the same degree of reso- BOOK effectual care that his XXVII. on should be short." At Y.R.542. for the past was great, so B.C. 210. ture. The consul, passing Lucania, pitched his camp ound, within view of Hana hill. He gave, besides, ence in his own strength, offer battle. Nor did Hanndards advance through the enge. However, they drew h a manner, that the right ans stretched up the hill, and Romans was brought close to third hour, the action had d the fatigue of fighting for had overpowered the foremost he side of the Romans, of the ight wing of allies; on Han› Spanish infantry, Balearick hants, which, at the beginning had been brought into the field. lagged for a considerable time, 3 gained any advantage, when anced into the place of the first, the allies into that of the right; emy, likewise, the wearied were troops. On this, both parties and vigour, instead of the former rious conflict at once arose; but > combatants before the victory Next morning, the Romans attle, from sunrise, during a great d none of the enemy coming out ered the spoils at their leisure, bodies of their slain into one spot, H A Cneius Fulvius, to amount to on BOOK JCH was t XXVII. SUCH BOOK on the name of Fulvios, he assured them, that, as after many of the Romans had fallen, in the c II. Marcellus, not too much dismayed by so gre gainst him, with the same degree of reso- BOOK Samnium into Lucania, pitched his camp 1. 1. THE HISTORY OF ROME. BOOK BOOK XXVII. Cneius Fulvius, proconsul, defeated by Hannibal, and slain: the consul, Claudius Marcellus, engages him, with better success. Hannibal, raising his camp, retires; Marcellus pursues, and forces him to an engagement. They fight twice: in the first battle Hannibal gains the advantage; in the second, Marcellus. Tarentum betrayed to Fabius Maximus, the consul. Scipio engages with Hasdrubal, the son of Hamilcar, at Batula, in Spain, and defeats him. Among other prisoners, a youth of royal race, and exquisite beauty, is taken; Scipio sets him free, and sends him, enriched with magnificent presents, to his uncle Masinissa. Marcellus and Quintus Crispinus, consuls, drawn into an ambuscade by Hannibal: Marcellus is slain; Crispinus escapes. Operations by Publius Sulpicius, prætor, against Philip and the Achæans. A census held: the number of citizens found to amount to one hundred and thirty-seven thousand one hundred and eight: from which it appears how great a loss they had sustained by the number of unsuccessful battles they had of late been engaged in. Hasdrubal, who had crossed the Alps with a reinforcement for Hannibal, defeated by the consuls Marcus Livius and Claudius Nero, and slain; with him fell fifty-six thousand men. VIK SUCH was the state of affairs in Spain. In XXVII. Italy, the consul Marcellus, after regaining Y.R.542. possession of Salapia, which was betrayed into his B.C. 210. hands, took, by storm, Maronea and Meles, cities belonging to the Samnites. He made prisoners BOOK three thousand of Hannibal's soldiers, left in garri- XXVII. son; the booty, which was considerable, was given Y.R.542. up to the soldiers: Here were found, also, two B.C.210. hundred and forty thousand pecks of wheat, and one hundred and ten thousand of barley. But the joy occasioned hereby was much less than the grief felt for an overthrow a few days after, near the city of Herdonea. Cneius Fulvius, proconsul, lay there encamped, in hopes of recovering that city, which, after the defeat at Cannæ, had revolted from the Romans; but his post was neither strong by nature, nor secured by proper guards. The negligence natural to that commander's disposition was increased by perceiving that the inhabitants, as soon as they heard that Hannibal, after the loss of Salapia, had withdrawn from that part of the country into Bruttium, began to waver in their attachment to the Carthaginians. Intelligence of all these particulars was conveyed to Hannibal by private messengers from Herdonea; and, while it made him anxious to preserve an allied city, at the same time inspired hopes of attacking the enemy unprepared. With his troops, therefore, lightly equipped for expedition, he hastened to Herdonea by such long marches, that he almost anticipated the report of his approach; and, to strike the greater terror, he advanced in order of battle. The Roman commander, fully equal to him in boldness, but inferior in judgment and strength, hastily led out his forces, and engaged him. The fifth legion, and the left wing of allied infantry, commenced the fight with vigour. But Hannibal gave directions to his cavalry, that, as soon as the lines of infantry should have their thoughts and eyes entirely occupied on the contest between themselves, they should ride round; that one half of them should fall on the enemy's camp, and the other on the rear |