---
title: "History of Rome, Books XXI–XXX · Ab urbe condita XXI–XXX"
author: "Livy"
translator: "Benjamin Oliver Foster and Frank Gardner Moore"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 11 of 50
url: https://scriptura.si/works/livy-history-of-rome-2/11/
cite: "Livy, tr. Benjamin Oliver Foster and Frank Gardner Moore, History of Rome, Books XXI–XXX · Ab urbe condita XXI–XXX, section 11. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/livy-history-of-rome-2/11/"
---

# History of Rome, Books XXI–XXX · Ab urbe condita XXI–XXX

*Livy, tr. Benjamin Oliver Foster and Frank Gardner Moore*

The war with Hannibal: the Alps, Trasimene and Cannae, the long recovery of Rome, Scipio in Spain and Africa, and Zama.

> Latin: Livy, Ab urbe condita XXI–XXX, ed. Charles Flamstead Walters, Robert Seymour Conway and Stephen Keymer Johnson (Oxford Classical Texts), from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0914.phi001.perseus-lat3, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Benjamin Oliver Foster and Frank Gardner Moore, Livy (Loeb Classical Library), from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0914.phi001.perseus-eng1). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (books, chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## 11. Book XXII · chapters 54–61

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/livy-history-of-rome-2/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/livy-history-of-rome-2/11/#p-N

[¶0] 54.2. All these the inhabitants distributed amongst various families where they might be kindly received and cared for, and bestowed on each horseman a toga and a tunic and twenty-five chariot-pieces, and on each foot-soldier ten pieces, together with arms, where they were needed. In all other matters, too, they dealt hospitably by them, both as a town and as individuals, in their zeal that the People of Venusia should not lag behind a Canusian woman in friendly offices. But the great multitude was beginning to be too heavy a burden upon Busa —and indeed there were now as many as ten thousand men —and Appius and Scipio, when they learned that the other consul was alive, immediately dispatched a messenger to let him know what forces of infantry and cavalry they had with them, and at the same time to enquire whether he desired the army to be brought to Venusia or remain

> Latin: 54.2. eos omnes Uenusini per familias benigne accipiendos curandosque cum diuisissent, in singulos equites togas et tunicas et quadrigatos nummos quinos uicenos, et pediti denos et arma quibus deerant dederunt, ceteraque publice ac priuatim hospitaliter facta certatumque ne a muliere Canusina populus Uenusinus officiis uinceretur. sed grauius onus Busae multitudo faciebat;

[¶1] 54.5. at Canusium. Varro transferred his own troops to Canusium; and they now had something resembling a consular army, and might look to defend themselves against the enemy, behind walls, at all events, if not in the field.

> Latin: 54.5. et iam ad decem milia hominum erant, Appiusque et Scipio, postquam incolumem esse alterum consulem acceperunt, nuntium extemplo mittunt quantae secum peditum equitumque copiae essent sciscitatumque simul utrum Uenusiam adduci exercitum an manere iuberet Canusi.

[¶2] 54.6. But at Rome it was reported that not even these pitiful remnants of citizens and allies survived, but that the army with its two consuls was clean destroyed and all their forces blotted out.

> Latin: 54.6. Uarro ipse Canusium copias traduxit; et iam aliqua species consularis exercitus erat moenibusque se certe, si non armis, ab hoste uidebantur defensuri.

[¶3] 54.7. Never, save when the City had been captured, was there such terror and confusion within the walls of Rome. I shall therefore confess myself unequal to the task, nor attempt a narrative where the fullest description would fall short of the truth. The year before a consul and his army had been lost at Trasumennus, and now it was not merely one blow following another, but a calamity many times as great that was reported; two consuls and two consular armies had been lost, and there was no longer any Roman camp, or general, or soldier; Hannibal was master of Apulia, Samnium, and well-nigh the whole

> Latin: 54.7. Romam ne has quidem reliquias superesse ciuium sociorumque sed occidione occisum cum duobus <consularibus ducibus> exercitum deletasque omnes copias allatum fuerat. nunquam salua urbe tantum pauoris tumultusque intra moenia Romana fuit. itaque succumbam oneri neque adgrediar narrare quae edissertando minora uero faciam. consule exercituque ad Trasumennum priore anno amisso non uolnus super uolnus sed multiplex clades, cum duobus consulibus duo consulares exercitus amissi nuntiabantur nec ulla iam castra Romana nec ducem nec militem esse;

[¶4] 54.9. of Italy. Surely there was no other people that would not have been overwhelmed by a disaster of such vast proportions.

> Latin: 54.9. Hannibalis Apuliam, Samnium ac iam prope totam Italiam factam. nulla profecto alia gens tanta mole cladis non obruta esset.

[¶5] 54.10. Would you compare the disaster off the Aegatian islands, which the Carthaginians suffered in the sea-fight, by which their spirit was so broken that they relinquished Sicily and Sardinia and suffered themselves to become tax-payers and tributaries? or the defeat in Africa to which this very Hannibal afterwards succumbed? In no single aspect are they to be compared with this calamity, except that they were endured with less of fortitude.

> Latin: 54.10. compares cladem ad Aegates insulas Carthaginiensium proelio nauali acceptam, qua fracti Sicilia ac Sardinia cessere, inde uectigales ac stipendiarios fieri se passi sunt, aut pugnam aduersam in Africa, cui postea hic ipse Hannibal succubuit; nulla ex parte comparandae sunt nisi quod minore animo latae sunt.

[¶6] 55.1. Publius Furius Philus and Marcus Pomponius, the praetors, called the senate together in the Curia Hostilia, to consult about the defence of Rome;

> Latin: 55.1. P. Furius Philus et M. Pomponius praetores senatum in curiam Hostiliam uocauerunt, ut de urbis custodia consulerent;

[¶7] 55.2. for they made no doubt that the enemy, after wiping out their armies, would be advancing to besiege the City, which was all that remained to do to end the war.

> Latin: 55.2. neque enim dubitabant deletis exercitibus hostem ad oppugnandam Romam, quod unum opus belli restaret, uenturum.

