouths on the ground, this was considered as an omen
of the best import; it was called _tripudium solistinum_,
originally, _terripavium_, from _terra_, and _pavire_, to
strike.] The consul, highly pleased, and giving notice that the
auspices were excellent, and that they were to act under the direction
of the gods, displayed the signal for battle. Just as he was going out
to the field, he happened to receive intelligence from a deserter,
that twenty cohorts of Samnites, consisting of about four hundred
each, had marched towards Cominium. Lest his colleague should be
ignorant of this, he instantly despatched a messenger to him, and then
ordered the troops to advance with speed, having already assigned to
each division of the army its proper post, and appointed general
officers to command them. The command of the right wing he gave to
Lucius Volumnius, that of the left to Lucius Scipio, that of the
cavalry to the other lieutenants-general, Caius Caedicius and Caius
Trebonius. He ordered Spurius Nautius to take off the panniers from
the mules, and to lead them round quickly, together with his auxiliary
cohorts, to a rising ground in view; and there to show himself during
the heat of the engagement, and to raise as much dust as possible.
While the general was employed in making these dispositions, a dispute
arose among the keepers of the chickens, about the auspices of the
day, which was overheard by some Roman horsemen, who, deeming it a
matter not to be slighted, informed Spurius Papirius, the consul's
nephew, that there was a doubt about the auspices. The youth, born in
an age when that sort of learning which inculcates contempt of the
gods was yet unknown, examined into the affair, that he might not
carry an uncertain report to the consul; and then acquainted him with
it. His answer was, "I very much applaud your conduct and zeal.
However, the person who officiates in taking the auspices, if he makes
a false report, draws on his own head the evil portended; but to the
Roman people and their army, the favourable omen reported to me is an
excellent auspice." He then commanded the centurions to place the
keepers of the chickens in the front of the line. The Samnites
likewise brought forward their standards; their main body followed,
armed and decorated in such a manner, that the enemy afforded a
magnificent show. Before the shout was raised, or the battle begun,
the auspex, wounded by a random cast of a javelin, fell before the
standards; which being told to the consul, he said, "The gods are
present in the battle; the guilty has met his punishment." While the
consul uttered these words, a crow, in front of him, cawed with a
clear voice; at which augury, the consul being rejoiced, and
affirming, that never had the gods interposed in a more striking
manner in human affairs, ordered the charge to be sounded and the
shout to be raised.
41. A furious conflict now ensued, but with very unequal spirit [in
the combatants]. Anger, hope, and ardour for conquest, hurried on the
Romans to battle, thirsting for their enemy's blood; while the
Samnites, for the most part reluctantly, as if compelled by necessity
and religious dread, rather stood on their defence, than made an
attack. Nor would they, familiarized as they were to defeats, through
a course of so many years, have withstood the first shout and shock of
the Romans, had not another fear, operating still more powerfully in
their breasts, restrained them from flying. For they had before their
eyes the whole scene exhibited at the secret sacrifice, the armed
priests, the promiscuous carnage of men and cattle, the altars
besmeared with the blood of victims and of their murdered countrymen,
the dreadful curses, and the direful form of imprecation, drawn up for
calling down perdition on their family and race. Prevented by these
shackles from running away, they stood, more afraid of then countrymen
than of the enemy. The Romans pushed on both the wings, and in the
centre, and made great havoc among them, stupified as they were,
through their fears of the gods and of men. A faint resistance is now
made, as by men whom fear alone prevented from running away. The
slaughter had now almost reached to their standards, when, on one
side, appeared a cloud of dust, as if raised by the marching of a
numerous army: it was Spurius Nautius, (some say Octavius Metius,)
commander of the auxiliary cohorts: for these raised a greater
quantity of dust than was proportioned to the number of men, the
servants of the camp, mounted on the mules, trailing boughs of trees,
full of leaves, along the ground. Through the light thus obscured,
arms and standards were seen in front; behind, a higher and denser
cloud of dust presented the appearance of horsemen bringing up the
rear. This effectually deceived, not only the Samnites, but the Romans
themselves: and the consul confirmed the mistake, by calling out among
the foremost battalions, so that his voice reached also the enemy,
that "Cominium was taken, and that his victorious colleague was
approaching," bidding his men "now make haste to complete the defeat
of the enemy, before the glory should fall to the share of the other
army." This he said as he sat on horseback, and then ordered the
tribunes and centurions to open passages for the horse. He had given
previous directions to Trebonius and Caedicius, that, when they should
see him waving the point of his spear aloft, they should incite the
cavalry to charge the enemy with all possible violence. Every
particular, as previously concerted, was executed with the utmost
exactness. The passages were opened between the ranks, the cavalry
darted through, and, with the points of their spears presented, rushed
into the midst of the enemy's battalions, breaking down the ranks
wherever they charged. Voluminius and Scipio seconded the blow, and
taking advantage of the enemy's disorder, made a terrible slaughter.
Thus attacked, the cohorts, called _linteatae_, regardless of all
restraints from either gods or men, quitted their posts in confusion,
the sworn and the unsworn all fled alike, no longer dreading aught but
the enemies. The body of their infantry which survived the battle,
were driven into the camp at Aquilonia. The nobility and cavalry
directed their flight to Bovianum. The horse were pursued by the Roman
horse, the infantry by their infantry, while the wings proceeded by
different roads; the right, to the camp of the Samnites; the left to
the city. Volumnius succeeded first in gaining possession of the camp.
At the city, Scipio met a stouter resistance; not because the
conquered troops there had gained courage, but because walls were a
better defence against armed men than a rampart. From these they
repelled the enemy with stones. Scipio, considering that unless the
business were effected during their first panic, and before they could
recover their spirits, the attack of so strong a town would be very
tedious, asked his soldiers "if they could endure, without shame, that
the other wing should already have taken the camp, and that they,
after all their success, should be repulsed from the gates of the
city?" Then, all of them loudly declaring their determination to the
contrary, he himself advanced, the foremost, to the gate, with his
shield raised over his head: the rest, following under the like cover
of their shields conjoined, burst into the city, and dispersing the
Samnites who were near the gate, took possession of the walls, but
they ventured not to push forward into the interior of the city in
consequence of the smallness of their number.
42. Of these transactions the consul was for some time ignorant; and
was busily employed in calling home his troops, for the sun was now
hastening to set, and the approach of night rendered every place
suspicious and dangerous, even to victorious troops. Having rode
forward a considerable way, he saw on the right the camp taken, and
heard on the left a shouting in the city, with a confused noise of
fighting, and cries of terror. This happened while the fight was going
on at the gate. When, on riding up nearer, he saw his own men on the
walls, and so much progress already made in the business, pleased at
having gained, through the precipitate conduct of a few, an
opportunity of striking an important blow, he ordered the troops, whom
he had sent back to the camp, to be called out, and to march to the
attack of the city: these, having made good their entrance on the
nearest side, proceeded no farther, because night approached. Before
morning, however, the town was abandoned by the enemy. There were
slain of the Samnites on that day, at Aquilonia, thirty thousand three
hundred and forty; taken, three thousand eight hundred and seventy,
with ninety-seven military standards. One circumstance, respecting
Papirius, is particularly mentioned by historians: that, hardly ever
was any general seen in the field with a more cheerful countenance;
whether this was owing to his natural temper or to his confidence of
success. From the same firmness of mind it proceeded, that he did not
suffer himself to be diverted from the war by the dispute about the
auspices; and that, in the heat of the battle, when it was customary
to vow temples to the immortal gods, he vowed to Jupiter the
victorious, that if he should defeat the legions of the enemy, he
would, before he tasted of any generous liquor, make a libation to him
of a cup of wine and honey. This kind of vow proved acceptable to the
gods, and they conducted the auspices to a fortunate issue.
43. Matters were conducted with the same success by the other consul
at Cominium: leading up his forces to the walls, at the first dawn, he
invested the city on every side, and posted strong guards opposite to
the gates to prevent any sally being made. Just as he was giving the
signal, the alarming message from his colleague, touching the march of
the twenty Samnite cohorts, not only caused him to delay the assault,
but obliged him to call off a part of his troops, when they were
formed and ready to begin the attack. He ordered Decius Brutus Scaeva,
a lieutenant-general, with the first legion, ten auxiliary cohorts,
and the cavalry, to go and oppose the said detachment; and in whatever
place he should meet the foe, there to stop and detain them, and even
to engage in battle, should opportunity offer for it; at all events
not to suffer those troops to approach Cominium. He then commanded the
scaling ladders to be brought up to the walls, on every side of the
city; and, under a fence of closed shields, advanced to the gates.
Thus, at the same moment, the gates were broken open, and the assault
made on every part of the walls. Though the Samnites, before they saw
the assailants on the works, had possessed courage enough to oppose
their approaches to the city, yet now, when the action was no longer
carried on at a distance, nor with missile weapons, but in close
fight; and when those, who had with difficulty gained the walls,
having overcome the disadvantage of ground, which, they principally
dreaded, fought with ease on equal ground, against an enemy inferior
in strength, they all forsook the towers and walls, and being driven
to the forum, they tried there for a short time, as a last effort, to
retrieve the fortune of the fight; but soon throwing down their arms,
surrendered to the consul, to the number of eleven thousand four
hundred; four thousand three hundred and eighty were slain. Such was
the course of events at Cominium, such at Aquilonia. In the middle
space between the two cities, where a third battle had been expected,
the enemy were not found; for, when they were within seven miles of
Cominium, they were recalled by their countrymen, and had no part in
either battle. At night-fall, when they were now within sight of their
camp, and also of Aquilonia, shouts from both places reaching them
with equal force induced them to halt; then, on the side of the camp,
which had been set on fire by the Romans, the wide-spreading flames
indicating with more certainty the disaster [which had happened],
prevented their proceeding any farther. In that same spot, stretched
on the ground at random under their arms, they passed the whole night
in great inquietude, at one time wishing for, at another dreading the
light. At the first dawn, while they were still undetermined to what
quarter they should direct their march, they were obliged to betake
themselves hastily to flight, being descried by the cavalry; who
having gone in pursuit of the Samnites, that left the town in the
night, saw the multitude unprotected either by a rampart or advanced
guard. This party had likewise been perceived from the walls of
Aquilonia, and the legionary cohorts now joined in the pursuit. The
foot were unable to overtake them, but about two hundred and eighty of
their rear guard were cut off by the cavalry. In their consternation
they left behind them a great quantity of arms and eighteen military
standards: they reached Bovianum with the rest of their party in
safety, as far as could be expected after so disorderly a rout.
