The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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23. He having mounted the rostrum attended by the lictors, declared,
that he neither approved of there being two dictators at one time,
which had never been done before, nor of his being appointed dictator
without a master of the horse; nor of the censorian authority being
committed to one person, and to the same person a second time; nor
that command should be given to a dictator for six months, unless he
was created for active operations. That he would himself restrain
within proper bounds those irregularities which chance, the exigencies
of the times, and necessity had occasioned. For he would not remove
any of those whom the censors Flaminius and Aemilius had elected into
the senate; but would merely order that their names should be
transcribed and read over, that one man might not exercise the power
of deciding and determining on the character and morals of a senator;
and would so elect in place of deceased members, that one rank should
appear to be preferred to another, and not man to man. The old
senate-roll having been read, he chose as successors to the deceased,
first those who had filled a curule office since the censorship of
Flaminius and Aemilius, but had not yet been elected into the senate,
as each had been earliest created. He next chose those who had been
aediles, plebeian tribunes, or quaestors; then of those who had never
filled the office of magistrate, he selected such as had spoils taken
from an enemy fixed up at their homes, or had received a civic crown.
Having thus elected one hundred and seventy-seven senators, with the
entire approbation of his countrymen, he instantly abdicated his
office, and, bidding the lictors depart, he descended from the rostrum
as a private citizen, and mingled with the crowd of persons who were
engaged in their private affairs, designedly wearing away this time,
lest he should draw off the people from the forum for the purpose of
escorting him home. Their zeal, however, did not subside by the delay,
for they escorted him to his house in great numbers. The consul
returned to the army the ensuing night, without acquainting the
senate, lest he should be detained in the city on account of the
elections.
24. The next day, on the proposition of Manius Pomponius the praetor,
the senate decreed that a letter should be written to the dictator, to
the effect, that if he thought it for the interest of the state, he
should come, together with the master of the horse and the praetor,
Marcus Marcellus, to hold the election for the succeeding consuls, in
order that the fathers might learn from them in person in what
condition the state was, and take measures according to circumstances.
All who were summoned came, leaving lieutenant-generals to hold
command of the legions. The dictator, speaking briefly and modestly of
himself, attributed much of the glory Of the campaign to the master of
the horse, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. He then gave out the day for
the comitia, at which the consuls created were Lucius Posthumius in
his absence, being then employed in the government of the province of
Gaul, for the third time, and Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, who was
then master of the horse and curule aedile. Marcus Valerius Laevinus,
Appius Claudius Pulcher, Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, and Quintus Mucius
Scaevola, were then created praetors. After the election of the
magistrates, the dictator returned to his army, which was in winter
quarters at Teanum, leaving his master of the horse at Rome, to take
the sense of the fathers relative to the armies to be enlisted and
embodied for the service of the year, as he was about to enter upon
the magistracy after a few days. While busily occupied with these
matters, intelligence arrived of a fresh disaster--fortune crowding
into this year one calamity after another--that Lucius Posthumius,
consul elect, himself with all his army was destroyed in Gaul. He was
to march his troops through a vast wood, which the Gauls called
Litana. On the right and left of his route, the natives had sawed the
trees in such a manner that they continued standing upright, but would
fall when impelled by a slight force. Posthumius had with him two
Roman legions, and besides had levied so great a number of allies
along the Adriatic Sea, that he led into the enemy's country
twenty-five thousand men. As soon as this army entered the wood, the
Gauls, who were posted around its extreme skirts, pushed down the
outermost of the sawn trees, which falling on those next them, and
these again on others which of themselves stood tottering and scarcely
maintained their position, crushed arms, men, and horses in an
indiscriminate manner, so that scarcely ten men escaped. For, most of
them being killed by the trunks and broken boughs of trees, the Gauls,
who beset the wood on all sides in arms killed the rest, panic-struck
by so unexpected a disaster. A very small number, who attempted to
escape by a bridge, were taken prisoners, being intercepted by the
enemy who had taken possession of it before them. Here Posthumius
fell, fighting with all his might to prevent his being taken. The Boii
having cut off his head, carried it and the spoils they stole off his
body, in triumph into the most sacred temple they had. Afterwards they
cleansed the head according to their custom, and having covered the
skull with chased gold, used it as a cup for libations in their solemn
festivals, and a drinking cup for their high priests and other
ministers of the temple. The spoils taken by the Gauls were not less
than the victory. For though great numbers of the beasts were crushed
by the falling trees, yet as nothing was scattered by flight, every
thing else was found strewed along the whole line of the prostrate
band.
25. The news of this disaster arriving, when the state had been in so
great a panic for many days, that the shops were shut up as if the
solitude of night reigned through the city; the senate gave it in
charge to the aediles to go round the city, cause the shops to be
opened, and this appearance of public affliction to be removed. Then
Titus Sempronius, having assembled the senate, consoled and encouraged
the fathers, requesting, "that they who had sustained the defeat at
Cannae with so much magnanimity would not now be cast down with less
calamities. That if their arms should prosper, as he hoped they would,
against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, the war with the Gauls might
be suspended and deferred without hazard. The gods and the Roman
people would have it in their power to revenge the treachery of the
Gauls another time. That they should now deliberate about the
Carthaginian foe, and the forces with which the war was to be
prosecuted." He first laid before them the number of foot and horse,
as well citizens as allies, that were in the dictator's army. Then
Marcellus gave an account of the amount in his. Those who knew were
asked what troops were in Apulia with Caius Terentius Varro the
consul. But no practicable plan could be devised for raising consular
armies sufficient to support so important a war. For this reason,
notwithstanding a just resentment irritated them, they determined that
Gaul should be passed over for that year. The dictator's army was
assigned to the consul; and they ordered such of the troops of
Marcellus's army as had fled from Cannae, to be transported into
Sicily, to serve there as long as the war continued in Italy. Thither,
likewise, were ordered to be sent as unfit to serve with him, the
weakest of the dictator's troops, no time of service being appointed,
but the legal number of campaigns. The two legions in the city were
voted to the other consul who should be elected in the room of
Posthumius; and they resolved that he should be elected as soon as the
auspices would permit. Besides, two legions were immediately to be
recalled from Sicily, out of which the consul, to whom the city
legions fell, might take what number of men he should have occasion
for. The consul Caius Terentius Varro was continued in his command for
one year, without lessening the army he had for the defence of Apulia.
26. During these transactions and preparations in Italy, the war in
Spain was prosecuted with no less vigour; but hitherto more favourably
to the Romans. The two generals had divided their troops, so that
Cneius acted by land, and Publius by sea. Hasdrubal, general of the
Carthaginians, sufficiently trusting to neither branch of his forces,
kept himself at a distance from the enemy, secured by the intervening
space and the strength of his fortifications, until, after much
solicitation, four thousand foot and five hundred horse were sent him
out of Africa as a reinforcement. At length, inspired with fresh
hopes, he moved nearer the enemy; and himself also ordered a fleet to
be equipped and prepared for the protection of the islands and
sea-coasts. In the very onset of renewing the war, he was greatly
embarrassed by the desertion of the captains of his ships, who had
ceased to entertain a sincere attachment towards the general and the
Carthaginian cause, ever since they were severely reprimanded for
abandoning the fleet in a cowardly manner at the Iberus. These
deserters had raised an insurrection among the Tartessians, and at
their instigation some cities had revolted; they had even taken one by
force. The war was now turned from the Romans into that country, which
he entered in a hostile manner, and resolved to attack Galbus, a
distinguished general of the Tartessians, who with a powerful army
kept close within his camp, before the walls of a city which had been
captured but a few days before. Accordingly, he sent his light-armed
troops in advance to provoke the enemy to battle, and part of his
infantry to ravage the country throughout in every direction, and to
cut off stragglers. There was a skirmish before the camp, at the same
time that many were killed and put to flight in the fields. But having
by different routes returned to their camp, they so quickly shook off
all fear, that they had courage not only to defend their lines, but
challenge the enemy to fight. They sallied out, therefore, in a body
from the camp, dancing according to their custom. Their sudden
boldness terrified the enemy, who a little before had been the
assailants. Hasdrubal therefore drew off his troops to a tolerably
steep eminence, and secured further by having a river between it and
the enemy. Here the parties of light-armed troops which had been sent
in advance, and the horse which had been dispersed about, he called in
to join him. But not thinking himself sufficiently secured by the
eminence or the river, he fortified his camp completely with a
rampart. While thus fearing and feared alternately, several skirmishes
occurred, in which the Numidian cavalry were not so good as the
Spanish, nor the Moorish darters so good as the Spanish targetteers,
who equalled them in swiftness, but were superior to them in strength
and courage.