[¶8] 55.3. But when, amid dangers at once so immense and so incalculable, they failed to think of even any tolerable plan of action, and were deafened with the cries and lamentations of the women, both the living and the dead —in the lack as yet of any announcement —being indiscriminately mourned in almost every house, then Quintus Fabius Maximus urged that light-armed horsemen be sent out along the Appian and Latin ways, and questioning those they met — for some there would surely be who had dispersed and made off in the rout —bring back word of the fortunes of the consuls and the armies, and if the immortal gods, taking pity on the empire, had spared any remnant of the Roman name, where those forces were;

> Latin: 55.3. cum in malis sicuti ingentibus ita ignotis ne consilium quidem satis expedirent obstreperetque clamor lamentantium mulierum et nondum palam facto uiui mortuique et per omnes paene domos promiscue complorarentur, tum Q. Fabius Maximus censuit equites expeditos et Appia et Latina uia mittendos, qui obuios percontando—aliquos profecto ex fuga passim dissipatos fore—referant quae fortuna consulum atque exercituum sit et, si quid di immortales miseriti imperii reliquum Romani nominis fecerint, ubi eae copiae sint;

[¶9] 55.5. whither Hannibal had gone after the battle, what his plans were, what he was doing and was likely to do.

> Latin: 55.5. quo se Hannibal post proelium contulerit, quid paret, quid agat acturusque sit.

[¶10] 55.6. To discover and ascertain these facts was a task, he said, for active youths; what the Fathers themselves must do, since there were not magistrates enough, was this: quell the panic and confusion in the City; keep the matrons off the streets and compel them each to abide in her own home; restrain families from lamentation; procure silence throughout the City; see that bearers of any news were brought before the praetors —every man must wait at home for tidings that concerned himself;

> Latin: 55.6. haec exploranda noscendaque per impigros iuuenes esse; illud per patres ipsos agendum, quoniam magistratuum parum sit, ut tumultum ac trepidationem in urbe tollant, matronas publico arceant continerique intra suum quamque limen cogant, comploratus familiarum coerceant, silentium per urbem faciant, nuntios rerum omnium ad praetores deducendos curent, suae quisque fortunae domi auctorem exspectent,

[¶11] 55.8. —and, besides this, post sentries at the gates, to keep anyone from leaving the City, and make the people rest all hope of safety on the safety of Rome and of its walls. When the tumult had died down, then the Fathers must be convened again and consider how to defend the City.

> Latin: 55.8. custodesque praeterea ad portas ponant qui prohibeant quemquam egredi urbe cogantque homines nullam nisi urbe ac moenibus saluis salutem sperare. ubi conticuerit [recte] tumultus, tum in curiam patres reuocandos consulendumque de urbis custodia esse.

[¶12] 56.1. After they had all voted for this proposal without debate, and the throng had been cleared out of the Forum by the magistrates, and the Fathers had dispersed in various directions to still the uproar, then at last came a dispatch from Gaius Terentius the consul, announcing that the consul Lucius Aemilius and his army had been destroyed;

> Latin: 56.1. cum in hanc sententiam pedibus omnes issent summotaque foro <a> magistratibus turba patres diuersi ad sedandos tumultus discessissent, tum demum litterae a C. Terentio consule allatae sunt:

[¶13] 56.2. that he himself was at Canusium, collecting —as though after a storm at sea —the wreckage of that great disaster; that he had about ten thousand men, not organised or assigned to companies;

> Latin: 56.2. L. Aemilium consulem exercitumque caesum; sese Canusi esse, reliquias tantae cladis uelut ex naufragio colligentem; ad decem milia militum ferme esse incompositorum inordinatorumque;

[¶14] 56.3. that the Phoenician was sitting down at Cannae, haggling over the ransom of his prisoners and over the rest of the booty, exhibiting neither the spirit of a conqueror nor the behaviour of a great commander.

> Latin: 56.3. Poenum sedere ad Cannas, in captiuorum pretiis praedaque alia nec uictoris animo nec magni ducis more nundinantem.

[¶15] 56.4. Announcement was then made from house to house of the losses they had each sustained, and the entire City was so filled with lamentation that the annual rite of Ceres was allowed to lapse, since it may not be performed by mourners, nor was there at that time a single matron who was not bereaved.

> Latin: 56.4. tum priuatae quoque per domos clades uolgatae sunt adeoque totam urbem oppleuit luctus ut sacrum anniuersarium Cereris intermissum sit, quia nec lugentibus id facere est fas nec ulla in illa tempestate matrona expers luctus fuerat.

[¶16] 56.5. Accordingly, lest for this same reason other public or private rites might be neglected, the senate decreed that mourning should be limited to thirty days.

> Latin: 56.5. itaque ne ob eandem causam alia quoque sacra publica aut priuata desererentur, senatus consulto diebus triginta luctus est finitus.

[¶17] 56.6. But when the confusion in the City had subsided and the Fathers had been summoned back to the senate-house, another dispatch was brought in from Sicily, from the propraetor Titus Otacilius.

> Latin: 56.6. ceterum cum sedato urbis tumultu reuocati in curiam patres essent, aliae insuper ex Sicilia litterae allatae sunt ab T. Otacilio propraetore, regnum Hieronis classe Punica uastari;

[¶18] 56.7. He reported that Hiero's kingdom was being laid waste by a Punic fleet, and that when he would have responded to Hiero's appeal for help, he had got news of another fleet, that was standing off the Aegatian islands, all ready and equipped, so that when the Phoenicians should perceive that he had turned his back on them to go to the rescue of the Syracusan coast, they might instantly descend on Lilybaeum and the rest of the Roman province.

> Latin: 56.7. cui cum opem imploranti ferre uellent <praefecti ab se missi>, nuntiatum his esse aliam classem ad Aegates insulas stare paratam instructamque, ut, ubi se uersum ad tuendam Syracusanam oram Poeni sensissent, Lilybaeum extemplo prouinciamque aliam Romanam adgrederentur;

[¶19] 56.8. A fleet was therefore necessary if they desired to protect the king, their ally, and Sicily.

> Latin: 56.8. itaque classe opus esse, si regem socium Siciliamque tueri uellent.

