to suffer death. What greater outrage could have been committed had Capua been captured? Go out to meet Hannibal, decorate your city to the utmost, consecrate the day of his arrival, that you may behold this triumph over a fellow-citizen." As the populace seemed to be excited by him, vociferating these things, his head was covered, and he was ordered to be dragged away more speedily without the gate. Having been thus brought to the camp, he was immediately put on board a ship and sent to Carthage, lest if any commotion should arise at Capua on account of the injustice of the proceeding, the senate also should repent of having given up a leading citizen; and lest if an embassy were sent to request his restoration, he must either offend his new allies by refusing their first petition, or, by granting it, be compelled to retain at Capua a promoter of sedition and disturbance. A tempest drove the vessel to Cyrenæ, which was at that time under the dominion of kings. Here flying for refuge to the statue of king Ptolemy, he was conveyed thence in custody to Alexandria to Ptolemy; and having instructed him that he had been thrown into chains by Hannibal, contrary to the law of treaties, he was liberated and allowed to return to whichever place he pleased, Rome or Capua. But Magius said, that Capua would not be a safe place for him, and that Rome, at a time when there was war between the Romans and Capuans, would be rather the residence of a deserter than a guest. That there was no place that he should rather dwell in, than in the dominions of him whom he esteemed an avenger and the protector of his liberty.

11. While these things were carrying on, Quintus Fabius Pictor, the ambassador, returned from Delphi to Rome, and read the response of the oracle from a written copy. In it both the gods were mentioned, and in what manner supplication should be made. It then stated, "If you do thus, Romans, your affairs will be more prosperous and less perplexed; your state will proceed more agreeably to your wishes; and the victory in the war will be on the side of the Roman people. After that your state shall have been restored to prosperity and safety, send a present to the Pythian Apollo out of the gains you have earned, and pay honours to him out of the plunder, the booty, and the spoils. Banish licentiousness from among you."

Having read aloud these words, translated from the Greek verse, he added, that immediately on his departure from the oracle, he had paid divine honours to all these deities with wine and frankincense; and that he was ordered by the chief priest of the temple, that, as he had approached the oracle and performed the sacred ceremonies decorated with a laurel crown, so he should embark wearing the crown, and not put it off till he had arrived at Rome. That he had executed all these injunctions with the most scrupulous exactness and diligence, and had deposited the garland on the altar of Apollo at Rome. The senate decreed that the sacred ceremonies and supplications enjoined should be carefully performed with all possible expedition. During these events at Rome and in Italy, Mago, the son of Hamilcar, had arrived at Carthage with the intelligence of the victory at Cannæ. He was not sent direct from the field of battle by his brother, but was detained some days in receiving the submission of such states of the Bruttii as were in revolt. Having obtained an audience of the senate he gave a full statement of his brother's exploits in Italy: "That he had fought pitched battles with six generals, four of whom were consuls, two a dictator and master of the horse, with six consular armies; that he had slain above two hundred thousand of the enemy, and captured above fifty thousand. That out of the four consuls he had slain two; of the two remaining, one was wounded, the other, having lost his whole army, had fled from the field with scarcely fifty men ; that the master of the horse, an authority equal to that of consul, had been routed and put to flight; that the dictator, because he had never engaged in a pitched battle, was esteemed a matchless general; that the Bruttii, the Apulians, part of the Samnites and of the Lucanians had revolted to the Carthaginians. That Capua, which was the capital not only of Campania, but after the ruin of the Roman power by the battle of Cannæ, of Italy also, had delivered itself over to Hannibal. That in return for these so many and so great victories, gratitude ought assuredly to be felt and thanks returned to the immortal gods."

12. Then, in proof of this such joyful news, he ordered the golden rings to be poured out in the vestibule of the senate-house, of which there was such a heap that some have taken upon themselves to say that on being measured they