27. The enemy seeing they could not, by coming up to Hasdrubal's camp,
draw him out to a battle, nor assault it without great difficulty,
stormed Asena, whither Hasdrubal, on entering their territories, had
laid up his corn and other stores. By this they became masters of all
the surrounding country. But now they became quite ungovernable, both
when on march and within their camp.
Hasdrubal, therefore, perceiving their negligence, which, as usual,
was the consequence of success, after having exhorted his troops to
attack them while they were straggling and without their standards,
came down the hill, and advanced to their camp in order of battle. On
his approach being announced in a tumultuous manner, by men who fled
from the watchposts and advanced guards, they shouted to arms; and as
each could get his arms, they rushed precipitately to battle, without
waiting for the word, without standards, without order, and without
ranks. The foremost of them were already engaged, while some were
running up in parties, and others had not got out of their camp.
However, at first, the very boldness of their attack terrified the
enemy. But when they charged their close ranks with their own which
were thin, and were not able to defend themselves for want of numbers,
each began to look out for others to support him; and being repulsed
in all quarters they collected themselves in form of a circle, where
being so closely crowded together, body to body, armour to armour,
that they had not room to wield their arms, they were surrounded by
the enemy, who continued to slaughter them till late in the day. A
small number, having forced a passage, made for the woods and hills.
With like consternation, their camp was abandoned, and next day the
whole nation submitted. But they did not continue long quiet, for
immediately upon this, Hasdrubal received orders from Carthage to
march into Italy with all expedition. The report of which, spreading
over Spain, made almost all the states declare for the Romans.
Accordingly he wrote immediately to Carthage, to inform them how much
mischief the report of his march had produced. "That if he really did
leave Spain, the Romans would be masters of it all before he could
pass the Iberus. For, besides that he had neither an army nor a
general whom he could leave to supply his place, so great were the
abilities of the Roman generals who commanded there, that they could
scarcely be opposed with equal forces. If, therefore, they had any
concern for preserving Spain, they ought to send a general with a
powerful army to succeed him. To whom, however prosperous all things
might prove, yet the province would not be a position of ease."
28. Though this letter made at first a great impression on the senate,
yet, as their interest in Italy was first and most important, they did
not at all alter their resolution in relation to Hasdrubal and his
troops. However, they despatched Himilco with a complete army, and an
augmented fleet, to preserve and defend Spain both by sea and land.
When he had conveyed over his land and naval forces, he fortified a
camp; and having drawn his ships upon dry land, and surrounded them
with a rampart, he marched with a chosen body of cavalry, with all
possible expedition; using the same caution when passing through
people who were wavering, and those who were actually enemies; and
came up with Hasdrubal. As soon as he had informed him of the
resolutions and orders of the senate, and in his turn been thoroughly
instructed in what manner to prosecute the war in Spain, he returned
to his camp; his expedition more than any thing else saving him, for
he quitted every place before the people could conspire. Before
Hasdrubal quitted his position he laid all the states in subjection to
him under contribution. He knew well that Hannibal purchased a passage
through some nations; that he had no Gallic auxiliaries but such as
were hired; and that if he had undertaken so arduous a march without
money, he would scarcely have penetrated so far as the Alps. For this
reason, having exacted the contributions with great haste, he marched
down to the Iberus. As soon as the Roman generals got notice of the
Carthaginian senate's resolution, and Hasdrubal's march, they gave up
every other concern, and uniting their forces, determined to meet him
and oppose his attempt. They reflected, that when it was already so
difficult to make head against Hannibal alone in Italy, there would be
an end of the Roman empire in Spain, should Hasdrubal join him with a
Spanish army. Full of anxiety and care on these accounts, they
assembled their forces at the Iberus, and crossed the river; and after
deliberating for some time whether they should encamp opposite to the
enemy, or be satisfied with impeding his intended march by attacking
the allies of the Carthaginians, they made preparations for besieging
a city called Ibera, from its contiguity to the river, which was at
that time the wealthiest in that quarter. When Hasdrubal perceived
this, instead of carrying assistance to his allies, he proceeded
himself to besiege a city which had lately placed itself under the
protection of the Romans; and thus the siege which was now commenced
was given up by them, and the operations of the war turned against
Hasdrubal himself.
29. For a few days they remained encamped at a distance of five miles
from each other, not without skirmishes, but without going out to a
regular engagement. At length the signal for battle was given out on
both sides on one and the same day, as though by concert, and they
marched down into the plain with all their forces. The Roman army
stood in triple line; a part of the light troops were stationed among
the first line, the other half were received behind the standards, the
cavalry covering the wings. Hasdrubal formed his centre strong with
Spaniards, and placed the Carthaginians in the right wing, the
Africans and hired auxiliaries in the left. His cavalry he placed
before the wings, attaching the Numidians to the Carthaginian
infantry, and the rest to the Africans. Nor were all the Numidians
placed in the right wing, but such as taking two horses each into the
field are accustomed frequently to leap full armed, when the battle is
at the hottest, from a tired horse upon a fresh one, after the manner
of vaulters: such was their own agility, and so docile their breed of
horses. While they stood thus drawn up, the hopes entertained by the
generals on both sides were pretty much upon an equality; for neither
possessed any great superiority, either in point of the number or
quality of the troops. The feelings of the soldiers were widely
different. Their generals had, without difficulty, induced the Romans
to believe, that although they fought at a distance from their
country, it was Italy and the city of Rome that they were defending.
Accordingly, they had brought their minds to a settled resolution to
conquer or die; as if their return to their country had hinged upon
the issue of that battle. The other army consisted of less determined
men; for they were principally Spaniards, who would rather be
vanquished in Spain, than be victorious to be dragged into Italy. On
the first onset, therefore, ere their javelins had scarcely been
thrown, their centre gave ground, and the Romans pressing on with
great impetuosity, turned their backs. In the wings the battle
proceeded with no less activity; on one side the Carthaginians, on the
other the Africans, charged vigorously, while the Romans, in a manner
surrounded, were exposed to a twofold attack. But when the whole of
the Roman troops had united in the centre, they possessed sufficient
strength to compel the wings of the enemy to retire in different
directions; and thus there were two separate battles, in both of which
the Romans were decidedly superior, as after the defeat of the enemy's
centre they had the advantage both in the number and strength of their
troops. Vast numbers were slain on this occasion; and had not the
Spaniards fled precipitately from the field ere the battle had scarce
begun, very few out of the whole army would have survived. There was
very little fighting of the cavalry, for as soon as the Moors and
Numidians perceived that the centre gave way, they fled immediately
with the utmost precipitation, leaving the wings uncovered, and also
driving the elephants before them. Hasdrubal, after waiting the issue
of the battle to the very last, fled from the midst of the carnage
with a few attendants. The Romans took and plundered the camp. This
victory united with the Romans whatever states of Spain were wavering,
and left Hasdrubal no hope, not only of leading an army over into
Italy, but even of remaining very safely in Spain. When these events
were made generally known at Rome by letters from the Scipios, the
greatest joy was felt, not so much for the victory, as for the stop
which was put to the passage of Hasdrubal into Italy.
30. While these transactions were going on in Spain, Petilia, in
Bruttium, was taken by Himilco, an officer of Hannibal's, several
months after the siege of it began. This victory cost the
Carthaginians much blood and many wounds, nor did any power more
subdue the besieged than that of famine; for after having consumed
their means of subsistence, derived from fruits and the flesh of every
kind of quadrupeds, they were at last compelled to live upon skins
found in shoemakers' shops, on herbs and roots, the tender barks of
trees, and berries gathered from brambles: nor were they subdued until
they wanted strength to stand upon the walls and support their arms.
After gaining Petilia, the Carthaginian marched his forces to
Consentia, which being less obstinately defended, he compelled to
surrender within a few days. Nearly about the same time, an army of
Bruttians invested Croton, a Greek city, formerly powerful in men and
arms, but at the present time reduced so low by many and great
misfortunes, that less than twenty thousand inhabitants of all ages
remained. The enemy, therefore, easily got possession of a city
destitute of defenders: of the citadel alone possession was retained,
into which some of the inhabitants fled from the midst of the carnage
during the confusion created by the capture of the city. The Locrians
too revolted to the Bruttians and Carthaginians, the populace having
been betrayed by the nobles. The Rhegians were the only people in that
quarter who continued to the last in faithful attachment to the
Romans, and in the enjoyment of their independence. The same
alteration of feeing extended itself into Sicily also; and not even
the family of Hiero altogether abstained from defection; for Gelo, his
oldest son, conceiving a contempt for his father's old age, and, after
the defeat of Cannae, for the alliance with Rome, went over to the
Carthaginians; and he would have created a disturbance in Sicily, had
he not been carried off, when engaged as arming the people and
soliciting the allies, by a death so seasonable that it threw some
degree of suspicion even upon his father. Such, with various result,
were the transactions in Italy, Africa, Sicily, and Spain during this
year. At the close of the year, Quintus Fabius Maximus requested of
the senate, that he might be allowed to dedicate the temple of Venus
Erycina, which he had vowed when dictator. The senate decreed, that
Tiberius Sempronius, the consul elect, as soon as ever he had entered
upon his office, should propose to the people, that they should create
Quintus Fabius duumvir, for the purpose of dedicating the temple.
Also, in honour of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, who had been consul twice
and augur, his three sons, Lucius, Marcus, and Quintus exhibited
funeral games and twenty-two pairs of gladiators for three days in the
forum. The curule aediles, Caius Laetorius, and Tiberius Sempronius
Gracchus consul elect, who during his aedileship had been master of
the horse, celebrated the Roman games, which were repeated for three
days. The plebeian games of the aediles, Marcus Aurelius Cotta and
Marcus Claudius Marcellus, were thrice repeated. At the conclusion of
the third year of the Punic war, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus the
consul entered upon his office on the ides of March. Of the praetors,
Quintus Fulvius Flaccus, who had before been consul and censor, had by
lot the city jurisdiction; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the foreign.
Sicily fell to the lot of Appius Claudius Pulcher; Sardinia to Quintus
Mucius Scaevola. The people ordered that Marcus Marcellus should be in
command as proconsul, because he was the only Roman general who had
been successful in his operations in Italy since the defeat at Cannae.
31. The senate decreed, the first day they deliberated in the Capitol,
that double taxes should be imposed for that year, one moiety of which
should be immediately levied, as a fund from which pay might be given
forthwith to all the soldiers, except those who had been at Cannae.
With regard to the armies they decreed, that Tiberius Sempronius the
consul should appoint a day for the two city legions to meet at Cales,
whence these legions should be conveyed into the Claudian camp above
Suenula. That the legions which were there, and they consisted
principally of the troops which had fought at Cannae, Appius Claudius
Pulcher, the praetor, should transport into Sicily; and that those in
Sicily should be removed to Rome. Marcus Claudius Marcellus was sent
to the army, which had been ordered to meet at Cales on a certain day,
with orders to march the city legions thence to the Claudian camp.
Titus Metilius Croto, lieutenant-general, was sent by Appius Claudius
Pulcher to receive the old army and remove it into Sicily. People at
first had expected in silence that the consul would hold an assembly
for the election of a colleague, but afterwards perceiving that Marcus
Marcellus, whom they wished above all others to be consul this year,
on account of his brilliant success during his praetorship, was
removed to a distant quarter, as it were on purpose, a murmuring arose
in the senate-house, which the consul perceiving, said "Conscript
fathers, it was conducive to the interest of the state, both that
Marcus Marcellus should go into Campania to make the exchange of the
armies, and that the assembly should not be proclaimed before he had
returned thence after completing the business with which he was
charged, in order that you might have him as consul whom the situation
of the republic required and yourselves prefer." Thus nothing was said
about the assembly till Marcellus returned. Meanwhile Quintus Fabius
Maximus and Titus Otacilius Crassus were created duumvirs for
dedicating temples, Otacilius to Mens, Fabius to Venus Erycina. Both
are situated in the Capitol, and separated by one channel. It was
afterwards proposed to the people, to make Roman citizens of the three
hundred Campanian horsemen who had returned to Rome after having
faithfully served their period, and also that they should be
considered to have been citizens of Cumae from the day before that on
which the Campanians had revolted from the Roman people. It had been a
principal inducement to this proposition, that they themselves said
they knew not to what people they belonged, having left their former
country, and being not yet admitted into that to which they had
returned. After Marcellus returned from the army, an assembly was
proclaimed for electing one consul in the room of Lucius Posthumius.
Marcellus was elected with the greatest unanimity, and was immediately
to enter upon his office, but as it thundered while he entered upon
it, the augurs were summoned, who pronounced that they considered the
creation formal, and the fathers spread a report that the gods were
displeased, because on that occasion, for the first time, two
plebeians had been elected consuls. Upon Marcellus's abdicating his
office, Fabius Maximus, for the third time, was elected in his room.
This year the sea appeared on fire; at Sinuessa a cow brought forth a
horse foal; the statues in the temple of Juno Sospita Lanuvium flowed
down with blood; and a shower of stones fell in the neighbourhood of
that temple: on account of which shower the nine days' sacred rite was
celebrated, as is usual on such occasions, and the other prodigies
were carefully expiated.