[¶20] 57.1. When the dispatches from the consul and the praetor had been read out, the senate voted to send Marcus Claudius, the praetor commanding the fleet at Ostia, to Canusium, and to write to the consul to turn the army over to him and come to Rome at the earliest moment compatible with the welfare of the state. They were terrified not only by the great disasters they had suffered, but also by a number of prodigies, and in particular because two Vestals, Opimia and Floronia, had in that year been convicted of unchastity. Of these one had been buried alive, as the custom is, near the Colline Gate, and the other had killed herself.

> Latin: 57.1. litteris consulis praetorisque <lectis censuere patres> M. Claudium, qui classi ad Ostiam stanti praeesset, Canusium ad exercitum mittendum scribendumque consuli et, cum praetori exercitum tradidisset, primo quoque tempore, quantum per commodum rei publicae fieri posset, Romam ueniret. territi etiam super tantas clades cum ceteris prodigiis, tum quod duae Uestales eo anno, Opimia atque Floronia, stupri compertae et altera sub terra, uti mos est, ad portam Collinam necata fuerat, altera sibimet ipsa mortem consciuerat;

[¶21] 57.2. Lucius Cantilius, a secretary to the pontiffs —one of those who are now called the lesser pontiffs —had been guilty with Floronia, and the Pontifex Maximus had him scourged in the Comitium so severely that he died under the blows.

> Latin: 57.2. L. Cantilius scriba pontificius, quos nunc minores pontifices appellant, qui cum Floronia stuprum fecerat, a pontifice maximo eo usque uirgis in comitio caesus erat ut inter uerbera exspiraret. hoc nefas cum inter tot, ut fit, clades in prodigium uersum esset, decemuiri libros adire iussi sunt et Q.

[¶22] 57.4. Since in the midst of so many misfortunes this pollution was, as happens at such times, converted into a portent, the decemvirs were commanded to consult the Books, and Quintus Fabius Pictor was dispatched to Delphi, to enquire of the oracle with what prayers and supplications they might propitiate the gods, and what would be the end of all their calamities.

> Latin: 57.4. Fabius Pictor Delphos ad oraculum missus est sciscitatum quibus precibus suppliciisque deos possent placare et quaenam futura finis tantis cladibus foret. interim ex fatalibus libris sacrificia aliquot extraordinaria facta, inter quae Gallus et Galla, Graecus et Graeca in foro bouario sub terram uiui demissi sunt in locum saxo consaeptum, iam ante hostiis humanis, minime Romano sacro, imbutum.

[¶23] 57.6. In the meantime, by the direction of the Books of Fate, some unusual sacrifices were offered; amongst others a Gaulish man and woman and a Greek man and woman were buried alive in the Cattle Market, in a place walled in with stone, which even before this time had been defiled with human victims, a sacrifice wholly alien to the Roman spirit.

> Latin: 57.6. placatis satis, ut rebantur, deis M. Claudius Marcellus ab Ostia mille et quingentos milites quos in classem scriptos habebat Romam, ut urbi praesidio essent, mittit;

[¶24] 57.7. Deeming that the gods had now been sufficiently appeased, Marcus Claudius Marcellus sent fifteen hundred soldiers whom he had under him, enrolled for service with the fleet, from Ostia to Rome, to defend the City; and sending before him to Teanum Sidicinum the naval legion (to wit, the third ) under its tribunes, handed over the fleet to his colleague Publius Furius Philus and a few days later hastened by forced marches to Canusium.

> Latin: 57.7. ipse legione classica—ea legio tertia erat—cum tribunis militum Teanum Sidicinum praemissa, classe tradita P. Furio Philo collegae paucos post dies Canusium magnis itineribus contendit.

[¶25] 57.8. The senate then authorized the appointment of a dictator and Marcus Junius [Pera] was named to that office, with Tiberius Sempronius as master of the horse.

> Latin: 57.8. inde dictator ex auctoritate patrum dictus M. Iunius et Ti. Sempronius magister equitum dilectu edicto iuniores ab annis septemdecim et quosdam praetextatos scribunt; quattuor ex his legiones et mille equites effecti.

[¶26] 57.9. Proclaiming a levy they enlisted the young men over seventeen and some who still wore the purple-bordered dress of boyhood. Of these they made up four legions and a thousand horse. They also sent men to the allies and the Latins to take over their soldiers, as by treaty provided.

> Latin: 57.9. item ad socios Latinumque nomen ad milites ex formula accipiendos mittunt. arma, tela, alia parari iubent et uetera spolia hostium detrahunt templis porticibusque.

[¶27] 57.10. They gave orders that armour, weapons and other equipment should be made ready, and took down from the temples and porticoes the ancient spoils of enemies.

> Latin: 57.10. et aliam formam noui dilectus inopia liberorum capitum ac necessitas dedit: octo milia iuuenum ualidorum ex seruitiis, prius sciscitantes singulos uellentne militare, empta publice armauerunt.

[¶28] 57.11. The levy wore a strange appearance, for, owing to the scarcity of free men and the need of the hour, they bought, with money from the treasury, eight thousand young and stalwart slaves and armed them, first asking each if he were willing to serve. They preferred these slaves for soldiers, though they might have redeemed the prisoners of war at less expense. For Hannibal, after his great victory at Cannae, had been more concerned with the projects of a conqueror than with those of one who was still waging war. Mustering the prisoners and dividing them into two groups, he addressed a few kindly words to the allies and dismissed them without ransom, as he had done previously at the Trebia and Lake Trasumennus. He then called up the Romans also and spoke to them with a mildness he had never shown before.

> Latin: 57.11. hic miles magis placuit, cum pretio minore redimendi captiuos copia fieret. namque Hannibal secundum tam prosperam ad Cannas pugnam uictoris magis quam bellum gerentis intentus curis, cum captiuis productis segregatisque socios, sicut ante ad Trebiam Trasumennumque lacum, benigne adlocutus sine pretio dimisisset, Romanos quoque uocatos, quod nunquam alias antea, satis miti sermone adloquitur:

[¶29] 58.3. He was waging, he said, no war of extermination with them, but was contending for honour and dominion. His forerunners had yielded to the valour of the Romans, and he was striving to compel them in their turn to yield to his own good fortune and valour.

> Latin: 58.3. non interneciuum sibi esse cum Romanis bellum; de dignitate atque imperio certare. et patres uirtuti Romanae cessisse et se id adniti ut suae in uicem simul felicitati et uirtuti cedatur.

[¶30] 58.4. He would therefore give them an opportunity to redeem the prisoners, and would fix their ransom at five hundred chariot-pieces for each horseman, three hundred for each foot-soldier, and a hundred for each slave.

> Latin: 58.4. itaque redimendi se captiuis copiam facere; pretium fore in capita equiti quingenos quadrigatos nummos, trecenos pediti, seruo centenos.

[¶31] 58.5. Although this was a rather large addition to the ransom which the horsemen had agreed to on surrendering, they joyfully accepted any terms of treaty.

> Latin: 58.5. quamquam aliquantum adiciebatur equitibus ad id pretium quo pepigerant dedentes se, laeti tamen quamcumque condicionem paciscendi acceperunt.

[¶32] 58.6. It was resolved that the prisoners should themselves elect ten representatives to go to the senate in Rome; nor did Hannibal take any other pledge of their good faith than their oath that they would return.

> Latin: 58.6. placuit suffragio ipsorum decem deligi qui Romam ad senatum irent, nec pignus aliud fidei quam ut iurarent se redituros acceptum.

[¶33] 58.7. Carthalo, a Carthaginian noble, was sent with them, so that, if he should see that the Romans inclined to peace, he might offer terms.

> Latin: 58.7. missus cum his Carthalo, nobilis Carthaginiensis, qui, si forte ad pacem inclinaret animus, condiciones ferret.

[¶34] 58.8. The envoys had just left the camp when one of them, a fellow of thoroughly un-Roman character, returned to it —as if he had forgotten something —in order to free himself from his oath, and before dark had caught up with his companions.

> Latin: 58.8. cum egressi castris essent, unus ex iis, minime Romani ingenii homo uelut aliquid oblitus, iuris iurandi soluendi causa cum in castra redisset, ante noctem comites adsequitur.

[¶35] 58.9. When the news reached Rome that they were coming, a lictor was sent to meet Carthalo on the way and warn him in the name of the Dictator to depart before nightfall out of Roman territory.

> Latin: 58.9. ubi Romam uenire eos nuntiatum est, Carthaloni obuiam lictor missus, qui dictatoris uerbis nuntiaret ut ante noctem excederet finibus Romanis.

[¶36] 59.1. As for the envoys of the prisoners, the dictator admitted them into the senate, where their leader spoke as follows: “Marcus Junius and Conscript Fathers, none of us is unaware that no state ever held prisoners of war in less esteem than ours.”

> Latin: 59.1. legatis captiuorum senatus ab dictatore datus est, quorum princeps: ' M. Iuni uosque, patres conscripti' inquit, 'nemo nostrum ignorat nulli unquam ciuitati uiliores fuisse captiuos quam nostrae;

[¶37] 59.2. “But, unless we overrate our cause, there have never been men who came into the power of the enemy less deserving than ourselves of your neglect.”

> Latin: 59.2. ceterum, nisi nobis plus iusto nostra placet causa, non alii unquam minus neglegendi uobis quam nos in hostium potestatem uenerunt.

[¶38] 59.3. “For we did not yield up our swords through fear on the field of battle, but standing on the heaped bodies of the slain prolonged the combat almost until nightfall and then retired to our camp.”

> Latin: 59.3. non enim in acie per timorem arma tradidimus sed cum prope ad noctem superstantes cumulis caesorum corporum proelium extraxissemus, in castra recepimus nos;

[¶39] 59.4. “The rest of the day and the succeeding night, though exhausted with fighting and with wounds, we defended the stockade.”

> Latin: 59.4. diei reliquum ac noctem insequentem, fessi labore ac uolneribus, uallum sumus tutati;

[¶40] 59.5. “On the following day, surrounded by a victorious army and cut off from water, having no longer any hope of breaking through the throng of enemies, and thinking it no disgrace that when fifty thousand of our troops had been cut down, some few Roman soldiers should survive the battle of Cannae, we finally stipulated ” “for a price at which we might be ransomed, and delivered to the enemy the arms in which there was no longer any help.”

> Latin: 59.5. postero die, cum circumsessi ab exercitu uictore aqua arceremur nec ulla iam per confertos hostes erumpendi spes esset nec esse nefas duceremus quinquaginta milibus hominum ex acie nostra trucidatis aliquem ex Cannensi pugna Romanum militem restare, tunc demum pacti sumus pretium quo redempti dimitteremur, arma in quibus nihil iam auxilii erat hosti tradidimus.

[¶41] 59.7. “Even our ancestors —so we had heard —redeemed themselves from the Gauls with gold; and your fathers, despite their fierce opposition to terms of peace, sent envoys to Tarentum to ransom prisoners.”

> Latin: 59.7. maiores quoque acceperamus se a Gallis auro redemisse et patres uestros, asperrimos illos ad condiciones pacis, legatos tamen [ad] captiuorum redimendorum gratia Tarentum misisse.

[¶42] 59.8. “And yet neither the battle with the Gauls at the Allia nor that with Pyrrhus at Heraclea owed its unhappy fame so much to carnage as to craven flight. At Cannae the plains are covered with heaps of Roman corpses, and if we survive, it is only because our enemies' swords were dulled and their strength spent with slaughtering.”

> Latin: 59.8. atqui et <ad> Alliam cum Gallis et ad Heracleam cum Pyrrho utraque non tam clade infamis quam pauore et fuga pugna fuit: Cannenses campos acerui Romanorum corporum tegunt, nec supersumus pugnae nisi in quibus trucidandis et ferrum et uires hostem defecerunt.

[¶43] 59.9. “There are some of us, too, who were never even in the battle, but were left to guard the camp, and on its surrender passed into the enemy's hands.”

> Latin: 59.9. sunt etiam de nostris quidam qui ne in acie quidem fuerunt sed praesidio castris relicti, cum castra traderentur, in potestatem hostium uenerunt.

[¶44] 59.10. “Think not that I envy the good luck or circumstances of any fellow citizen or fellow soldier, nor would I raise myself by thrusting another down; but —unless there be a prize for fleetness of foot and running —it is not those who, without weapons for the most part and fleeing from the fight, never stopped until they reached Venusia or Canusium that can justly set themselves above us or boast that they are better defenders of the state than ” “we.

> Latin: 59.10. haud equidem ullius ciuis et commilitonis fortunae aut condicioni inuideo, nec premendo alium me extulisse uelim: ne illi quidem, nisi pernicitatis pedum et cursus aliquod praemium est, qui plerique inermes ex acie fugientes non prius quam Uenusiae aut Canusii constiterunt, se nobis merito praetulerint gloriatique sint in se plus quam in nobis praesidii rei publicae esse.

[¶45] 59.11. Both in them and in us you shall have good and valiant soldiers; but we shall be even more eager than they to defend our country, since we shall owe to your kindness our redemption and our restoration to that country. You are levying soldiers of every age and condition; I hear that eight thousand slaves are being ” “armed.

> Latin: 59.11. sed illis et bonis ac fortibus militibus utemini et nobis etiam promptioribus pro patria, quod beneficio uestro redempti atque in patriam restituti fuerimus. dilectum ex omni aetate et fortuna habetis;

[¶46] 59.12. Our number is not less than that, and our ransom would be no more costly than their purchase; I make no comparison between our worth and theirs, for that would be to insult the name of ” “Roman.

> Latin: 59.12. octo milia seruorum audio armari. non minor numerus noster est nec maiore pretio redimi possumus quam ii emuntur; nam si conferam nos cum illis, iniuriam nomini Romano faciam.

[¶47] 59.13. One other point I would suggest, as meriting consideration, when you deliberate about this matter, Conscript Fathers: if haply you should incline to deal harshly by us —which we do not in the least deserve —to what enemy would you be leaving us? To a Pyrrhus, pray, who treated his prisoners like ” “guests?

> Latin: 59.13. illud etiam in tali consilio animaduertendum uobis censeam, patres conscripti, si iam duriores esse uelitis, quod nullo nostro merito faciatis, cui nos hosti relicturi sitis.

[¶48] 59.14. or to a barbarian and Phoenician, of whom it can hardly be determined whether his avarice or cruelty be ” “greater?

> Latin: 59.14. Pyrrho uidelicet, qui [uos] hospitum numero captiuos habuit? an barbaro ac Poeno, qui utrum auarior an crudelior sit uix existimari potest?

[¶49] 59.15. If you could behold the fetters, the squalor, the degradation of your fellow-citizens, assuredly the sight would move you no less profoundly than if, on the other hand, you saw your legions lying slaughtered on the fields of Cannae. One thing you can see —the distress and tears of our kinsmen who are standing at the entrance of the Curia awaiting your ” “decision.

> Latin: 59.15. si uideatis catenas, squalorem, deformitatem ciuium uestrorum, non minus profecto uos ea species moueat quam si ex altera parte cernatis stratas Cannensibus campis legiones uestras.

[¶50] 59.16. When these people are in such suspense and agony for us and for those who are absent, what think you the men themselves must feel whose life and liberty are hanging in the balance? If Hannibal —Heaven help ” “me!

> Latin: 59.16. intueri potestis sollicitudinem et lacrimas in uestibulo curiae stantium cognatorum nostrorum exspectantiumque responsum uestrum. cum ii pro nobis proque iis qui absunt ita suspensi ac solliciti sint, quem censetis animum ipsorum esse quorum in discrimine uita libertasque est?

[¶51] 59.17. — should himself be pleased, against his nature, to show us mercy, we should nevertheless deem life a worthless boon, if we had seemed to you unworthy of being ransomed. There once came back to Rome some prisoners whom Pyrrhus had allowed to go scot-free; but they came back in company with envoys, the first men of the state, whom you had sent to ransom ” “them.

> Latin: 59.17. si, mediusfidius, ipse in nos mitis Hannibal contra naturam suam esse uelit, nihil tamen nobis uita opus esse censeamus cum indigni ut redimeremur a uobis uisi simus.

[¶52] 59.18. Am I to come back to my country as a citizen not reckoned to be worth three hundred pieces? Every man, Conscript Fathers, has his own way of ” “thinking.

> Latin: 59.18. rediere Romam quondam remissi a Pyrrho sine pretio captiui; sed rediere cum legatis, primoribus ciuitatis, ad redimendos sese missis. redeam ego in patriam trecentis nummis non aestimatus ciuis? suum quisque animum, patres conscripti.

[¶53] 59.19. I know that my life and person are in jeopardy; but I am troubled more by the danger to my honour —lest we depart under your condemnation and rebuff; for the world will never believe that you were niggardly about the cost.”

> Latin: 59.19. scio in discrimine esse uitam corpusque meum; magis me famae periculum mouet, ne a uobis damnati ac repulsi abeamus; neque enim uos pretio pepercisse homines credent.'

[¶54] 60.1. As soon as he had finished speaking, the throng in the Comitium began to utter doleful cries, and holding out their hands to the Curia besought the senators to give them back their sons, their brothers, and their kinsmen.

> Latin: 60.1. ubi is finem fecit, extemplo ab ea turba, quae in comitio erat, clamor flebilis est sublatus manusque ad curiam tendebant orantes ut sibi liberos, fratres, cognatos redderent.

[¶55] 60.2. Even the women had been driven by their fear and destitute condition to mingle in the Forum with the crowd of men. The senate was cleared of strangers and the debate began.

> Latin: 60.2. feminas quoque metus ac necessitas in foro [ac] turbae uirorum immiscuerat. senatus summotis arbitris consuli coeptus.

[¶56] 60.3. Opinions differed. Some were for ransoming the prisoners at the public cost; others would have no money disbursed by the state, but would not prohibit ransoming at the expense of individuals, and to such as might not have the money in hand proposed to grant loans from the treasury, guarding the people against loss by taking sureties and mortgages.

> Latin: 60.3. ibi cum sententiis uariaretur et alii redimendos de publico, alii nullam publice impensam faciendam nec prohibendos ex priuato redimi; si quibus argentum in praesentia deesset, dandam ex aerario pecuniam mutuam praedibusque ac praediis cauendum populo censerent, tum T.

[¶57] 60.5. Then Titus Manlius Torquatus, a man of an old-fashioned and, as it seemed to many, a too harsh austerity, was called upon for his opinion and spoke as follows:

> Latin: 60.5. Manlius Torquatus, priscae ac nimis durae, ut plerisque uidebatur, seueritatis, interrogatus sententiam ita locutus fertur:

[¶58] 60.6. “If, in pleading the cause of those who are in the hands of our enemies, their representatives had been content to ask that they be ransomed, I should have said my say in a few words, without reflecting upon any of them; for what else need I have done than warn you to hold fast to the tradition of our fathers and teach a lesson necessary for military discipline?”

> Latin: 60.6. 'si tantummodo postulassent legati pro iis qui in hostium potestate sunt ut redimerentur, sine ullius insectatione eorum breui sententiam peregissem;

[¶59] 60.7. “But as it is, since they have almost boasted of having surrendered to the enemy, and have held that they are to be preferred not only to those who were captured by the enemy in battle, but also to those who made their way to Venusia and Canusium, and even to the consul, Gaius Terentius himself, I will not permit you to be ignorant, Conscript Fathers, of any part of their conduct there.”

> Latin: 60.7. quid enim aliud quam admonendi essetis ut morem traditum a patribus necessario ad rem militarem exemplo seruaretis? nunc autem, cum prope gloriati sint quod se hostibus dediderint, praeferrique non captis modo in acie ab hostibus sed etiam iis qui Uenusiam Canusiumque peruenerunt atque ipsi C. Terentio consuli aequum censuerint, nihil uos eorum, patres conscripti, quae illic acta sunt ignorare patiar.

[¶60] 60.8. “And I wish that what I am going to say to you I might say at Canusium in the presence of the army itself, the most competent witness to any man's cowardice or valour, or that Sempronius, at least, were with us here, whose leadership if yonder men had followed, they would to-day be soldiers in a Roman camp, not prisoners in the hands of our enemies.”

> Latin: 60.8. atque utinam haec, quae apud uos acturus sum, Canusii apud ipsum exercitum agerem, optimum testem ignauiae cuiusque et uirtutis, aut unus hic saltem adesset P. Sempronius, quem si isti ducem secuti essent, milites hodie in castris Romanis non captiui in hostium potestate essent.

[¶61] 60.9. “But when the enemy, worn out with fighting, and rejoicing in their victory, had themselves for the most part gone back to their own camp and left the night free for a sally; though seven thousand armed men could have forced their way even through a close array of foes, they neither attempted to do this of themselves, nor yet were willing to follow another.”

> Latin: 60.9. sed cum fessis pugnando hostibus, tum uictoria laetis et ipsis plerique regressis in castra sua, noctem ad erumpendum liberam habuissent et septem milia armatorum hominum erumpere etiam <per> confertos hostes possent, neque per se ipsi id facere conati sunt neque alium sequi uoluerunt.

[¶62] 60.10. “During almost all that night Publius Sempronius Tuditanus ceased not to admonish and exhort them to let him lead them, while only a few of their enemies were near the camp, while everything was hushed and still, while the darkness might afford a cover for their enterprise. Before daylight, he declared, they could reach a place of safety among the towns of the allies.”

> Latin: 60.10. nocte prope tota P. Sempronius Tuditanus non destitit monere, adhortari eos, dum paucitas hostium circa castra, dum quies ac silentium esset, dum nox inceptum tegere posset, se ducem sequerentur: ante lucem peruenire in tuta loca, in sociorum urbes posse.

[¶63] 60.11. “If he had said what, within the recollection of our grandsires, Publius Decius, tribune of the soldiers, said in Samnium; or what Marcus Calpurnius Flamma said, when we ourselves were young men, in the former Punic war, to three hundred volunteers whom he was leading to take a hill that rose in the very midst of the enemy: 'Soldiers, let us die, and by our death set free the beleaguered legions' —if ” “Publius Sempronius had said this, I should have deemed you no true men, to say nothing of Romans, if none had come forward to share so brave an exploit.”

> Latin: 60.11. si ut auorum memoria P. Decius tribunus militum in Samnio, si ut nobis adulescentibus priore Punico bello Calpurnius Flamma trecentis uoluntariis, cum ad tumulum eos capiendum situm inter medios duceret hostes, dixit "moriamur, milites, et morte nostra eripiamus ex obsidione circumuentas legiones", si hoc P. Sempronius diceret, nec uiros quidem nec Romanos uos duceret, si nemo tantae uirtutis exstitisset comes.

[¶64] 60.13. “But instead he points out to you a road that leads to safety as surely as to fame. He proposes to restore you to your country, to your parents, to your wives and children. You lack even the spirit to be saved! What would you do then if your country called on you to die?”

> Latin: 60.13. uiam non ad gloriam magis quam ad salutem ferentem demonstrat; reduces in patriam ad parentes, ad coniuges ac liberos facit. ut seruemini, deest uobis animus:

[¶65] 60.14. “Fifty thousand fellow Romans and allies lay slaughtered round you that very day. If so many brave examples could not move you, nothing ever will. If that dreadful carnage has not made life cheap, none ever will. Long for your country, whilst you are free and unattainted. Nay, rather, long for it whilst it is your country, whilst you are reckoned with its citizens.”

> Latin: 60.14. quid, si moriendum pro patria esset, faceretis? quinquaginta milia ciuium sociorumque circa uos eo ipso die caesa iacent. si tot exempla uirtutis non mouent, nihil unquam mouebit; si tanta clades uilem uitam non fecit, nulla faciet. liberi atque incolumes desiderate patriam;

[¶66] 60.15. “Too late now is your longing; you have forfeited your status, lost your civic rights, been made slaves of the Carthaginians. Do you think to return, for ransom, to that condition which you forfeited by cowardice and turpitude?”

> Latin: 60.15. immo desiderate, dum patria est, dum ciues eius estis. sero nunc desideratis, deminuti capite, [abalienati iure ciuium] serui Carthaginiensium facti.

[¶67] 60.16. “You would not listen to Publius Sempronius, your fellow citizen, when he bade you arm and follow him; but you listened to Hannibal a little later, when he bade you betray the camp and surrender your arms. But why do I charge these men with cowardice when I could bring against them a charge of crime?”

> Latin: 60.16. pretio redituri estis eo unde ignauia ac nequitia abistis? P. Sempronium ciuem uestrum non audistis arma capere ac sequi se iubentem; Hannibalem post paulo audistis castra prodi et arma tradi iubentem.

[¶68] 60.17. “For not only did they refuse to follow a man who gave them good advice, but they tried to thwart and hinder him; and those heroic men were forced to draw their swords and thrust the cowards from their path. Aye, Publius Sempronius must needs break through a band of Roman citizens before he could break through their enemies: Can their country wish to recover such citizens as these?”

> Latin: 60.17. quam<quam quid> ego ignauiam istorum accuso, cum scelus possim accusare? non modo enim sequi recusarunt bene monentem sed obsistere ac retinere conati sunt, ni strictis gladiis uiri fortissimi inertes summouissent. prius, inquam, P. Sempronio per ciuium agmen quam per hostium fuit erumpendum.

[¶69] 60.18. “If the others had resembled these, she would possess to-day no single citizen of all those who fought at Cannae. Out of seven thousand soldiers, six hundred were sufficiently courageous to force their way through and return to their country, free and armed.”

> Latin: 60.18. hos ciues patria desideret, quorum si ceteri similes fuissent, neminem hodie ex iis qui ad Cannas pugnauerunt ciuem haberet?

[¶70] 60.19. “Nor did these six hundred encounter any opposition from the enemy; how safe then, think you, would have been their march, if they had amounted almost to two legions?”

> Latin: 60.19. ex milibus septem armatorum sescenti exstiterunt qui erumpere auderent, qui in patriam liberi atque armati redirent, neque his sescentis hostes obstitere;

[¶71] 60.20. “You would have to-day under arms at Canusium, Conscript Fathers, twenty thousand brave and loyal men. But how can these men now be good and loyal citizens —for they themselves would hardly claim to be brave?”

> Latin: 60.20. quam tutum iter duarum prope legionum agmini futurum censetis fuisse? haberetis hodie uiginti milia armatorum Canusii fortia, fidelia, patres conscripti. nunc autem quemadmodum hi boni fidelesque—nam "fortes" ne ipsi quidem dixerint—ciues esse possunt?

[¶72] 60.21. “Unless we are to believe that they helped their comrades to sally out, when in fact they tried to prevent the sally; or that they grudge not those men both the safety and the renown their courage has earned them, knowing, as they do, that fear and cowardice are the cause of their own disgraceful servitude. They had a good chance of escaping in the silence of the night, but preferred to hide in their tents and await both the day and the enemy.”

> Latin: 60.21. nisi quis credere potest aut adfuisse erumpentibus qui, ne erumperent, obsistere conati sunt, aut non inuidere eos cum incolumitati, tum gloriae illorum per uirtutem partae, cum sibi timorem ignauiamque seruitutis ignominiosae causam esse sciant.

[¶73] 60.22. “But perhaps, though they lacked the courage to sally forth, they had courage enough for a valiant defence of the camp? Perhaps they were besieged for several days and nights, and protected the rampart with their swords, and themselves with the rampart?”

> Latin: 60.22. maluerunt in tentoriis latentes simul lucem atque hostem exspectare, cum silentio noctis erumpendi occasio esset. <at> ad erumpendum e castris defuit animus, ad tutanda fortiter castra animum habuerunt;

[¶74] 60.23. “and finally, after suffering the last extremities, when every support of life gave out and their strength was so impaired with hunger that they could now no longer hold up their shields, they were overcome by the necessities of human nature and not by arms?”

> Latin: 60.23. dies noctesque aliquot obsessi uallum armis, se ipsi tutati uallo sunt; tandem ultima ausi passique, cum omnia subsidia uitae deessent adfectisque fame uiribus arma iam sustinere nequirent, necessitatibus magis humanis quam armis uicti sunt.

[¶75] 60.24. “Nay, the sun was up when the enemy approached the rampart, and the day was not two hours old when, without once putting their fortune to the test of battle, they surrendered both their arms and their persons. Such, mark you, were the exploits these men performed during two days.”

> Latin: 60.24. orto sole ab hostibus ad uallum accessum; ante secundam horam, nullam fortunam certaminis experti, tradiderunt arma ac se ipsos. haec uobis istorum per biduum militia fuit.

[¶76] 60.25. “When they ought to have stood fast in the line and fought, they fled to their tents; when they ought to have fought for their stockade, they surrendered the camp, worthless alike in the field and behind entrenchments.”

> Latin: 60.25. cum in acie stare ac pugnare decuerat, [cum] in castra refugerunt; cum pro uallo pugnandum erat, castra tradiderunt, neque in acie neque in castris utiles.

[¶77] 60.26. “And you would have us ransom you? When it is time to sally from your camp, you hesitate and stop there; when it is needful that you stop and defend it with your swords, you hand over camp and swords and your own bodies to the enemy!”

> Latin: 60.26. et uos redimam? cum erumpere e castris oportet, cunctamini ac manetis; cum manere <et> castra tutari armis necesse est, et castra et arma et uos ipsos traditis hosti.

[¶78] 60.27. “No, Conscript Fathers, I would no more vote for ransoming these men than I would for giving those others up to Hannibal, who forced their way from the camp through the midst of enemies, and, by exerting the utmost valour, gave themselves back to their country.”

> Latin: 60.27. ego non magis istos redimendos, patres conscripti, censeo quam illos dedendos Hannibali qui per medios hostes e castris eruperunt ac per summam uirtutem se patriae restituerunt.'

[¶79] 61.1. After the speech of Manlius, though most of the senators, too, had relatives amongst the prisoners, yet, besides the example of a state which had shown from of old the scantiest consideration for prisoners of war, they were also moved by the greatness of the sum required, not wishing either to exhaust the treasury, on which they had already made a heavy draft to purchase slaves and arm them for service, or to furnish Hannibal with money —the one thing of which he was rumoured to stand most in need.

> Latin: 61.1. postquam Manlius dixit, quamquam patrum quoque plerosque captiui cognatione attingebant, praeter exemplum ciuitatis minime in captiuos iam inde antiquitus indulgentis, pecuniae quoque summa homines mouit, quia nec aerarium exhauriri, magna iam summa erogata in seruos ad militiam emendos armandosque, nec Hannibalem, maxime huiusce rei, ut fama erat, egentem, locupletari uolebant.

[¶80] 61.3. When the stern reply, that the prisoners would not be ransomed, had gone forth, and fresh sorrow had been added to the old, at the loss of so many of their fellow-citizens, the crowd attended the envoys to the gate with many tears and lamentations.

> Latin: 61.3. cum triste responsum non redimi captiuos redditum esset nouusque super ueterem luctus tot iactura ciuium adiectus esset, cum magnis fletibus questibus legatos ad portam prosecuti sunt.

[¶81] 61.4. One of them departed to his home, pretending to have freed himself from his oath when he deceitfully returned to the enemy's camp. As soon as this became known and was reported to the senators, they voted unanimously to arrest him and appointed guards to conduct him back to Hannibal.

> Latin: 61.4. unus ex iis domum abiit, quod fallaci reditu in castra iure iurando se exsoluisset. quod ubi innotuit relatumque ad senatum est, omnes censuerunt comprehendendum et custodibus publice datis deducendum ad Hannibalem esse. est et alia de captiuis fama:

[¶82] 61.5. There is also another accounts of the prisoners of war: that ten envoys came at first, and that the senate, after hesitating whether or no to admit them to the City, admitted them, with the proviso that they should have no hearing.

> Latin: 61.5. decem primos uenisse; de eis cum dubitatum in senatu esset admitterentur in urbem necne, ita admissos esse ne tamen iis senatus daretur;

[¶83] 61.6. Later, on their delaying longer than anybody had anticipated, three additional envoys came, namely Lucius Scribonius and Gaius Calpurnius and Lucius Manlius; then at last a motion was made in the senate by a kinsman of Scribonius, who was tribune of plebs, that the prisoners be ransomed, but the motion was defeated;

> Latin: 61.6. morantibus deinde longius omnium spe alios tres insuper legatos uenisse, L. Scribonium et C. Calpurnium et L. Manlium; tum demum ab cognato Scriboni tribuno plebis de redimendis captiuis relatum esse nec censuisse redimendos senatum;

[¶84] 61.7. the three new envoys now returned to Hannibal, but the original ten remained in Rome, alleging that they had freed themselves of their obligation by going back to Hannibal's camp, after starting on their journey, under the pretext of reviewing the prisoners' names.

> Latin: 61.7. et nouos legatos tres ad Hannibalem reuertisse, decem ueteres remansisse, quod per causam recognoscendi nomina captiuorum ad Hannibalem ex itinere regressi religione sese exsoluissent;

[¶85] 61.8. A proposal to surrender them was hotly debated in the senate and was lost by only a few votes.

> Latin: 61.8. de iis dedendis magna contentione actum in senatu esse uictosque paucis sententiis qui dedendos censuerint;

[¶86] 61.9. However, under the next censors the ten were so overwhelmed with every species of reprobation and disgrace that some of them killed themselves forthwith, and the rest during all the remainder of their lives avoided not only the Forum, but, one might almost say, the light of day and the public streets.

> Latin: 61.9. ceterum proximis censoribus adeo omnibus notis ignominiisque confectos esse ut quidam eorum mortem sibi ipsi extemplo consciuerint, ceteri non foro solum omni deinde uita sed prope luce ac publico caruerint.

[¶87] 61.10. It is more amazing that the authorities should be so divergent than easy to make out the truth. For the rest, how greatly this disaster exceeded those that had gone before is plain from this: the loyalty of the allies, which had held firm until the day of Cannae, now began to waver, assuredly for no other reason than because they had lost all hope of the empire.

> Latin: 61.10. mirari magis adeo discrepare inter auctores quam quid ueri sit discernere queas. quanto autem maior ea clades superioribus cladibus fuerit uel ea res indicio <est quod fides socio>rum, quae ad eam diem firma steterat, tum labare coepit nulla profecto alia de re quam quod desperauerant de imperio.

[¶88] 61.11. Now these are the peoples that revolted: the Campanians, the Atellani, the Calatini, the Hirpini, a part of the Apulians, all the Samnites but the Pentri, all the Bruttii, the Lucanians, and besides these the Uzentini and almost all the Greeks on the coast, the Tarentines, the Metapontines, the Crotoniates and the Locri, together with all the Cisalpine Gauls.

> Latin: 61.11. defecere autem ad Poenos hi populi: Atellani, Calatini, Hirpini, Apulorum pars, Samnites praeter Pentros, Bruttii omnes, Lucani, praeter hos Uzentini, et Graecorum omnis ferme ora, Tarentini, Metapontini, Crotonienses Locrique, et Cisalpini omnes Galli.

[¶89] 61.13. Yet these disasters and the falling away of the allies could not induce the Romans anywhere to mention peace, either before the consul came to Rome or after his coming had turned men's thoughts anew to the calamity which they had suffered.

> Latin: 61.13. nec tamen eae clades defectionesque sociorum mouerunt ut pacis usquam mentio apud Romanos fieret neque ante consulis Romam aduentum nec postquam is rediit renouauitque memoriam acceptae cladis;

[¶90] 61.14. In that very hour there was such courage in the hearts of the citizens that when the consul was returning from that defeat for which he himself had been chiefly responsible, a crowd of all sorts and conditions went out to meet him on the way, and gave him thanks because he had not despaired of the state;

> Latin: 61.14. quo in tempore ipso adeo magno animo ciuitas fuit ut consuli ex tanta clade, cuius ipse causa maxima fuisset, redeunti et obuiam itum frequenter ab omnibus ordinibus sit et gratiae actae quod de re publica non desperasset;

[¶91] 61.15. whereas, had he been the commander of the Carthaginians, there was no punishment he would not have been compelled to suffer.

> Latin: 61.15. qui si Carthaginiensium ductor fuisset, nihil recusandum supplicii foret.