44. The joy of both Roman armies was enhanced by the success achieved
on the other side. Each consul, with the approbation of his colleague,
gave to his soldiers the plunder of the town which he had taken; and,
when the houses were cleared, set them on fire. Thus, on the same day,
Aquilonia and Cominium were both reduced to ashes. The consuls then
united their camps, where mutual congratulations took place between
them and between their soldiers. Here, in the view of the two armies,
Carvilius bestowed on his men commendations and presents according to
the desert of each; and Papirius likewise, whose troops had been
engaged in a variety of actions, in the field, in the assault of the
camp, and in that of the city, presented Spurius Nautius, Spurius
Papirius, his nephew, four centurions, and a company of the spearmen,
with bracelets and crowns of gold:--to Nautius, on account of his
behaviour at the head of his detachment, when he had terrified the
enemy with the appearance as of a numerous army; to young Papirius, on
account of his zealous exertions with the cavalry, both in the battle
and in harassing the Samnites in their flight by night, when they
withdrew privately from Aquilonia; and to the centurions and company
of soldiers, because they were the first who gained possession of the
gate and wall of that town. All the horsemen he presented with gorgets
and bracelets of silver, on account of their distinguished conduct on
many occasions. As the time was now come for withdrawing the army out
of Samnium, the expediency was considered, as to whether they should
withdraw both, or at least one. It was concluded, that the lower the
strength of the Samnites was reduced, the greater perseverance and
vigour ought to be used in prosecuting the war, so that Samnium might
be given up to the succeeding consuls perfectly subjected. As there
was now no army of the enemy which could be supposed capable of
disputing the field, there remained one mode of operations, the
besieging of the cities; by the destruction of which, they might be
enabled to enrich their soldiers with the spoil; and, at the same
time, utterly to destroy the enemy, reduced to the necessity of
fighting, their all being at stake. The consuls, therefore, after
despatching letters to the senate and people of Rome, containing
accounts of the services which they had performed, led away their
legions to different quarters; Papirius going to attack Saepioura,
Carvilius to Volana.
45. The letters of the consuls were heard with extraordinary
exultation, both in the senate-house and in the assembly of the
people; and, in a thanksgiving of four days' continuance, the public
rejoicings were celebrated with zeal by individuals. These successes
were not only important in themselves to the Roman people, but
peculiarly seasonable; for it happened, that at the same time
intelligence was brought that the Etrurians were again in arms. The
reflection naturally occurred to people's minds, how it would have
been possible, in case any misfortune had happened in Samnium, to have
withstood the power of Etruria; which, being encouraged by the
conspiracy of the Samnites, and seeing both the consuls, and the whole
force of the Romans, employed against them, had made use of that
juncture, in which the Romans had so much business on their hands, for
reviving hostilities. Ambassadors from the allies, being introduced to
the senate by the praetor Marcus Atilius, complained that their
countries were wasted with fire and sword by the neighbouring
Etrurians, because they had refused to revolt from the Romans; and
they besought the conscript fathers to protect them from the violence
and injustice of their common enemy. The ambassadors were answered,
that "the senate would take care that the allies should not repent
their fidelity." That the "Etrurians should shortly be in the same
situation with the Samnites." Notwithstanding which, the business
respecting Etruria would have been prosecuted with less vigour, had
not information been received, that the Faliscians likewise, who had
for many years lived in friendship with Rome, had united their arms
with those of the Etrurians. The consideration of the near vicinity of
that nation quickened the attention of the senate; insomuch that they
passed a decree that heralds should be sent to demand satisfaction:
which being refused, war was declared against the Faliscians by
direction of the senate, and order of the people; and the consuls were
desired to determine, by lots, which of them should lead an army from
Samnium into Etruria. Carvilius had, in the mean time, taken from the
Samnites Volana, Palumbinum, and Herculaneum; Volana after a siege of
a few days, Palumbinum the same day on which he approached the walls.
At Herculaneum, it is true, the consul had two regular engagements
without any decisive advantage on either side, and with greater loss
on his side than on that of the enemy; but afterwards, encamping on
the spot, he shut them up within their works. The town was besieged
and taken. In these three towns were taken or slain ten thousand men,
of whom the prisoners composed somewhat the greater part. On the
consuls casting lots for the provinces, Etruria fell to Carvilius, to
the great satisfaction of the soldiers, who could no longer bear the
intensity of the cold in Samnium. Papirius was opposed at Saepinum
with a more powerful force: he had to fight often in pitched battles,
often on a march, and often under the walls of the city, against the
eruptions of the enemy; and could neither besiege, nor engage them on
equal terms; for the Samnites not only protected themselves by walls,
but likewise protected their walls with numbers of men and arms. At
length, after a great deal of fighting, he forced them to submit to a
regular siege. This he carried on with vigour, and made himself master
of the city by means of his works, and by storm. The rage of the
soldiers on this occasion caused the greatest slaughter in the taking
of the town; seven thousand four hundred fell by the sword; the number
of the prisoners did not amount to three thousand. The spoil, of which
the quantity was very great, the whole substance of the Samnites being
collected in a few cities, was given up to the soldiers.
46. The snow had now entirely covered the face of the country, and
they could no longer dispense with the shelter of houses: the consul
therefore led home his troops from Samnium. While he was on his way to
Rome, a triumph was decreed him with universal consent; and
accordingly he triumphed while in office, and with extraordinary
splendour, considering the circumstances of those times. The cavalry
and infantry marched in the procession, adorned with presents. Great
numbers of civic, vallar, and mural crowns were seen.[Footnote:
These marks of honour were bestowed for having saved the lives of
citizens, or for having been the first to mount walls or ramparts.]
The spoils of the Samnites were inspected with much curiosity, and
compared, in respect of magnificence and beauty, with those taken by
his father, which were well known, from being frequently exhibited as
ornaments of the public places. Several prisoners of distinction,
renowned for their own exploits and those of their ancestors, were led
in the cavalcade. There were carried in the train two millions and
thirty-three thousand _asses_ in weight.[Footnote: L4940 13s.
6d.] This money was said to be produced by the sale of the prisoners.
Of silver, taken in the cities, one thousand three hundred and thirty
pounds. All the silver and brass were lodged in the treasury, no share
of this part of the spoil being given to the soldiers. The ill humour
in the commons was further exasperated, because the tax for the
payment of the army was collected by contribution; whereas, said they,
if the vain parade of conveying the produce of the spoil to the
treasury had been disregarded, donations might have been made to the
soldiers out of the spoil, and the pay of the army also supplied out
of that fund. The temple of Quirinus, vowed by his father when
dictator, (for that he himself had vowed it in the heat of battle, I
do not find in any ancient writer, nor indeed could he in so short a
time have finished the building of it,) the son, in the office of
consul, dedicated and adorned with military spoils. And of these, so
great was the abundance, that not only that temple and the forum were
decorated with them, but some were also distributed among the allies
and colonies in the neighbourhood, to serve as ornaments to their
temples and public places. Immediately after his triumph, he led his
army into winter quarters in the territory of Vescia; because that
country was harassed by the Samnites. Meanwhile, in Etruria, the
consul Carvilius having set about laying siege to Troilium, suffered
four hundred and seventy of the richest inhabitants to depart; they
had paid a large sum of money for permission to leave the place: the
town, with the remaining multitude, he took by storm. He afterwards
reduced, by force, five forts strongly situated, wherein were slain
two thousand four hundred of the enemy, and not quite two thousand
made prisoners. To the Faliscians, who sued for peace, he granted a
truce for a year, on condition of their furnishing a hundred thousand
_asses_ in weight,[Footnote: L322 18s. 4d.] and that year's pay
for his army. This business completed, he returned home to a triumph,
which, though it was less illustrious than that of his colleague, in
respect of his share in the defeat of the Samnites, was yet raised to
an equality with it, by his having put a termination to the war in
Etruria. He carried into the treasury three hundred and ninety
thousand _asses_ in weight.[Footnote: L1259 7s. 6d.] Out of the
remainder of the money accruing to the public from the spoils, he
contracted for the building of a temple to Fors Fortuna, near to that
dedicated to the same goddess by king Servius Tullius; and gave to the
soldiers, out of the spoil, one hundred and two asses[3] each, and
double that sum to the centurions and horsemen, who received this
donative the more gratefully, on account of the parsimony of his
colleague.
47. The favour of the consul saved from a trial, before the people,
Postumius; who, on a prosecution being commenced against him by Marcus
Scantius, plebeian tribune, evaded, as was said, the jurisdiction of
the people, by procuring the commission of lieutenant-general, so the
indictment against him could only be held out as a threat, and not put
in force. The The year having now elapsed, new plebeian tribunes had
come unto office; and for these, in consequence of some irregularity
on their appointments, others had been, within five days after,
substituted in their room. The lustrum was closed this year by the
censors Publius Cornelius Arvina and Caius Marcius Rutilus. The number
of citizens rated was two hundred and sixty-two thousand three hundred
and twenty-two. These were the twenty-sixth pair of censors since the
first institution of that office; and this the nineteenth lustrum. In
this year, persons who had been presented with crowns, in
consideration of meritorious behaviour in war, first began to wear
them at the exhibition of the Roman games. Then, for the first time,
palms were conferred on the victors according to a custom introduced
from Greece. In the same year the paving of the road from the temple
of Mars to Bovillae was completed by the curule aediles, who exhibited
those games out of fines levied on the farmers of the pastures. Lucius
Papirius presided at the consular election, and returned consuls
Quintus Fabius Gurges, son of Maximus, and Decius Junius Brutus
Scaeva. Papirius himself was made praetor. This year, prosperous in
many particulars, was scarcely sufficient to afford consolation for
one calamity, a pestilence, which afflicted both the city and country:
the mortality was prodigious. To discover what end, or what remedy,
was appointed by the gods for that calamity, the books were consulted:
in the books it was found that Aesculapius must be brought to Rome
from Epidaurus. Nor were any steps taken that year in that matter,
because the consuls were fully occupied in the war, except that a
supplication was performed to Aesculapius for one day.