filled three pecks and a half. The statement has obtained and is more like the truth, that there were not more than a peck. He then added, by way of explanation, to prove the greater extent of the slaughter, that none but knights, and of these the principal only, wore that ornament. The main drift of his speech was, "that the nearer the prospect was of bringing the war to a conclusion, the more should Hannibal be aided by every means, for that the seat of war was at a long distance from home and in the heart of the enemy's country. That a great quantity of corn was consumed and money expended; and that so many pitched battles, as they had annihilated the armies of the enemy, had also in some degree diminished the forces of the victor. That a reinforcement therefore ought to be sent; and money for the pay, and corn for the soldiers, who had deserved so well of the Carthaginian name." After this speech of Mago's, all being elated with joy, Himilco, a member of the Barcine faction, conceiving this a good opportunity for inveighing against Hanno, said to him, "What think you now, Hanno? do you now also regret that the war against the Romans was entered upon? Now urge that Hannibal should be given up; yes, forbid the rendering of thanks to the immortal gods amidst such successes; let us hear a Roman senator in the senate-house of the Carthaginians." Upon which Hanno replied, "I should have remained silent this day, conscript fathers, lest, amid the general joy, I should utter any thing which might be too gloomy for you. But now, to a senator, asking whether I still regret the undertaking of the war against the Romans, if I should forbear to speak, I should seem either arrogant or servile, the former of which is the part of a man who is forgetful of the independence of others, the latter of his own. I may answer therefore to Himilco, that I have not ceased to regret the war, nor shall I cease to censure your invincible general until I see the war concluded on some tolerable terms; nor will any thing except a new peace put a period to my regret for the loss of the old one. Accordingly those achievements, which Mago has so boastingly recounted, are a source of present joy to Himilco and the other adherents of Hannibal; to me they may become so; because successes in war, if we have a mind to make the best use of fortune, will afford us a peace on more equitable terms; for if we allow this opportunity to pass by, on which

we have it in our power to appear to dictate rather than to receive terms of peace, I fear lest even this our joy should run into excess, and in the end prove groundless. However, let us see of what kind it is even now. I have slain the armies of the enemy, send me soldiers. What else would you ask if you had been conquered? I have captured two of the enemy's camps, full, of course, of booty and provisions; supply me with corn and money. What else would you ask had you been plundered and stripped of your camp? And that I may not be the only person perplexed, I could wish that either Himilco or Mago would answer me, for it is just and fair that I also should put a question, since I have answered Himilco. Since the battle at Cannæ annihilated the Roman power, and it is a fact that all Italy is in a state of revolt; in the first place, has any one people of the Latin confederacy come over to us? In the next place, has any individual of the five and thirty tribes deserted to Hannibal?" When Mago had answered both these questions in the negative, he continued: "there remains then still too large a body of the enemy. But I should be glad to know what degree of spirit and hope that body possesses."

13. Mago declaring that he did not know; "Nothing," said he, "is easier to be known. Have the Romans sent any ambassadors to Hannibal to treat of peace? Have you, in short, ever heard that any mention has been made of peace at Rome?" On his answering these questions also in the negative: "We have upon our hands then, said he, a war as entire as we had on the day on which Hannibal crossed over into Italy. There are a great many of us alive now who remember how fluctuating the success was in the former Punic war. At no time did our affairs appear in so prosperous a condition as they did before the consulship of Caius Lutatius and Aulus Posthumius. In the consulship of Caius Lutatius and Aulus Posthumius we were completely conquered at the islands Ægates. But if now, as well as then, (oh! may the gods avert the omen!) fortune should take any turn, do you hope to obtain that peace when we shall be vanquished which no one is willing to grant now we are victorious. I have an opinion which I should express if any one should advise with me on the subject of proffering or accepting terms of peace with the enemy; but with respect to the supplies requested

by Mago, I do not think there is any necessity to send them to a victorious army; and I give it as my opinion that they should far less be sent to them, if they are deluding us by groundless and empty hopes." But few were influenced by the harangue of Hanno, for both the jealousy which he entertained towards the Barcine family, made him a less weighty authority; and men's minds being taken up with the present exultation, would listen to nothing by which their joy could be made more groundless, but felt convinced, that if they should make a little additional exertion the war might be speedily terminated. Accordingly a decree of the senate was made with very general approbation, that four thousand Numidians should be sent as a reinforcement to Hannibal, with four hundred elephants and many talents of silver. Moreover, the dictator was sent forward into Spain with Mago to hire twenty thousand foot and four thousand horse, to recruit the armies in Italy and Spain.

14. But these resolutions, as generally happens in the season of prosperity, were executed in a leisurely and slothful manner. The Romans, in addition to their inborn activity of mind, were prevented from delaying by the posture of their affairs. For the consul was not wanting in any business which was to be done by him; and the dictator, Marcus Junius Pera, after the sacred ceremonies were concluded, and after having, as is usual, proposed to the people that he might be allowed to mount his horse; besides the two legions which had been enlisted by the consuls in the beginning of the year, and besides the cohorts collected out of the Picenian and Gallic territories, descended to that last resort of the state when almost despaired of, and when propriety gives place to utility, and made proclamation, that of such persons as had been guilty of capital crimes or were in prison on judgment for debt, those who would serve as soldiers with him, he would order to be released from their liability to punishment and their debts. These six thousand he armed with the Gallic spoils which were carried in the procession at the triumph of Caius Flaminius. Thus he marched from the city at the head of twenty-five thousand men. Hannibal, after gaining Capua, made a second fruitless attempt upon the minds of the Neapolitans, partly by fear and partly by hope; and then marched his troops across into the territory of Nola: