The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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12. The Latin holidays detained the consuls and praetors at Rome till
the fifth of the calends of May; on which day, having completed the
solemnities on the mount, they proceeded to their respective
provinces. Afterwards a new difficulty respecting religious matters
arose out of the prophetic verses of Marcius, who had been a
distinguished soothsayer; and on a search being made the year before,
for books of this description, agreeably to a decree of the senate,
these verses had fallen into the hands of Marcus Atilius, the city
praetor, who had the management of that business, and he had
immediately handed them over to the new praetor, Sulla. The importance
attached to one of the two predictions of Marcius, which was brought
to light after the event to which it related had occurred, and the
truth of which was confirmed by the event, attached credence to the
other, the time of whose fulfilment had not yet arrived. In the former
prophecy, the disaster at Cannae was predicted in nearly these words:
"Roman of Trojan descent, fly the river Canna, lest foreigners should
compel thee to fight in the plain of Diomede. But thou wilt not
believe me until thou shalt have filled the plain with blood, and the
river carries into the great sea, from the fruitful land, many
thousands of your slain countrymen, and thy flesh becomes a prey for
fishes, birds, and beasts inhabiting the earth. For thus hath Jupiter
declared to me." Those who had served in that quarter recognised the
correspondence with respect to the plains of the Argive Diomede and
the river Canna, as well as the defeat itself. The other prophecy was
then read, which was more obscure, not only because future events are
more uncertain than past, but also from being more perplexed in its
style of composition. "Romans, if you wish to expel the enemy and the
ulcer which has come from afar, I advise, that games should be vowed,
which may be performed in a cheerful manner annually to Apollo; when
the people shall have given a portion of money from the public
coffers, that private individuals then contribute, each according to
his ability. That the praetor shall preside in the celebration of
these games, who holds the supreme administration of justice to the
people and commons. Let the decemviri perform sacrifice with victims
after the Grecian fashion. If you do these things properly you will
ever rejoice, and your affairs will be more prosperous, for that deity
will destroy your enemies who now, composedly, feed upon your plains."
They took one day to explain this prophecy. The next day a decree of
the senate was passed, that the decemviri should inspect the books
relating to the celebration of games and sacred rites in honour of
Apollo. After they had been consulted, and a report made to the
senate, the fathers voted, that "games should be vowed to Apollo and
celebrated; and that when the games were concluded, twelve thousand
_asses_ should be given to the praetor to defray the expense of
sacred ceremonies, and also two victims of the larger sort." A second
decree was passed, that "the decemviri should perform sacrifice in the
Grecian mode, and with the following victims: to Apollo, with a gilded
ox, and two white goats gilded; to Latona, with a gilded heifer." When
the praetor was about to celebrate the games in the Circus Maximus, he
issued an order, that during the celebration of the games, the people
should pay a contribution, as large as was convenient, for the service
of Apollo. This is the origin of the Apollinarian games, which were
vowed and celebrated in order to victory, and not restoration to
health, as is commonly supposed. The people viewed the spectacle in
garlands; the matrons made supplications; the people in general
feasted in the courts of their houses, throwing the doors open; and
the day was distinguished by every description of ceremony.
13. While Hannibal was in the neighbourhood of Tarentum, and both the
consuls in Samnium, though they seemed as if they were about to
besiege Capua, the Campanians were experiencing famine, that calamity
which is the usual attendant of a protracted siege. It was occasioned
by the Roman armies' having prevented the sowing of the lands. They
therefore sent ambassadors to Hannibal, imploring him to give orders
that corn should be conveyed to Capua from the neighbouring places,
before both the consuls led their legions into their fields, and all
the roads were blocked up by the troops of the enemy. Hannibal ordered
Hanno to pass with his army from Bruttium into Campania, and to take
care that the Campanians were supplied with corn. Hanno, setting out
from Bruttium with his army, and carefully avoiding the camp of the
enemy and the consuls who were in Samnium, when he drew near to
Beneventum, pitched his camp on an eminence three miles from the city.