[Here ten books of the original are lost, making a chasm of
seventy-five years. The translator's object being to publish the work
of Livy only, he has not thought it his duty to attempt to supply this
deficiency, either by a compilation of his own, or by transcribing or
translating those of others. The leader, however, who may be desirous
of knowing the events which took place during this interval, will find
as complete a detail of them as can now be given, in Hooke's or
Rollin's Roman History. The contents of the lost books have been
preserved, and are as follows--]
BOOK XI.--[Y.R. 460. B.C. 292.] Fabius Gurges, consul, having fought
an unsuccessful battle with the Samnites, the senate deliberate about
dismissing him from the command of the army; are prevailed upon not to
inflict that disgrace upon him, principally by the entreaties of his
father, Fabius Maximus, and by his promising to join the army, and
serve, in quality of lieutenant-general, under his son: which promise
he performs, and the consul, aided by his counsel and co-operation,
obtains a victory over the Samnites, and a triumph in consequence. C.
Pontius, the general of the Samnites, led in triumph before the
victor's carriage, and afterwards beheaded. A plague at Rome. [Y.R.
461. B.C. 291.] Ambassadors sent to Epidaurus, to bring from thence to
Rome the statue of Aesculapius: a serpent, of itself, goes on board
their ship; supposing it to be the abode of the deity, they bring it
with them; and, upon its quitting their vessel, and swimming to the
island in the Tiber, they consecrate there a temple to Aesculapius. L.
Postumius, a man of consular rank, condemned for employing the
soldiers under his command in working upon his farm. [Y.R. 462. B.C.
290] Curius Dentatus, consul, having subdued the Samnites, and the
rebellious Sabines, triumphs twice during his year of office. [Y.R.
463. B.C. 289.] The colonies of Castrum, Sena, and Adria, established.
Three judges of capital crimes now first appointed. A census and
lustrum: the number of citizens found to be two hundred and
seventy-three thousand. After a long-continued sedition, on account of
debts, the commons secede to the Janiculum: [Y.R. 466. B.C. 286.] are
brought back by Hortensius, dictator, who dies in office. Successful
operations against the Volsinians and Lucanians, [Y.R. 468. B.C. 284.]
against whom it was thought expedient to send succour to the
Thuringians.
BOOK XII.--[Y.R. 469. B.C. 283.] The Senonian Gauls having slain the
Roman ambassadors, war is declared against them: they cut off L.
Caecilius, praetor, with the legions under his command, [Y.R. 470.
B.C. 282.] The Roman fleet plundered by the Tarentines, and the
commander slain: ambassadors, sent to complain of this outrage, are
ill-treated and sent back; whereupon war is declared against them. The
Samnites revolt; against whom, together with the Lucanians, Bruttians,
and Etruscans, several unsuccessful battles are fought by different
generals. [Y.R. 471. B.C. 281.] Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, comes into
Italy, to succour the Tarentines. A Campanian legion, sent, under the
command of Decius Jubellius, to garrison Rhegium, murder the
inhabitants, and seize the city.
BOOK XIII.--[Y.R. 472. B.C. 280.] Valerius Laevinus, consul, engages
with Pyrrhus, and is beaten, his soldiers being terrified at the
unusual appearance of elephants. After the battle, Pyrrhus, viewing
the bodies of the Romans who were slain, remarks, that they all of
them lay with their faces turned towards their enemy. He proceeds
towards Rome, ravaging the country as he goes along. C. Fabricius is
sent by the senate to treat for the redemption of the prisoners: the
king, in vain, attempts to bribe him to desert his country. The
prisoners restored without ransom. Cineas, ambassador from Pyrrhus to
the senate, demands, as a condition of peace, that the king be
admitted into the city of Rome: the consideration of which being
deferred to a fuller meeting, Appius Claudius, who, on account of a
disorder in his eyes, had not, for a long time, attended in the
senate, comes there; moves, and carries his motion, that the demand of
the king be refused. Cneius Domitius, the first plebeian censor, holds
a lustrum; the number of the citizens found to be two hundred and
seventy-eight thousand two hundred and twenty-two. A second, but
undecided battle with Pyrrhus. [Y.R. 473. B.C. 279.] The treaty with
the Carthaginians renewed a fourth time. An offer made to Fabricius,
the consul, by a traitor, to poison Pyrrhus; [Y. R. 474. B. C. 278.]
he sends him to the king, and discovers to him the treasonable offer.
Successful operations against the Etruscans, Lucanians, Bruttians, and
Samnites.
BOOK XIV.--Pyrrhus crosses over into Sicily. [Y. R. 475. B. C. 277.]
Many prodigies, among which, the statue of Jupiter in the Capitol is
struck by lightning, and thrown down. [Y. R. 476. B. C. 276.] The head
of it afterwards found by the priests. Curius Dentatus, holding a
levy, puts up to sale the goods of a person who refuses to answer to
his name when called upon. [Y. R. 477. B. C. 275.] Pyrrhus, after his
return from Sicily, is defeated, and compelled to quit Italy. The
censors hold a lustrum, and find the number of the citizens to be two
hundred and seventy-one thousand two hundred and twenty-four. [Y. R.
479. B. c. 273.] A treaty of alliance formed with Ptolemy, king of
Egypt. Sextilia, a vestal, found guilty of incest, and buried alive.
Two colonies sent forth, to Posidonium and Cossa. [Y. R. 480. B. C.
272.] A Carthaginian fleet sails, in aid of the Tarentines, by which
act the treaty is violated. Successful operations against the
Lucanians, Samnites, and Bruttians. Death of king Pyrrhus.
BOOK XV.--The Tarentines overcome: peace and freedom granted to them.
[Y. R. 481. B. C. 271.] The Campanian legion, which had forcibly taken
possession of Rhegium, besieged there; lay down their arms, and are
punished with death. Some young men, who had ill-treated the
ambassadors from the Apollonians to the senate of Rome, are delivered
up to them. Peace granted to the Picentians. [Y. R. 484. B. C. 268.]
Two colonies established; one at Ariminum in Picenum, another at
Beneventum in Samnium. Silver coin now, for the first time, used by
the Roman people. [Y. R. 485. B. C. 267.] The Umbrians and Sallentines
subdued. The number of quaestors increased to eight.
BOOK XVI.--[Y. R. 488. B. C. 264.] Origin and progress of the
Carthaginian state. After much debate, the senate resolves to succour
the Mammertines against the Carthaginians, and against Hiero, king of
Syracuse. Roman cavalry, then, for the first time, cross the sea, and
engage successfully, in battle with Hiero; who solicits and obtains
peace. [Y.R. 489. B.C. 263.] A lustrum: the number of the citizens
amounts to two hundred and ninety-two thousand two hundred and
twenty-four. D. Junius Brutus exhibits the first show of gladiators,
in honour of his deceased father. [Y.R. 490. B.C. 262.] The Aesernian
colony established. Successful operations against the Carthaginians
and Vulsinians. [Y.R. 491. B.C. 261.]
BOOK XVII.--[Y.R. 492. B.C. 260.] Cneius Cornelius, consul, surrounded
by the Carthaginian fleet; and, being drawn into a conference by a
stratagem, is taken. [Y.R. 493. B.C. 259.] C. Duilius, consul, engages
with and vanquishes the Carthaginian fleet; is the first commander to
whom a triumph was decreed for a naval victory; in honour of which, he
is allowed, when returning to his habitation at night, to be attended
with torches and music. L. Cornelius, consul, fights and subdues the
Sardinians and Corsicans, together with Hanno, the Carthaginian
general, in the island of Sardinia. [Y.R. 494. B.C. 258.] Atilius
Calatinus, consul, drawn into an ambuscade by the Carthaginians, is
rescued by the skill and valour of M. Calpurnius, a military tribune,
who making a sudden attack upon the enemy, with a body of only three
hundred men, turns their whole force against himself. [Y.R. 495. B.C.
257.] Hannibal, the commander of the Carthaginian fleet which was
beaten, is put to death by his soldiers.
BOOK XVIII.--[Y.R. 496. B.C. 256.] Attilius Regulus, consul, having
overcome the Carthaginians in a sea-fight, passes over into Africa:
kills a serpent of prodigious magnitude, with great loss of his own
men. [Y.R. 497. B.C. 255.] The senate, on account of his successful
conduct of the war, not appointing him a successor, he writes to them,
complaining; and, among other reasons for desiring to be recalled,
alledges, that his little farm, being all his subsistence, was going
to ruin, owing to the mismanagement of hired stewards. [Y.R. 498. B.C.
254.] A memorable instance of the instability of fortune exhibited in
the person of Regulus, who is overcome in battle, and taken prisoner
by Xanthippus, a Lacedaemonian general. [Y. R. 499. B. C. 253.] The
Roman fleet shipwrecked; which disaster entirely reverses the good
fortune which had hitherto attended their affairs. Titus Corucanius,
the first high priest chosen from among the commons. [Y. R. 500. B. C.
252.] P. Sempronius Sophus and M. Yalerius Maximus, censors, examine
into the state of the senate, and expel thirteen of the members of
that body. [Y. R. 501. B. C. 251.] They hold a lustrum, and find the
number of citizens to be two hundred and ninety-seven thousand seven
hundred and ninety-seven. [Y. R. 502. B. C. 250.] Regulus being sent
by the Carthaginians to Rome to treat for peace, and an exchange of
prisoners, binds himself by oath to return if these objects be not
attained; dissuades the senate from agreeing to the propositions: and
then, in observance of his oath, returning to Carthage, is put to
death by torture.
BOOK XIX.--[Y. R. 502. B. C. 250.] C. Caecilius Metellus, having been
successful in several engagements with the Carthaginians, triumphs
with more splendour than had ever yet been seen; thirteen generals of
the enemy, and one hundred and twenty elephants, being exhibited in
the procession, [Y. R. 503. B. C. 249.] Claudius Pulcher, consul,
obstinately persisting, notwithstanding the omens were inauspicious,
engages the enemy's fleet, and is beaten; drowns the sacred chickens
which would not feed: recalled by the senate, and ordered to nominate
a dictator; he appoints Claudius Glicia, one of the lowest of the
people, who, notwithstanding his being ordered to abdicate the office,
yet attends the celebration of the public games in his dictator's
robe. [Y. R. 504. B. C. 248.] Atilius Calatinus, the first dictator
who marches with an army out of Italy. An exchange of prisoners with
the Carthaginians. Two colonies established at Fregenae and Brundusium
in the Sallentine territories. [Y. R. 505. B. C. 247.] A lustrum; the
citizens numbered amount to two hundred and fifty-one thousand two
hundred and twenty-two. [Y. R. 506. B. C. 246.] Claudia, the sister of
Claudius, who had fought unsuccessfully, in contempt of the auspices,
being pressed by the crowd, as she was returning from the game, cries
out, _I wish my brother were alive and had again the command of the
fleet_: for which offence she is tried and fined. [Y. R. 507. B. C.
245.] Two praetors now first created. Aulus Postumius, consul, being
priest of Mars, forcibly detained in the city by Caecilius Metellus,
the high priest, and not suffered to go forth to war, being obliged by
law to attend to the sacred duties of his office. [Y.R. 508. B.C.
244.] After several successful engagements with the Carthaginians,
Caius Lutatius, consul, puts an end to the war, [Y.R. 509. B.C. 243.]
by gaining a complete victory over their fleet, at the island of
Aegate. The Carthaginians sue for peace, which is granted to them.
[Y.R. 510. B.C. 242.] The temple of Vesta being on fire, the high
priest, Caecilius Metellus, saves the sacred utensils from the flames.
[Y.R. 511. B.C. 241.] Two new tribes added, the Veline and Quirine.
The Falisci rebel; are subdued in six days.
BOOK XX.--A colony settled at Spoletum. [Y.R. 512. B.C. 240.] An army
sent against the Ligurians; being the first war with that state. The
Sardinians and Corsicans rebel, and are subdued. [Y.R. 514. B.C. 238.]
Tuccia, a vestal, found guilty of incest. War declared against the
Illyrians, who had slain an ambassador; they are subdued and brought
to submission. [Y.R. 515. B.C. 237.] The number of praetors increased
to four. The Transalpine Gauls make an irruption into Italy: are
conquered and put to the sword. [Y.R. 516. B.C. 236.] The Roman army,
in conjunction with the Latins, is said to have amounted to no less
than three hundred thousand men. [Y.R. 517. B.C. 235.] The Roman army
for the first time crosses the Po; fights with and subdues the
Insubrian Gauls. [Y.R. 530. B.C. 222.] Claudius Marcellus, consul,
having slain Viridomarus, the general of the Insubrian Gauls, carries
off the _spolia opima_. [Y.R. 531. B.C. 221.] The Istrians
subdued; also the Illyrians, who had rebelled. [Y.R. 532. B.C. 220.]
The censors hold a lustrum, in which the number of the citizens is
found to be two hundred and seventy thousand two hundred and thirteen.
The sons of freed-men formed into four tribes; the Esquiline,
Palatine, Suburran, and Colline. [Y.R. 533. B.C. 219.] Caius
Flaminius, censor, constructs the Flaminian road, and builds the
Flaminian circus.
BOOK XXI.
_Origin of the second Punic war. Hannibal's character. In violation
of a treaty, he passes the Iberus. Besieges Saguntum, and at length
takes it. The Romans send ambassadors to Carthage; declare war.
Hannibal crosses the Pyrenees: makes his way through Gaul; then
crosses the Alps; defeats the Romans at the Ticinus. The Romans again
defeated at the Trebia. Cneius Cornelius Scipio defeats the
Carthaginians in Spain, and takes Hanno, their general, prisoner._
1. I may be permitted to premise at this division of my work, what
most historians [Footnote: Thucydides seems to be specially referred
to.] have professed at the beginning of their whole undertaking; that
I am about to relate the most memorable of all wars that were ever
waged: the war which the Carthaginians, under the conduct of Hannibal,
maintained with the Roman people. For never did any states and nations
more efficient in their resources engage in contest; nor had they
themselves at any other period so great a degree of power and energy.
They brought into action too no arts of war unknown to each other, but
those which had been tried in the first Punic war; and so various was
the fortune of the conflict, and so doubtful the victory, that they
who conquered were more exposed to danger. The hatred with which they
fought also was almost greater than their resources; the Romans being
indignant that the conquered aggressively took up arms against their
victors; the Carthaginians, because they considered that in their
subjection it had been lorded over them with haughtiness and avarice.
There is besides a story, that Hannibal, when about nine years old,
while he boyishly coaxed his father Hamilcar that he might be taken to
Spain, (at the time when the African war was completed, and he was
employed in sacrificing previously to transporting his army thither,)
was conducted to the altar; and, having laid his hand on the
offerings, was bound by an oath to prove himself, as soon as he could,
an enemy to the Roman people. The loss of Sicily and Sardinia grieved
the high spirit of Hamilcar: for he deemed that Sicily had been given
up through a premature despair of their affairs; and that Sardinia,
during the disturbances in Africa, had been treacherously taken by the
Romans, while, in addition, the payment of a tribute had been imposed.
2. Being disturbed with these anxieties, he so conducted himself for
five years in the African war, which commenced shortly after the peace
with Rome, and then through nine years employed in augmenting the
Carthaginian empire in Spain, that it was obvious that he was
revolving in his mind a greater war than he was then engaged in; and
that if he had lived longer, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar would
have carried the war into Italy, which, under the command of Hannibal,
they afterwards did. The timely death of Hamilcar and the youth of
Hannibal occasioned its delay. Hasdrubal, intervening between the
father and the son, held the command for about eight years. He was
first endeared to Hamilcar, as they say, on account of his youthful
beauty, and then adopted by him, when advanced in age, as his
son-in-law, on account of his eminent abilities; and, because he was
his son-in-law, he obtained the supreme authority, against the wishes
of the nobles, by the influence of the Barcine faction, [Footnote:
The Barcine faction derived its name from Hamilcar, who was surnamed
Barca. Hanno appears to have been at the head of the opposite party.]
which was very powerful with the military and the populace.
Prosecuting his designs rather by stratagem than force, by
entertaining the princes, and by means of the friendship of their
leaders, gaining the favour of unknown nations, he aggrandized the
Carthaginian power, more than by arms and battles. Yet peace proved no
greater security to himself. A barbarian, in resentment of his
master's having been put to death by him, publicly murdered him; and,
having been seized by the bystanders, he exhibited the same
countenance as if he had escaped; nay, even when he was lacerated by
tortures, he preserved such an expression of face, that he presented
the appearance of one who smiled, his joy getting the better of his
pains. With this Hasdrubal, because he possessed such wonderful skill
in gaining over the nations and adding them to his empire, the Roman
people had renewed the treaty, [Footnote: A. U. C. 526, thirteen
years after the conclusion of the first Punic war, being the sixth
treaty between the Carthaginians and Romans. The first was a
commercial agreement made during the first consulate, in the year that
the Tarquins were expelled from Rome; but is not mentioned by Livy.
The second is noted by him, lib. vii. 27, and the third, lib. ix. 43.
The fourth was concluded during the war with Pyrrhus and the
Tarentines, Polyb. V. iii. 25: and the fifth was the memorable treaty
at the close of the first war] on the terms, that the river Iberus
should be the boundary of both empires; and that to the Saguntines,
who lay between the territories of the two states, their liberty
should be preserved.
3. There was no doubt that in appointing a successor to Hasdrubal, the
approbation of the commons would follow the military prerogative, by
which the young Hannibal had been immediately carried to the
praetorium, and hailed as general, amid the loud shouts and
acquiescence of all. Hasdrubal had sent for him by letter, when scarce
yet arrived at manhood; and the matter had even been discussed in the
senate, the Barcine faction using all their efforts, that Hannibal
might be trained to military service and succeed to his father's
command. Hanno, the leader of the opposite faction, said, "Hasdrubal
seems indeed to ask what is reasonable, but I, nevertheless, do not
think his request ought to be granted." When he had attracted to
himself the attention of all, through surprise at this ambiguous
opinion, he proceeded: "Hasdrubal thinks that the flower of youth
which he gave to the enjoyment of Hannibal's father, may justly be
expected by himself in return from the son: but it would little become
us to accustom our youth, in place of a military education, to the
lustful ambition of the generals. Are we afraid that the son of
Hamilcar should be too late in seeing the immoderate power and
splendour of his father's sovereignty? or that we shall not soon
enough become slaves to the son of him, to whose son-in-law our armies
were bequeathed as an hereditary right? I am of opinion, that this
youth should be kept at home, and taught, under the restraint of the
laws and the authority of magistrates, to live on an equal footing
with the rest of the citizens, lest at some time or other this small
fire should kindle a vast conflagration."
4. A few, and nearly every one of the highest merit, concurred with
Hanno; but, as usually happens, the more numerous party prevailed over
the better. Hannibal, having been sent into Spain, from his very first
arrival drew the eyes of the whole army upon him. The veteran soldiers
imagined that Hamilcar, in his youth, was restored to them; they
remarked the same vigour in his looks and animation in his eye the
same features and expression of countenance; and then, in a short
time, he took care that his father should be of the least powerful
consideration in conciliating their esteem. There never was a genius
more fitted for the two most opposite duties of obeying and
commanding; so that you could not easily decide whether he were dearer
to the general or the army: and neither did Hasdrubal prefer giving
the command to any other, when any thing was to be done with courage
and activity; nor did the soldiers feel more confidence and boldness
under any other leader. His fearlessness in encountering dangers, and
his prudence when in the midst of them, were extreme. His body could
not be exhausted, nor his mind subdued, by any toil. He could alike
endure either heat or cold. The quantity of his food and drink was
determined by the wants of nature, and not by pleasure. The seasons of
his sleeping and waking were distinguished neither by day nor night.
The time that remained after the transaction of business was given to
repose; but that repose was neither invited by a soft bed nor by
quiet. Many have seen him wrapped in a military cloak, lying on the
ground amid the watches and outposts of the soldiers. His dress was
not at all superior to that of his equals: his arms and his horses
were conspicuous. He was at once by far the first of the cavalry and
infantry; and, foremost to advance to the charge, was last to leave
the engagement. Excessive vices counterbalanced these high virtues of
the hero; inhuman cruelty, more than Punic perfidy, no truth, no
reverence for things sacred, no fear of the gods, no respect for
oaths, no sense of religion. With a character thus made up of virtue
and vices, he served for three years under the command of Hasdrubal,
without neglecting any thing which ought to be done or seen by one who
was to become a great general.
5. But from the day on which he was declared general, as if Italy had
been decreed to him as his province, and the war with Rome committed
to him, thinking there should be no delay, lest, while he
procrastinated, some unexpected accident might defeat him, as had
happened to his father, Hamilcar, and afterwards to Hasdrubal, he
resolved to make war the Saguntines. As there could be no doubt that
by attacking them the Romans would be excited to arms, he first led
his army into the territory of the Olcades, a people beyond the
Iberus, rather within the boundaries than under the dominion of the
Carthaginians, so that he might not seem to have had the Saguntines
for his object, but to have been drawn on to the war by the course of
events; after the adjoining nations had been subdued, and by the
progressive annexation of conquered territory. He storms and plunders
Carteia, a wealthy city, the capital of that nation; at which the
smaller states being dismayed, submitted to his command and to the
imposition of a tribute. His army, triumphant and enriched with booty,
was led into winter-quarters to New Carthage. Having there confirmed
the attachment of all his countrymen and allies by a liberal division
of the plunder, and by faithfully discharging the arrears of pay, the
war was extended, in the beginning of spring, to the Vaccaei. The
cities Hermandica and Arbocala were taken by storm. Arbocala was
defended for a long time by the valour and number of its inhabitants.
Those who escaped from Hermandica joining themselves to the exiles of
the Olcades, a nation subdued the preceding summer, excite the
Carpetani to arms; and having attacked Hannibal near the river Tagus,
on his return from the Vaccaei, they threw into disorder his army
encumbered with spoil. Hannibal avoided an engagement, and having
pitched his camp on the bank, as soon as quiet and silence prevailed
among the enemy, forded the river; and having removed his rampart so
far that the enemy might have room to pass over, resolved to attack
them in their passage. He commanded the cavalry to charge as soon as
they should see them advanced into the water. He drew up the line of
his infantry on the bank with forty elephants in front. The Carpetani,
with the addition of the Olcades and Vaccaei amounted to a hundred
thousand, an invincible army, were the fight to take place in the open
plain. Being therefore both naturally ferocious and confiding in their
numbers; and since they believed that the enemy had retired through
fear thinking that victory was only delayed by the intervention of the
river, they raise a shout, and in every direction, without the command
of any one, dash into the stream, each where it nearest to him. At the
same time, a heavy force of cavalry poured into the river from its
opposite bank, and the engagement commenced in the middle of the
channel on very unequal terms; for there the foot-soldier, having no
secure footing, and scarcely trusting to the ford, could be borne down
even by an unarmed horseman, by the mere shock of his horse urged at
random; while the horseman, with the command of his body and his
weapons, his horse moving steadily even through the middle of the
eddies, could maintain the fight either at close quarters or at a
distance. A great number were swallowed up by the current; some being
carried by the whirlpools of the stream to the side of the enemy, were
trodden down by the elephants; and whilst the last, for whom it was
more safe to retreat to their own bank, were collecting together after
their various alarms, Hannibal, before they could regain courage after
such excessive consternation, having entered the river with his army
in a close square, forced them to fly from the bank. Having then laid
waste their territory, he received the submission of the Carpetani
also within a few days. And now all the country beyond the Iberus,
excepting that of the Saguntines, was under the power of the
Carthaginians.
6. As yet there was no war with the Saguntines, but already, in order
to a war, the seeds of dissension were sown between them and their
neighbours, particularly the Turetani, with whom when the same person
sided who had originated the quarrel, and it was evident, not that a
trial of the question of right, but violence, was his object,
ambassadors were sent by the Saguntines to Rome to implore assistance
in the war which now evidently threatened them. The consuls then at
Rome were Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Sempronius Longus,
who, after the ambassadors were introduced into the senate, having
made a motion on the state of public affairs, it was resolved that
envoys should be sent into Spain to inspect the circumstances of the
allies; and if they saw good reason, both to warn Hannibal that he
should refrain from the Saguntines, the allies of the Roman people,
and to pass over into Africa to Carthage, and report the complaints of
the allies of the Roman people. This embassy having been decreed but
not yet despatched, the news arrived, more quickly than any one
expected, that Saguntum was besieged. The business was then referred
anew to the senate. And some, decreeing Spain and Africa as provinces
for the consuls, thought the war should be maintained both by sea and
land, while others wished to direct the whole hostilities against
Spain and Hannibal. There were others again who thought that an affair
of such importance should not be entered on rashly; and that the
return of the ambassadors from Spain ought to be awaited. This
opinion, which seemed the safest, prevailed; and Publius Valerius
Flaccus, and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus, were, on that account, the
more quickly despatched as ambassadors to Hannibal at Saguntum, and
from thence to Carthage, if he did not desist from the war, to demand
the general himself in atonement for the violation of the treaty.
7. While the Romans thus prepare and deliberate, Saguntum was already
besieged with the utmost vigour. That city, situated about a mile from
the sea, was by far the most opulent beyond the Iberus. Its
inhabitants are said to have been sprung from the island Zacynthus,
and some of the Rutulian race from Ardea to have been also mixed with
them; but they had risen in a short time to great wealth, either by
their gains from the sea or the land, or by the increase of their
numbers, or the integrity of their principles, by which they
maintained their faith with their allies, even to their own
destruction. Hannibal having entered their territory with a hostile
army, and laid waste the country in every direction, attacks the city
in three different quarters. There was an angle of the wall sloping
down into a more level and open valley than the other space around;
against this he resolved to move the vineae, by means of which the
battering-ram might be brought up to the wall. But though the ground
at a distance from the wall was sufficiently level for working the
vineae, yet their undertakings by no means favourably succeeded, when
they came to effect their object. Both a huge tower overlooked it, and
the wall, as in a suspected place, was raised higher than in any other
part; and a chosen band of youths presented a more vigorous
resistance, where the greatest danger and labour were indicated. At
first they repelled the enemy with missile weapons, and suffered no
place to be sufficiently secure for those engaged in the works;
afterwards, not only did they brandish their weapons in defence of the
walls and tower, but they had courage to make sallies on the posts and
works of the enemy; in which tumultuary engagements, scarcely more
Saguntines than Carthaginians were slain. But when Hannibal himself,
while he too incautiously approached the wall, fell severely wounded
in the thigh by a javelin, such flight and dismay spread around, that
the works and vineae had nearly been abandoned.
8. For a few days after, while the general's wound was being cured,
there was rather a blockade than a siege: during which time, though
there was a respite from fighting, yet there was no intermission in
the preparation of works and fortifications. Hostilities, therefore,
broke out afresh with greater fury, and in more places, in some even
where the ground scarcely admitted of the works, the vineae began to
be moved forward, and the battering-ram to be advanced to the walls.
The Carthaginian abounded in the numbers of his troops; for there is
sufficient reason to believe that he had as many as a hundred and
fifty thousand in arms. The townsmen began to be embarrassed, by
having their attention multifariously divided, in order to maintain
their several defences, and look to every thing; nor were they equal
to the task, for the walls were now battered by the rams, and many
parts of them were shattered. One part by continuous ruins left the
city exposed; three successive towers and all the wall between them
had fallen down with an immense crash, and the Carthaginians believed
the town taken by that breach; through which, as if the wall had alike
protected both, there was a rush from each side to the battle. There
was nothing resembling the disorderly fighting which, in the storming
of towns, is wont to be engaged in, on the opportunities of either
party; but regular lines, as in an open plain, stood arrayed between
the ruins of the walls and the buildings of the city, which lay but a
slight distance from the walls. On the one side hope, on the other
despair, inflamed their courage; the Carthaginian believing that, if a
little additional effort were used, the city was his; the Saguntines
opposing their bodies in defence of their native city deprived of its
walls, and not a man retiring a step, lest he might admit the enemy
into the place he deserted. The more keenly and closely, therefore,
they fought on both sides, the more, on that account, were wounded, no
weapon falling without effect amidst their arms and persons. There was
used by the Saguntines a missile weapon, called falarica, with the
shaft of fir, and round in other parts except towards the point,
whence the iron projected: this part, which was square, as in the
pilum, they bound around with tow, and besmeared with pitch. It had an
iron head three feet in length, so that it could pierce through the
body with the armour. But what caused the greatest fear was, that this
weapon, even though it stuck in the shield and did not penetrate into
the body, when it was discharged with the middle part on fire, and
bore along a much greater flame, produced by the mere motion, obliged
the armour to be thrown down, and exposed the soldier to succeeding
blows.
9. When the contest had for a long time continued doubtful, and the
courage of the Saguntines had increased, because they had succeeded in
their resistance beyond their hopes, while the Carthaginian, because
he had not conquered, felt as vanquished, the townsmen suddenly set up
a shout, and drive their enemies to the ruins of the wall; thence they
force them, while embarrassed and disordered; and lastly, drove them
back, routed and put to flight, to their camp. In the mean time it was
announced that ambassadors had arrived from Rome; to meet whom
messengers were sent to the sea-side by Hannibal, to tell them that
they could not safely come to him through so many armed bands of
savage tribes, and that Hannibal at such an important conjuncture had
not leisure to listen to embassies. It was obvious that, if not
admitted, they would immediately repair to Carthage: he therefore
sends letters and messengers beforehand to the leaders of the Barcine
faction, to prepare the minds of their partisans, so that the other
party might not be able in any thing to give an advantage to the
Romans.
10. That embassy, therefore, excepting that the ambassadors were
admitted and heard, proved likewise vain and fruitless. Hanno alone,
in opposition to the rest of the senate, pleaded the cause of the
treaty, amidst deep silence on account of his authority, and not from
the approbation of the audience. He said: that he had admonished and
forewarned them by the gods, the arbiters and witnesses of treaties,
that they should not send the son of Hamilcar to the army; that the
manes, that the offspring of that man could not rest in peace, nor
ever, while any one of the Barcine name and blood survived, would the
Roman treaties continue undisturbed. "You, supplying as it were fuel
to the flame, have sent to your armies a youth burning with the desire
of sovereign power, and seeing but one road to his object, if by
exciting war after war, he may live surrounded by arms and legions.
You have therefore fostered this fire, in which you now burn. Your
armies invest Saguntum, whence they are forbidden by the treaty: ere
long the Roman legions will invest Carthage, under the guidance of
those gods through whose aid they revenged in the former war the
infraction of the treaty. Are you unacquainted with the enemy, or with
yourselves, or with the fortune of either nation? Your good general
refused to admit into his camp ambassadors coming from allies and in
behalf of allies, and set at nought the law of nations. They, however,
after being there repulsed, where not even the ambassadors of enemies
are prohibited admittance, come to you: they require restitution
according to the treaty: let not guilt attach to the state, they
demand to have delivered up to them the author of the transgression,
the person who is chargeable with this offence. The more gently they
proceed,--the slower they are to begin, the more unrelentingly, I
fear, when they have once commenced, will they indulge resentment. Set
before your eyes the islands Aegates and Eryx, all that for
twenty-four years ye have suffered by land and sea. Nor was this boy
the leader, but his father Hamilcar himself, a second Mars, as these
people would have it: but we had not refrained from Tarentum, that is,
from Italy, according to the treaty; as now we do not refrain from
Saguntum. The gods and men have, therefore, prevailed over us; and as
to that about which there was a dispute in words, whether of the two
nations had infringed the treaty, the issue of the war, like an
equitable judge, hath awarded the victory to the party on whose side
justice stood. It is against Carthage that Hannibal is now moving his
vineae and towers: it is the wall of Carthage that he is shaking with
his battering-ram. The ruins of Saguntum (oh that I may prove a false
prophet!) will fall on our heads; and the war commenced against the
Saguntines must be continued against the Romans. Shall we, therefore,
some one will say, deliver up Hannibal? In what relates to him I am
aware that my authority is of little weight, on account of my enmity
with his father. But I both rejoice that Hamilcar perished, for this
reason, that, had he lived we should have now been engaged in a war
with the Romans; and this youth, as the fury and firebrand of this
war, I hate and detest. Nor ought he only to be given up in atonement
for the violated treaty; but even though no one demanded him, he ought
to be transported to the extremest shores of earth or sea, and
banished to a distance, whence neither his name nor any tidings of him
can reach us, and he be unable to disturb the peace of a tranquil
state. I therefore give my opinion, that ambassadors be sent
immediately to Rome to satisfy the senate; others to tell Hannibal to
lead away his army from Saguntum, and to deliver up Hannibal himself,
according to the treaty to the Romans; and I propose a third embassy
to make restitution to the Saguntines."
11. When Hanno had concluded, there was no occasion for any one to
contend with him in debate, to such a decree were almost all the
senators devoted to Hannibal; and they accused Hanno of having spoken
with more malignity than Flaccus Valerius, the Roman ambassador. It
was then said in answer to the Roman ambassadors, "that the war had
been commenced by the Saguntines, not by Hannibal; and that the Roman
people acted unjustly if they preferred the Saguntines to the most
ancient [Footnote: Alluding to the first treaty made in the year
that the kings were expelled from Rome.] alliance of the
Carthaginians." Whilst the Romans waste time in sending embassies,
Hannibal, because his soldiers were fatigued with the battles and the
works, allowed them rest for a few days, parties being stationed to
guard the vineae and other works. In the mean time he inflames their
minds, now by inciting their anger against the enemy, now with the
hope of reward. But when he declared before the assembled army, that
the plunder of the captured city should be given to the soldiers, to
such a degree were they all excited, that if the signal had been
immediately given, it appeared that they could not have been resisted
by any force. The Saguntines, as they had a respite from fighting,
neither for some days attacking nor attacked, so they had not, by
night or day, ever ceased from toiling, that they might repair anew
the wall in the quarter where the town had been exposed by the breach.
A still more desperate storming than the former then assailed them;
nor whilst all quarters resounded with various clamours, could they
satisfactorily know where first or principally they should lend
assistance. Hannibal, as an encouragement, was present in person,
where a movable tower, exceeding in height all the fortifications of
the city, was urged forward. When being brought up it had cleared the
walls of their defenders by means of the catapultae and ballistae
ranged through all its stories, then Hannibal, thinking it a
favourable opportunity, sends about five hundred Africans with
pickaxes to undermine the wall: nor was the work difficult, since the
unhewn stones were not fastened with lime, but filled in their
interstices with clay, after the manner of ancient building. It fell,
therefore, more extensively than it was struck, and through the open
spaces of the ruins troops of armed men rushed into the city. They
also obtain possession of a rising ground; and having collected
thither catapultae and ballistae, so that they might have a fort in
the city itself, commanding it like a citadel, they surround it with a
wall: and the Saguntines raise an inner wall before the part of the
city which was not yet taken. On both sides they exert the utmost
vigour in fortifying and fighting: but the Saguntines, by erecting
these inner defences, diminish daily the size of their city. At the
same time, the want of all supplies increased through the length of
the siege, and the expectation of foreign aid diminished, since the
Romans, their only hope, were at such a distance, and all the country
round was in the power of the enemy. The sudden departure of Hannibal
against the Oretani and Carpetani [Footnote: The Carpetani have
already been mentioned, chap. v. The Oretani, then neighbours,
occupied the country lying between the sources of the Baetis and the
Anas, or what are now called the Guadalquiver and Guadiana. In a part
of Orospeda they deduced their name from a city called Oretum, the
site of which has been brought to light in a paltry village to which
the name of Oreto still remains.--_D'Anville_.] revived for a
little their drooping spirits; which two nations, though, exasperated
by the severity of the levy, they had occasioned, by detaining the
commissaries, the fear of a revolt, having been suddenly checked by
the quickness of Hannibal, laid down the arms they had taken up.
12. Nor was the siege of Saguntum, in the mean time, less vigorously
maintained; Maharbal, the son of Himilco, whom Hannibal had set over
the army, carrying on operations so actively that neither the townsmen
nor their enemies perceived that the general was away. He both engaged
in several successful battles, and with three battering-rams overthrew
a portion of the wall; and showed to Hannibal, on his arrival the
ground all covered with fresh ruins. The army was therefore
immediately led against the citadel itself, and a desperate combat was
commenced with much slaughter on both sides, and part of the citadel
was taken. The slight chance of a peace was then tried by two persons;
Alcon a Saguntine, and Alorcus a Spaniard. Alcon, thinking he could
effect something by entreaties, having passed over, without the
knowledge of the Saguntines, to Hannibal by night, when his tears
produced no effect, and harsh conditions were offered as from an
exasperated conqueror, becoming a deserter instead of an advocate,
remained with the enemy; affirming that the man would be put to death
who should treat for peace on such terms. For it was required that
they should make restitution to the Turdetani; and after delivering up
all their gold and silver, departing from the city each with a single
garment, should take up their dwelling where the Carthaginian should
direct. Alcon having denied that the Saguntines would accept such
terms of peace, Alorcus, asserting that when all else is subdued, the
mind becomes subdued, offers himself as the proposer of that peace.
Now at that time he was a soldier of Hannibal's, but publicly the
friend and host of the Saguntines. Having openly delivered his weapon
to the guards of the enemy and passed the fortifications, he was
conducted, as he had himself requested, to the Saguntine praetor;
whither when there was immediately a general rush of every description
of people, the rest of the multitude being removed, an audience of the
senate is given to Alorcus; whose speech was to the following effect:
13. "If your citizen Alcon, as he came to implore a peace from
Hannibal, had in like manner brought back to you the terms of peace
proposed by Hannibal, this journey of mine would have been
unnecessary; by which circumstance I should not have had to come to
you as the legate of Hannibal, nor as a deserter. Since he has
remained with your enemies, either through your fault or his own,
(through his own, if he counterfeited fear; through yours, if among
you there be danger to those who tell the truth,) that you may not be
ignorant that there are some terms of safety and peace for you, I have
come to you in consideration of the ancient ties of hospitality which
subsist between us. But that I speak what I address to you for your
sake and that of no other, let even this be the proof: that neither
while you resisted with your own strength, nor while you expected
assistance from the Romans, did I ever make any mention of peace to
you. But now, after you have neither any hope from the Romans, nor
your own arms nor walls sufficiently defend you, I bring to you a
peace rather necessary than just: of effecting which there is thus
some hope, if, as Hannibal offers it in the spirit of a conqueror, you
listen to it as vanquished; if you will consider not what is taken
from you as loss, (since all belongs to the conqueror,) but whatever
is left as a gift. He takes away from you your city, which, already
for the greater part in ruins, he has almost wholly in his possession;
he leaves you your territory, intending to mark out a place in which
you may build a new town; he commands that all the gold and silver,
both public and private, shall be brought to him; he preserves
inviolate your persons and those of your wives and children, provided
you are willing to depart from Saguntum, unarmed, each with two
garments. These terms a victorious enemy dictates. These, though harsh
and grievous, your condition commends to you. Indeed I do not despair,
when the power of every thing is given him, that he will remit
something from these terms. But even these I think you ought rather to
endure, than suffer, by the rights of war, yourselves to be
slaughtered, your wives and children to be ravished and dragged into
captivity before your faces."
14. When an assembly of the people, by the gradual crowding round of
the multitude, had mingled with the senate to hear these proposals,
the chief men suddenly withdrawing before an answer was returned, and
throwing all the gold and silver collected, both from public and
private stores, into a fire hastily kindled for that purpose, the
greater part flung themselves also into it. When the dismay and
agitation produced by this deed had pervaded the whole city, another
noise was heard in addition from the citadel. A tower, long battered,
had fallen down; and when a Carthaginian cohort, rushing through the
breach, had made a signal to the general that the city was destitute
of the usual outposts and guards, Hannibal, thinking that there ought
to be no delay at such an opportunity, having attacked the city with
his whole forces, took it in a moment, command being given that all
the adults should be put to death; which command, though cruel, was
proved in the issue to have been almost necessary. For to whom of
those men could mercy have been shown, who, either shut up with their
wives and children, burned their houses over their own heads, or
abroad in arms made no end of fighting, except in death.
15. The town was taken, with immense spoil. Though the greater part of
the goods had been purposely damaged by their owners, and resentment
had made scarce any distinction of age in the massacre, and the
captives were the booty of the soldiers; still it appears that some
money was raised from the price of the effects that were sold, and
that much costly furniture and garments were sent to Carthage. Some
have written that Saguntum was taken in the eighth month after it
began to be besieged; that Hannibal then retired to New Carthage, into
winter quarters; and that in the fifth month after he had set out from
Carthage he arrived in Italy. If this be so, it was impossible that
Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius could have been consuls, to
whom both at the beginning of the siege the Saguntine ambassadors were
despatched, and who, during their office, fought with Hannibal; the
one at the river Ticinus, and both some time after at the Trebia.
Either all these events took place in a somewhat shorter period, or
Saguntum was not begun to be besieged, but taken at the beginning of
the year in which Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius were
consuls. For the battle at Trebia could not have been so late as the
year of Cneius Servilius and Caius Flaminius, since Flaminius entered
on the office at Ariminum, having been created by the consul Tiberius
Sempronius; who, having repaired to Rome after the battle at Trebia
for the purpose of creating consuls, returned when the election was
finished to the army into winter quarters.
16. Nearly about the same time, both the ambassadors who had returned
from Carthage brought intelligence to Rome that all appearances were
hostile, and the destruction of Saguntum was announced. Then such
grief, and pity for allies so undeservingly destroyed, and shame that
aid was withheld, and rage against the Carthaginians, and fear for the
issue of events, as if the enemy were already at the gates, took at
once possession of the senators, that their minds, disturbed by so
many simultaneous emotions, trembled with fear rather than
deliberated. For they considered that neither had a more spirited or
warlike enemy ever encountered them nor had the Roman state been ever
so sunk in sloth, and unfit for war: that the Sardinians, the
Corsicans, the Istrians, and the Illyrians, had rather kept in a state
of excitement than exercised the Roman arms; and with the Gauls it had
been more properly a tumult than a war. That the Carthaginian, a
veteran enemy, ever victorious during the hardest service for
twenty-three years among the tribes of Spain, first trained to war
under Hamilcar, then Hasdrubal, now Hannibal, a most active leader,
and fresh from the destruction of a most opulent city, was passing the
Iberus; that along with them he was bringing the numerous tribes of
Spain, already aroused, and was about to excite the nations of Gaul,
ever desirous of war; and that a war against the world was to be
maintained in Italy and before the walls of Rome.
17. The provinces had already been previously named for the consuls;
and having been now ordered to cast lots for them, Spain fell to
Cornelius, and Africa with Sicily to Sempronius. Six legions were
decreed for that year, and as many of the allies as should seem good
to the consuls, and as great a fleet as could be equipped. Twenty-four
thousand Roman infantry were levied, and one thousand eight hundred
horse: forty thousand infantry of the allies, and four thousand four
hundred horse: two hundred and twenty ships of three banks of oars,
and twenty light galleys, were launched. It was then proposed to the
people, "whether they willed and commanded that war should be declared
against the people of Carthage;" and for the sake of that war a
supplication was made through the city, and the gods were implored
that the war which the Roman people had decreed might have a
prosperous and fortunate issue. The forces were thus divided between
the consuls. To Sempronius two legions were given, (each of these
consisted of four thousand infantry and three hundred horse,) and
sixteen thousand of the infantry of the allies, and one thousand eight
hundred horse: one hundred and sixty ships of war, and twelve light
galleys. With these land and sea forces Tiberius Sempronius was
despatched to Sicily, in order to transport his army to Africa if the
other consul should be able to prevent the Carthaginian from invading
Italy. Fewer troops were given to Cornelius, because Lucius Manlius,
the praetor, also had been sent with no weak force into Gaul. The
number of ships in particular was reduced to Cornelius. Sixty of five
banks of oars were assigned to him, (for they did not believe that the
enemy would come by sea, or would fight after that mode of warfare,)
and two Roman legions with their regular cavalry, and fourteen
thousand of the infantry of the allies, with one thousand six hundred
horse. The province of Gaul being not as yet exposed to the
Carthaginian invasion, had, in the same year, two Roman legions, ten
thousand allied infantry, one thousand allied cavalry, and six hundred
Roman.
18. These preparations having been thus made, in order that every
thing that was proper might be done before they commenced war, they
send Quintus Fabius, Marcus Livius, Lucius Aemilius, Caius Licinius,
and Quintus Baebius, men of advanced years, as ambassadors into
Africa, to inquire of the Carthaginians if Hannibal had laid siege to
Saguntum by public authority; and if they should confess it, as it
seemed probable they would, and defend it as done by public authority,
to declare war against the people of Carthage. After the Romans
arrived at Carthage, when an audience of the senate was given them,
and Quintus Fabius had addressed no further inquiry than the one with
which they had been charged, then one of the Carthaginians replied:
"Even your former embassy, O Romans, was precipitate, when you
demanded Hannibal to be given up, as attacking Saguntum on his own
authority: but your present embassy, though so far milder in words, is
in fact more severe. For then Hannibal was both accused, and required
to be delivered up: now both a confession of wrong is exacted from us,
and, as though we had confessed, restitution is immediately demanded.
But I think that the question is not, whether Saguntum was attacked by
private or public authority, but whether it was with right or wrong.
For in the case of our citizen, the right of inquiry, whether he has
acted by his own pleasure or ours, and the punishment also, belongs to
us. The only dispute with you is, whether it was allowed to be done by
the treaty. Since, therefore, it pleases you that a distinction should
be made between what commanders do by public authority, and what on
their own suggestion, there was a treaty between us made by the consul
Lutatius; in which, though provision was made for the allies of both,
there is no provision made for the Saguntines, for they were not as
yet your allies. But in that treaty which was made with Hasdrubal, the
Saguntines are excepted; against which I am going to say nothing but
what I have learned from you. For you denied that you were bound by
the treaty which Caius Lutatius the consul first made with us, because
that it had neither been made by the authority of the senate nor the
command of the people; and another treaty was therefore concluded anew
by public authority. If your treaties do not bind you unless they are
made by your authority and your commands, neither can the treaty of
Hasdrubal, which he made without our knowledge, be binding on us.
Cease, therefore, to make mention of Saguntum and the Iberus, and let
your mind at length bring forth that with which it has long been in
labour." Then the Roman, having formed a fold in his robe, said, "Here
we bring to you peace and war; take which you please." On this speech
they exclaimed no less fiercely in reply: "he might give which he
chose;" and when he again, unfolding his robe, said "he gave war,"
they all answered that "they accepted it, and would maintain it with
the same spirit with which they accepted it."
19. This direct inquiry and denunciation of war seemed more consistent
with the dignity of the Roman people, both before and now, especially
when Saguntum was destroyed, than to cavil in words about the
obligation of treaties. For if it was a subject for a controversy of
words, in what was the treaty of Hasdrubal to be compared with the
former treaty of Lutatius, which was altered? Since in the treaty of
Lutatius, was expressly added, "that it should only be held good if
the people sanctioned it;" but in the treaty of Hasdrubal, neither was
there any such exception; and that treaty during its life had been so
established by the silence of so many years, that not even after the
death of its author was any change made in it. Although even were they
to abide by the former treaty, there had been sufficient provision
made for the Saguntines by excepting the allies of both states; for
neither was it added, "those who then were," nor "those who should
afterwards be admitted." and since it is allowable to admit new
allies, who could think it proper, either that no people should be
received for any services into friendship? or that, being received
under protection, they should not be defended? It was only stipulated,
that the allies of the Carthaginians should not be excited to revolt,
nor, revolting of their own accord, be received. The Roman
ambassadors, according as they had been commanded at Rome, passed over
from Carthage into Spain, in order to visit the nations, and either to
allure them into an alliance, or dissuade them from joining the
Carthaginians. They came first to the Bargusii, by whom having been
received with welcome, because they were weary of the Carthaginian
government, they excited many of the states beyond the Iberus to the
desire of a revolution. Thence they came to the Volciani, whose reply
being celebrated through Spain, dissuaded the other states from an
alliance with the Romans; for thus the oldest member in their council
made answer: "What sense of shame have ye, Romans, to ask of us that
we should prefer your friendship to that of the Carthaginians, when
you, their allies, betrayed the Saguntines with greater cruelty than
that with which the Carthaginians, their enemies, destroyed them?
There, methinks, you should look for allies, where the massacre of
Saguntum is unknown. The ruins of Saguntum will remain a warning as
melancholy as memorable to the states of Spain, that no one should
confide in the faith or alliance of Rome." Having been then commanded
to depart immediately from the territory of the Volciani, they
afterwards received no kinder words from any of the councils of Spain:
they therefore pass into Gaul, after having gone about through Spain
to no purpose.
20. Among the Gauls a new and alarming spectacle was seen, by reason
of their coming (such is the custom of the nation) in arms to the
assembly. When, extolling in their discourse the renown and valour of
the Roman people, and the wide extent of their empire, they had
requested that they would refuse a passage through their territory and
cities to the Carthaginian invading Italy; such laughter and yelling
is said to have arisen, that the youths were with difficulty composed
to order by the magistrates and old men. So absurd and shameless did
the request seem, to propose that the Gauls, rather than suffer the
war to pass on to Italy, should turn it upon themselves and expose
their own lands to be laid waste instead of those of others. When the
tumult was at length allayed, answer was returned to the ambassadors,
"that they had neither experienced good from the Romans, nor wrong
from the Carthaginians, on account of which they should either take up
arms in behalf of the Romans, or against the Cathaginians. On the
contrary, they had heard that men of their nation had been driven from
the lands and confines of Italy by the Roman people, that they had to
pay a tribute, and suffered other indignities." Nearly the same was
said and heard in the other assemblies of Gaul; nor did they hear any
thing friendly or pacific before they came to Marseilles. There, every
thing found out by the care and fidelity of the allies was made known
to them--"that the minds of the Gauls had been already prepossessed by
Hannibal, but that not even by him would that nation be found very
tractable, (so fierce and untameable are their dispositions,) unless
the affections of the chiefs should every now and then be conciliated
with gold, of which that people are most covetous." Having thus gone
round through the tribes of Spain and Gaul, the ambassadors return to
Rome not long after the consuls had set out for their provinces. They
found the whole city on tiptoe in expectation of war, the report being
sufficiently confirmed, that the Carthaginians had already passed the
Iberus.
21. Hannibal, after the taking of Saguntum, had retired to New
Carthage into winter quarters; and there, having heard what had been
done and decreed at Rome and Carthage, and that he was not only the
leader, but also the cause of the war, after having divided and sold
the remains of the plunder, thinking there ought to be no longer
delay, he calls together and thus addresses his soldiers of the
Spanish race: "I believe, tribes, that even you yourselves perceive
that, all the tribes of Spain having been reduced to peace, we must
either conclude our campaigns and disband our armies, or transfer the
war into other regions: for thus these nations will flourish amid the
blessings not only of peace, but also of victory, if we seek from
other countries spoils and renown. Since, therefore, a campaign far
from home soon awaits you, and it is uncertain when you shall again
see your homes, and all that is there dear to you, if any one of you
wishes to visit his friends, I grant him leave of absence. I give you
orders to be here at the beginning of spring, that, with the good
assistance of the gods, we may enter on a war which will prove one of
great glory and spoil." This power of visiting their homes,
voluntarily offered, was acceptable to almost all, already longing to
see their friends, and foreseeing in future a still longer absence
Repose through the whole season of winter, between toils already
undergone and those that were soon to be endured, repaired the vigour
of their bodies and minds to encounter all difficulties afresh. At the
beginning of spring they assembled according to command. Hannibal,
when he had reviewed the auxiliaries of all the nations, having gone
to Gades, performs his vows to Hercules; and binds himself by new
vows, provided his other projects should have a prosperous issue. Then
dividing his care at the same time between the offensive and defensive
operations of the war, lest while he was advancing on Italy by a land
journey through Spain and Gaul, Africa should be unprotected and
exposed to the Romans from Sicily, he resolved to strengthen it with a
powerful force. For this purpose he requested a reinforcement from
Africa, chiefly of light-armed spearmen, in order that the Africans
might serve in Spain, and the Spaniards in Africa, each likely to be a
better soldier at a distance from home, as if bound by mutual pledges.
He sent into Africa thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty
targetteers, eight hundred and seventy Balearic slingers, and one
thousand two hundred horsemen, composed of various nations. He orders
these forces partly to be used as a garrison for Carthage and partly
to be distributed through Africa: at the same time having sent
commissaries into the different states, he orders four thousand chosen
youth whom they had levied to be conducted to Carthage, both as a
garrison and as hostages.
22. Thinking also that Spain ought not to be neglected (and the less
because he was aware that it had been traversed by the Roman
ambassadors, to influence the minds of the chiefs,) he assigns that
province to his brother Hasdrubal, a man of active spirit, and
strengthens him chiefly with African troops: eleven thousand eight
hundred and fifty African infantry, three hundred Ligurians, and five
hundred Balearians. To these forces of infantry were added four
hundred horsemen of the Libyphoenicians, a mixed race of Carthaginians
and Africans; of the Numidians and Moors, who border on the ocean, to
the number of one thousand eight hundred, and a small band of
Ilergetes from Spain, amounting to two hundred horse: and, that no
description of land force might be wanting, fourteen elephants. A
fleet was given him besides to defend the sea-coast, (because it might
be supposed that the Romans would then fight in the same mode of
warfare by which they had formerly prevailed,) fifty quinqueremes, two
quadriremes, five triremes: but only thirty-two quinqueremes and five
triremes were properly fitted out and manned with rowers. From Gades
he returned to the winter quarters of the army at Carthage; and thence
setting out, he led his forces by the city Etovissa to the Iberus and
the sea-coast. There, it is reported, a youth of divine aspect was
seen by him in his sleep, who said, "that he was sent by Jupiter as
the guide of Hannibal into Italy, and that he should, therefore,
follow him, nor in any direction turn his eyes away from him." At
first he followed in terror, looking no where, either around or
behind: afterwards, through the curiosity of the human mind, when he
revolved in his mind what that could be on which he was forbidden to
look back, he could not restrain his eyes; then he beheld behind him a
serpent of wonderful size moving along with an immense destruction of
trees and bushes, and after it a cloud following with thunderings from
the skies; and that then inquiring "what was that great commotion, and
what the cause of the prodigy," he heard in reply: "That it was the
devastation of Italy: that he should continue to advance forward, nor
inquire further, but suffer the fates to remain in obscurity."
23. Cheered by this vision, he transported his forces in three
divisions across the Iberus, having sent emissaries before him to
conciliate by gifts the minds of the Gauls, in the quarter through
which his army was to be led, and to examine the passes of the Alps.
He led ninety thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry across the
Iberus. He then subdued the Ilergetes, the Bargusii, the Ausetani, and
that part of Lacetania which lies at the foot of the Pyrenaean
mountains; and he placed Hanno in command over all this district, that
the narrow gorges which connect Spain with Gaul might be under his
power. Ten thousand infantry, and a thousand cavalry, were given to
Hanno for the defence of the country he was to occupy. After the army
began to march through the passes of the Pyrenees, and a more certain
rumour of the Roman war spread through the barbarians, three thousand
of the Carpetanian infantry turned back: it clearly appeared that they
were not so much swayed by the prospect of the war as by the length of
the journey and the insuperable passage of the Alps. Hannibal, because
it was hazardous to recall or detain them by force, lest the fierce
minds of the rest might also be irritated, sent home above seven
thousand men, whom also he had observed to be annoyed with the
service, pretending that the Carpetani had also been dismissed by him.
24. Then, lest delay and ease might unsettle their minds, he crosses
the Pyrenees with the rest of his forces, and pitches his camp at the
town Illiberis. The Gauls, though they had heard that the war was
directed against Italy, yet because there was a report that the
Spaniards on the other side of the Pyrenees had been reduced by force,
and that strong forces had been imposed on them, being roused to arms
through the fear of slavery, assembled certain tribes at Ruscino. When
this was announced to Hannibal, he, having more fear of the delay than
of the war, sent envoys to say to their princes, "that he wished to
confer with them; and that they should either come nearer to
Illiberis, or that he would proceed to Ruscino, that their meeting
might be facilitated by vicinity: for that he would either be happy to
receive them into his camp, or would himself without hesitation come
to them: since he had entered Gaul as a friend, and not as an enemy,
and would not draw the sword, if the Gauls did not force him, before
he came to Italy." These proposals, indeed, were made by his
messengers. But when the princes of the Gauls, having immediately
moved their camp to Illiberis, came without reluctance to the
Carthaginian, being won by his presents, they suffered his army to
pass through their territories, by the town of Ruscino, without any
molestation.
25. In the mean time no further intelligence had been brought into
Italy to Rome by the ambassadors of Marseilles than that Hannibal had
passed the Iberus; when the Boii asked if he had already passed the
Alps, revolted after instigating the Insubrians; not so much through
their ancient resentment towards the Roman people, as on account of
their having felt aggrieved that the colonies of Placentia and Cremona
had been lately planted in the Gallic territory about the Po. Having
therefore, suddenly taken up arms, and made an attack on that very
territory, they created so much of terror and tumult, that not only
the rustic population, but even the Roman triumvirs, Caius Lutatius,
Caius Servilius, and Titus Annius, who had come to assign the lands,
distrusting the walls of Placentia, fled to Mutina. About the name of
Luttius there is no doubt: in place of Caius Servilius and Titus
Annius, some annals have Quintus Acilius and Caius Herenrius; others,
Publius Cornelius Asina and Caius Papirius Maso. This point is also
uncertain, whether the ambassadors went to expostulate to the Boii
suffered violence, or whether an attack was made on the triumvirs
while measuring out the lands. While they were shut up in Mutina, and
a people unskilled in the arts of besieging towns, and, at the same
time, most sluggish at military operations, lay inactive before the
walls, which they had not touched, pretended proposals for a peace
were set on foot; and the ambassadors, being invited out to a
conference by the chiefs of the Gauls, are seized, not only contrary
to the law of nations, but in violation of the faith which was pledged
on that very occasion; the Gauls denying that they would set them free
unless their hostages were restored to them. When this intelligence
respecting the ambassadors was announced, and that Mutina and its
garrison were in danger, Lucius Manlius, the praetor, inflamed with
rage, led his army in haste to Mutina. There were then woods on both
sides of the road, most of the country being uncultivated. There,
having advanced without previously exploring his route, he fell
suddenly into an ambuscade; and after much slaughter of his men, with
difficulty made his way into the open plains. Here a camp was
fortified, and because confidence was wanting to the Gauls to attack
it, the spirit of the soldiers revived, although it was sufficiently
evident that their strength was much clipped. The journey was then
commenced anew; nor while the army was led in march through open
tracts did the enemy appear: but, when the woods were again entered,
then attacking the rear, amid great confusion and alarm of all, they
slew eight hundred soldiers, and took six standards. There was an end
to the Gauls of creating, and to the Romans of experiencing terror,
when they escaped from the pathless and entangled thicket; then easily
defending their march through the open ground, the Romans directed
their course to Tanetum, a village near the Po; where, by a temporary
fortification, and the supplies conveyed by the river, and also by the
aid of the Brixian Gauls, they defended themselves against the daily
increasing multitude of their enemies.
26. When the account of this sudden disturbance was brought to Rome,
and the senators heard that the Punic had also been increased by a
Gallic war, they order Caius Atilius, the praetor, to carry assistance
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