He next ordered that the corn which had been collected during the
summer, should be brought from the neighbouring people in alliance
with him, into his camp, assigning a guard to escort those supplies.
He then sent a messenger to the Capuans, fixing a day when they should
attend at his camp to receive the corn, bringing with them vehicles
and beasts of every description, collected from every part of their
country. The Campanians executed this business with their usual
indolence and carelessness. Somewhat more than four hundred vehicles,
with a few beasts of burden besides, were sent. After receiving a
reproof from Hanno for this conduct, who told them, that not even
hunger, which excited dumb animals to exertion, could stimulate them
to diligence, another day was named when they were to fetch the corn
after better preparation. All these transactions being reported to the
Beneventans, just as they occurred, they lost no time in sending ten
ambassadors to the Roman consuls, who were encamped in the
neighbourhood of Bovianum. The consuls, hearing what was going on at
Capua, arranged it so that one of them should lead an army into
Campania; and Fulvius, to whose lot that province had fallen, setting
out by night, entered the walls of Beneventum. Being now near the
enemy, he obtained information that Hanno had gone out to forage with
a portion of his troops; that the Campanians were supplied with corn
by a quaestor; that two thousand waggons had arrived together with an
undisciplined and unarmed rabble; that every thing was done in a
disorderly and hurried manner; and that the form of a camp, and all
military subordination, were destroyed by the intermixture of rustics
out of the neighbourhood. This intelligence being sufficiently
authenticated, the consul ordered his soldiers to get ready only their
standards and arms against the next night, as he must attack the
Carthaginian camp. They set out at the fourth watch of the night,
leaving all their packages and baggage of every description at
Beneventum; and arriving a little before daylight at the camp, they
occasioned such a panic, that, had the camp been situated on level
ground, it might doubtlessly have been taken on the first assault. The
height of its situation and the works defended it; for they could not
be approached on any side except by a steep and difficult ascent. At
break of day a hot engagement commenced, when the Carthaginians not
only defended their rampart, but having more even ground, threw down
the enemy as they attempted to ascend the steep.
14. Persevering courage, however, at length prevailed over every
impediment, and they made their way up to the ditch and rampart in
several parts at the same time, but with many wounds and much loss of
soldiers. The consul, therefore assembling the military tribunes, said
they must desist from this inconsiderate enterprise; and that it
appeared to him to be the safer course, that the troops should be led
back to Beneventum for that day, and then on the following day to
pitch his camp close to that of the enemy, so that the Campanians
could not quit it, nor Hanno return to it; and in order that that
object might be attained with the greater ease, that he should send
for his colleague and his army; and that they would direct their whole
force on that point. This plan of the general was disconcerted, after
the signal began to sound for a retreat, by the clamours of the
soldiery, who despised so pusillanimous an order. Nearest to the gate
of the enemy's camp was a Pelignian cohort, whose commander, Vibius
Accuaeus, seizing the standard, threw it over the rampart. Then
pronouncing a curse upon himself and his cohort, if the enemy got
possession of that standard, he rushed forward before the rest, and
crossing the ditch and rampart, burst into the camp of the enemy. The
Pelignians were now fighting within the rampart, when in another
quarter Valerius Flaccus, a military tribune of the third legion,
taunting the Romans with cowardice for conceding to allies the honour
of taking the camp. Titus Pedanius, first centurion of the first
century, snatched the standard out of the hands of the
standard-bearer, and cried out, "Soon shall this standard, and this
centurion, be within the rampart of the enemy; let those follow who
would prevent the standard's being captured by the enemy." Crossing
the ditch, he was followed first by the men of his own maniple, and
then by the whole legion. By this time the consul also, changing his
plan on seeing them crossing the rampart, began to incite and
encourage his soldiers, instead of calling them off; representing to
them, how critical and perilous was the situation of the bravest
cohort of their allies and a legion of their countrymen. All,
therefore, severally exerting themselves to the utmost, regardless
whether the ground were even or uneven, while showers of weapons were
thrown against them from all sides, the enemy opposing their arms and
their persons to obstruct them, made their way and burst in. Many who
were wounded, even those whose blood and strength failed them, pressed
forward, that they might fall within the rampart of the enemy. The
camp, therefore, was taken in an instant, as if it had been situated
upon level ground, and not completely fortified. What followed was a
carnage rather than a battle. The troops of both sides being huddled
together within the rampart, above six thousand of the enemy were
slain; above seven thousand, together with the Campanians who fetched
the corn, and the whole collection of waggons and beasts of burden,
were captured. There was also a great booty, which Hanno in his
predatory excursions, which he had been careful to make in every
quarter, had drawn together from the lands of the allies of the
Romans. After throwing down the camp of the enemy, they returned
thence to Beneventum; and there both the consuls (for Appius Claudius
came thither a few days after) sold the booty and distributed it,
making presents to those by whose exertions the camp of the enemy had
been captured; above all, to Accuaeus the Pelignian, and Titus
Pedanius, first centurion of the third legion. Hanno, setting off from
Cominium in the territory of Cere, whither intelligence of the loss of
the camp had reached him, with a small party of foragers, whom he
happened to have with him, returned to Bruttium, more after the manner
of a flight than a march.
15. The Campanians, when informed of the disaster which had befallen
themselves and their allies, sent ambassadors to Hannibal to inform
him, that "the two consuls were at Beneventum, which was a day's march
from Capua; that the war was all but at their gates and their walls;
and that if he did not hasten to their assistance, Capua would fall
into the power of the enemy sooner than Arpi had; that not even
Tarentum itself, much less its citadel, ought to be considered of so
much consequence as to induce him to deliver up to the Roman people,
abandoned and undefended, Capua, which he used to place on an equal
footing with Carthage." Hannibal, promising that he would not neglect
the interest of the Campanians, sent, for the present, two thousand
horse, with the ambassadors, aided by which, they might secure their
lands from devastation. The Romans, meanwhile, among the other things
which engaged their attention, had an eye to the citadel of Tarentum,
and the garrison besieged therein. Caius Servilius,
lieutenant-general, having been sent, according to the advice of the
fathers, by Publius Cornelius, the praetor, to purchase corn in
Etruria, made his way into the harbour of Tarentum, through the
guard-ships of the enemy, with some ships of burden. At his arrival,
those who before, having very slight hopes of holding out, were
frequently invited by the enemy, in conferences, to pass over to them,
now, on the contrary, were the persons to invite and solicit the enemy
to come over to them; and now, as the soldiers who were at Metapontum
had been brought to assist in guarding the citadel of Tarentum, the
garrison was sufficiently powerful. In consequence of this measure,
the Metapontines, being freed from the fears which had influenced
them, immediately revolted to Hannibal. The people of Thurium,
situated on the same coast, did the same. They were influenced not
more by the defection of the Metapontines and Tarentines, with whom
they were connected, being sprung from the same country, Achaia, than
by resentment towards the Romans, in consequence of the recent
execution of the hostages. The friends and relations of these hostages
sent a letter and a message to Hanno and Mago, who were not far off
among the Bruttii, to the effect, that if they brought their troops up
to the walls, they would deliver the city into their hands. Marcus
Atinius was in command at Thurium, with a small garrison, who they
thought might easily be induced to engage rashly in a battle, not from
any confidence which he reposed in his troops, of which he had very
few, but in the youth of Thurium, whom he had purposely formed into
centuries, and armed against emergencies of this kind. The generals,
after dividing their forces between them, entered the territory of
Thurium; and Hanno, with a body of infantry, proceeded towards the
city in hostile array. Hanno staid behind with the cavalry, under the
cover of some hills, conveniently placed for the concealment of an
ambush. Atinius, having by his scouts discovered only the body of
infantry, led his troops into the field, ignorant both of the domestic
treachery and of the stratagem of the enemy. The engagement with the
infantry was particularly dull, a few Romans in the first rank
engaging while the Thurians rather waited than helped on the issue.
The Carthaginian line retreated, on purpose that they might draw the
incautious enemy to the back of the hill, where their cavalry were
lying in ambush; and when they had come there, the cavalry rising up
on a sudden with a shout, immediately put to flight the almost
undisciplined rabble of the Thurians, not firmly attached to the side
on which they fought. The Romans, notwithstanding they were surrounded
and hard pressed on one side by the infantry, on the other by the
cavalry, yet prolonged the battle for a considerable time; but at
length even they were compelled to turn their backs, and fled towards
the city. There the conspirators, forming themselves into a dense
body, received the multitude of their countrymen with open gates; but
when they perceived that the routed Romans were hurrying towards the
city, they exclaimed that the Carthaginian was close at hand, and that
the enemy would enter the city mingled with them, unless they speedily
closed the gates. Thus they shut out the Romans, and left them to be
cut up by the enemy. Atinius, however, and a few others were taken in.
After this for a short time there was a division between them, some
being of opinion that they ought to defend the city, others that they
ought, after all that had happened, to yield to fortune, and deliver
up the city to the conquerors; but, as it generally happens, fortune
and evil counsels prevailed. Having conveyed Atinius and his party to
the sea and the ships, more because they wished that care should be
taken of him, in consequence of the mildness and justice of his
command, than from regard to the Romans, they received the
Carthaginians into the city. The consuls led their legions from
Beneventum into the Campanian territory, with the intention not only
of destroying the corn, which was in the blade, but of laying siege to
Capua; considering that they would render their consulate illustrious
by the destruction of so opulent a city, and that they would wipe away
the foul disgrace of the empire, from the defection of a city so near
remaining unpunished for three years. Lest, however, Beneventum should
be left without protection, and that in case of any sudden emergency,
if Hannibal should come to Capua, in order to bring assistance to his
friends, which they doubted not he would do, the cavalry might be able
to sustain his attack, they ordered Tiberius Gracchus to come from
Lucania to Beneventum with his cavalry and light-armed troops and to
appoint some person to take the command of the legions and stationary
camp, for the defence of Lucania.
16. An unlucky prodigy occurred to Gracchus, while sacrificing,
previous to his departure from Lucania. Two snakes gliding from a
secret place to the entrails, after the sacrifice was completed, ate
the liver; and after having been observed, suddenly vanished out of
sight. The sacrifice having been repeated according to the admonition
of the aruspices, and the vessel containing the entrails being watched
with increased attention, it is reported that the snakes came a
second, and a third time, and, after tasting the liver, went away
untouched. Though the aruspices forewarned him that the portent had
reference to the general, and that he ought to be on his guard against
secret enemies and machinations, yet no foresight could avert the
destiny which awaited him. There was a Lucanian, named Flavius, the
leader of that party which adhered to the Romans when the others went
over to Hannibal; he was this year in the magistracy, having been
created praetor by the same party. Suddenly changing his mind, and
seeking to ingratiate himself with the Carthaginians, he did not think
it enough that he himself should pass over to them, or that he should
induce the Lucanians to revolt with him, unless he ratified his league
with the enemy with the head and blood of the general, betrayed to
them, though his guest. He entered into a secret conference with Mago,
who had the command in Bruttium, and receiving a solemn promise from
him, that he would take the Lucanians into his friendship, without
interfering with their laws, if he should betray the Roman general to
the Carthaginians, he conducted Mago to a place to which he was about
to bring Gracchus with a few attendants. He then directed Mago to arm
his infantry and cavalry, and to occupy the retired places there, in
which he might conceal a very large number of troops. After thoroughly
inspecting and exploring the place on all sides, a day was agreed upon
for the execution of the affair. Flavius came to the Roman general,
and said, that "he had begun a business of great importance, for the
completion of which, it was necessary to have the assistance of
Gracchus himself. That he had persuaded the praetors of all the states
which had revolted to the Carthaginians in the general defection of
Italy, to return into the friendship of the Romans, since now the
Roman power too, which had almost come to ruin by the disaster at
Cannae. was daily improving and increasing, while the strength of
Hannibal was sinking into decay, and was almost reduced to nothing. He
had told them that the Romans would be disposed to accept an atonement
for their former offence; that there never was any state more easy to
be entreated, or more ready to grant pardon; how often, he had
observed to them, had they forgiven rebellion even in their own
ancestors! These considerations," he said, "he had himself urged, but
that they would rather hear the same from Gracchus himself in person,
and touching his right hand, carry with them that pledge of faith.
That he had agreed upon a place with those who were privy to the
transaction, out of the way of observation, and at no great distance
from the Roman camp; that there the business might be settled in few
words, so that all the Lucanian states might be in the alliance and
friendship of the Romans." Gracchus, not suspecting any treachery
either from his words or the nature of the proposal, and being caught
by the probability of the thing, set out from the camp with his
lictors and a troop of horse, under the guidance of his host, and fell
headlong into the snare. The enemy suddenly arose from their
lurking-place, and Flavius joined them; which made the treachery
obvious. A shower of weapons was poured from all sides on Gracchus and
his troop. He immediately leaped from his horse, and ordering the rest
to do the same, exhorted them, that "as fortune had left them only one
course, they would render it glorious by their valour. And what is
there left," said he, "to a handful of men, surrounded by a multitude,
in a valley hemmed in by a wood and mountains, except death? The only
question was, whether, tamely exposing themselves to be butchered like
cattle, they should die unavenged; or whether, drawing the mind off
from the idea of suffering and anticipation of the event, and giving
full scope to fury and resentment, they should fall while doing and
daring, covered with hostile blood, amid heaps of arms and bodies of
their expiring foes." He desired that "all would aim at the Lucanian
traitor and deserter;" adding, that "the man who should send that
victim to the shades before him, would acquire the most distinguished
glory, and furnish the highest consolation for his own death." While
thus speaking, he wound his cloak round his left arm, for they had not
even brought their shields out with them, and then rushed upon the
enemy. The exertion made in the fight was greater than could be
expected from the smallness of the number. The bodies of the Romans
were most exposed to the javelins, with which, as they were thrown on
all sides from higher ground into a deep valley, they were transfixed.
The Carthaginians seeing Gracchus now bereft of support, endeavoured
to take him alive; but he having descried his Lucanian host among the
enemy, rushed with such fury into their dense body that it became
impossible to save his life without a great loss. Mago immediately
sent his corpse to Hannibal, ordering it to be placed, with the fasces
which were taken at the same time, before the tribunal of the general.
This is the true account; Gracchus fell in Lucania, near the place
called the Old Plains.
17. There are some who have put forth an account, stating, that when
in the territory of Beneventum, near the river Calor, having gone out
from his camp with his lictors and three servants, for the purpose of
bathing, he was slain while naked and unarmed, and endeavouring to
defend himself with the stones which the river brought down, by a
party of the enemy which happened to be concealed among the osiers
which grew upon the banks. Others state, that having gone out five
hundred paces from the camp, at the instance of the aruspices, in
order to expiate the prodigies before mentioned on unpolluted ground,
he was cut off by two troops of Numidians who happened to be lying in
ambush there. So different are the accounts respecting the place and
manner of the death of so illustrious and distinguished a man. Various
also are the accounts of the funeral of Gracchus. Some say that he was
buried by his own friends in the Roman camp; others relate, and this
is the more generally received account, that a funeral pile was
erected by Hannibal, in the entrance of the Carthaginian camp; that
the troops under arms performed evolutions, with the dances of the
Spaniards, and motions of the arms and body, which were customary with
the several nations; while Hannibal himself celebrated his obsequies
with every mark of respect, both in word and deed. Such is the account
of those who assert that the affair occurred in Lucania. If you are
disposed to credit the statement of those who relate that he was slain
at the river Calor, the enemy got possession only of the head of
Gracchus; which being brought to Hannibal, he immediately despatched
Carthalo to convey it into the Roman camp to Cneius Cornelius, the
quaestor, who buried the general in the camp, the Beneventans joining
the army in the celebration.
18. The consuls having entered the Campanian territory, while
devastating the country on all sides, were alarmed, and thrown into
confusion, by an eruption of the townsmen and Mago with his cavalry.
They called in their troops to their standards from the several
quarters to which they were dispersed, but having been routed when
they had scarcely formed their line, they lost above fifteen hundred
men. The confidence of the Campanians, who were naturally
presumptuous, became excessive in consequence of this event, and in
many battles they challenged the Romans; but this one battle, which
they had been incautiously and imprudently drawn into, had increased
the vigilance of the consuls. Their spirits were restored, while the
presumption of the other party was diminished, by one trifling
occurrence; but in war nothing is so inconsiderable as not to be
capable, sometimes, of producing important consequences. Titus
Quinctius Crispinus was a guest of Badius, a Campanian, united with
him by the greatest intimacy. Their acquaintance had increased from
the circumstance of Badius having received the most liberal and kind
attentions at the house of Crispinus, in a fit of illness, at Rome,
before the Campanian revolt. On the present occasion, Badius,
advancing in front of the guards, which were stationed before the
gate, desired Crispinus to be called; and Crispinus, on being informed
of this, thinking that a friendly and familiar interview was
requested, and the memory of their private connexion remaining even
amidst the disruption of public ties, advanced a little from the rest.
When they had come within view of each other, Badius exclaimed, "I
challenge you to combat, Crispinus; let us mount our horses, and
making the rest withdraw, let us try which is the better soldier." In
reply, Crispinus said, that "neither of them were in want of enemies
to display their valour upon; for his own part, even if he should meet
him in the field he would turn aside, lest he should pollute his
right-hand with the blood of a guest;" and then turning round, was
going away. But the Campanian, with increased presumption, began to
charge him with cowardice and effeminacy, and cast upon him reproaches
which he deserved himself, calling him "an enemy who sheltered himself
under the title of host, and one who pretended to spare him for whom
he knew himself not to be a match. If he considered; that when public
treaties were broken, the ties of private connexion were not severed
with them, then Badius the Campanian openly, and in the hearing of
both armies, renounced his connexion of hospitality with Titus
Quinctius Crispinus the Roman. He said, that there could exist no
fellowship or alliance with him and an enemy whose country and
tutelary gods, both public and private, he had come to fight against.
If he was a man, he would meet him." Crispinus hesitated for a long
time; but the men of his troop at length prevailed upon him not to
allow the Campanian to insult him with impunity. Waiting, therefore,
only to ask his generals whether they would allow him to fight,
contrary to rule, with an enemy who had challenged him; having
obtained their permission, he mounted his horse, and addressing Badius
by name, called him out to the combat. The Campanian made no delay.
They engaged with their horses excited to hostility. Crispinus
transfixed Badius with his spear in the left shoulder, over his
shield. He fell from his horse in consequence of the wound; and
Crispinus leaped down to despatch him as he lay, on foot. But Badius,
before his enemy was upon him, ran off to his friends, leaving his
horse and buckler. Crispinus, decorated with the spoils, and
displaying the horse and arms which he had seized together with the
bloody spear, was conducted amid the loud plaudits and congratulations
of the soldiery into the presence of the consuls, where he was highly
commended, and was presented with gifts.