informer could name only one of the conspirators, Theodotus, by whom himself had been sounded on the subject. This man being instantly seized, and delivered to Andranodorus to be put to the torture, without hesitation confessed himself guilty, but still concealed his accomplices. At last, being racked, beyond what human patience could endure, he pretended to be overcome by his sufferings; but, instead of making discovery of the plotters, he pointed his informations against persons who had no concern in the business, telling a feigned story, that Thraso was the author of the conspiracy, and that the others would never have entered on any attempt of such importance, had they not been induced to it by their trust in so powerful a leader; naming, at the same time, those who, while he framed his account in the intervals between his agonies and groans, occurred to him as the most worthless among Hieronymus's intimates. The mention of Thraso, beyond every other circumstance, made the tyrant think the information deserving of belief. He was therefore instantly consigned to punishment, and the rest, who had been named equally guiltless of the crime, underwent the like fate. Not one of the conspirators, though their associate in the plot was kept for a long time under the torture, either concealed himself or fled: so great was their confidence in the fortitude and fidelity of Theodotus; and which, indeed, were fully approved

in him.

VI. The only bond which preserved the connexion with Rome being now dissolved by the removal of Thraso, immediately there appeared a manifest intention of siding with the opposite party. Ambassadors were despatched to Hannibal, who sent back a young man of noble birth, called Hannibal, and with him Hippocrates and Epicydes, who were born at Carthage, but derived their extraction originally from Syracuse, whence their grandfather had been banished; by the mother's side, they were Carthaginians. By their means, a treaty was formed between Hannibal and the tyrant VOL. III.-Z

of Syracuse; and, with the approbation of the Carthaginian, they remained with the latter. The prætor, Appius Claudius, whose province Sicily was, on being acquainted with these transactions, sent, immediately, ambassadors to Hieronymus, who, telling him that they were come to renew the alliance which had subsisted with his grandfather, were heard and dismissed with derision; Hieronymus asking them, with a sneer, "what had been the event of the battle of Cannæ? for Hannibal's ambassador's told things scarcely credible. He wished," he said, " to know the truth, that he might thereby determine which side offered the fairest prospect to his choice." The Romans told him, that, when he began to listen to embassies with seriousness, they would return to Syracuse; and, after admonishing, rather than requesting him, not to violate faith rashly, they departed. Hieronymus despatched commissioners to Carthage, to conclude an alliance conformable to the treaty with Hannibal; and it was finally agreed, that when they should have expelled the Romans from Sicily, which, he said, would speedily be effected if they sent ships and an army, the river Himera, which nearly divides the island into two parts, should be the boundary between the dominions of Syracuse and those of Carthage. Afterwards, puffed up by the flatteries of people who desired him to remember, not only Hiero, but also his grandfather on his mother's side, king Pyrrhus, he sent another embassy, representing that he thought it reasonable that Sicily should be entirely ceded to him, and that the dominion of Italy should be acquired for the people of Carthage, as an empire of their own. This fickleness and unsteadiness of mind, they, considering him as a hot-brained youth, did not wonder at; nor did they enter into any dispute on it, content with detaching him from the party of the Romans.

VII. But, on his side, every circumstance concurred to precipitate his ruin; for, after sending before him Hippocrates and Epicydes with two thousand soldiers, to endea

vour to get possession of those cities which were held by Roman garrisons, he himself, with all the rest of his forces, amounting to fifteen thousand horse and foot, marched to Leontini. Here the conspirators, every one of whom happened to be in the army, posted themselves in an uninhabited house, standing in a narrow lane, through which Hieronymus used to pass to the Forum. While the rest stood here, armed and prepared for action, waiting for his coming up, one of their number, whose name was Dinomenes, and being of the body-guards, had it in charge, that, as soon as the king drew near the door, he should, on some pretence, in the narrow pass, stop the crowd behind from advancing. All was executed as had been concerted. Dinomenes, by stretching out his foot, as if to loosen a knot which was too tight, arrested the people, and occasioned such an opening, that the king, being attacked as he was passing by without his armed followers, was pierced with several wounds, before assistance could be given him. Some, on hearing the shout and tumult, discharged their weapons at Dinomenes, who now openly opposed their passing; notwithstanding which, he escaped with only two wounds. However, seeing the king stretched on the ground, they betook themselves to flight. Of the conspirators, some repaired to the Forum to the populace, who were overjoyed at the recovery of liberty; others proceeded to Syracuse, to take the requisite precautions against the purposes of Andranodorus and other partisans of the king. Affairs being in this unsettled state, Appius Claudius, when he observed the storm gathering in his neighbourhood, informed the senate by letter, that all Sicily favoured the people of Carthage and Hannibal. On his part, in order to counteract the designs of the Syracusans, he drew all his troops to the frontiers between that kingdom and his own province. Towards the close of this year, Quintus Fabius, by direction of the senate, fortified, Puteoli, which, during the war, began to be much frequented as a place of trade, and placed a garrison

in it. Going thence to Rome to hold the elections, he issued a proclamation for the assembly, on the first day on which it could properly meet; and, passing by the city without stopping, went down to the field of Mars. On this day, the lot of giving the first vote fell to a younger century of the Anien tribe, and this having nominated Titus Otacilius and Marcus Emilius Regillus consuls, Quintus Fabius commanded silence, and spoke to this effect:

VIII. "If either we had peace in Italy, or had to deal with such an enemy as would allow of any remissness on our side, I should deem that man deficient in proper respect to your independent rights, who attempted to throw any obstacle in the way of those inclinations, which you bring with you into the field of election, with the purpose of conferring the high offices of the state on persons of your own choice. But when you consider that the present war is of such a nature, and the conduct of our present enemy such, that none of our commanders has ever committed an error which has not been followed by most disastrous consequences, it behoves you to come hither to give your suffrages with the same careful circumspection with which you go out in arms to the field of battle; and every one ought thus to say to himself: 'I am to nominate a consul qualified to vie with Hannibal in the art of war.' In the present year, at Capua, on the challenge of Jubellius Taurea, the completest horseman among the Campanians, we sent against him Claudius Asellus, the completest horseman among the Romans. Against a Gaul, who at a former time pronounced a challenge on the bridge of the Anio, our ancestors sent Titus Manlius, a man abundantly furnished both with strength and courage. I cannot deny that there was the same reason for placing every degree of confidence a few years after, in Marcus Valerius, when he took arms for the combat against a Gaul, who gave a similar defiance. Now, as, in selecting foot soldiers and horsemen, we endeavour to find such as are superior, or, if that cannot

be effected, equal in strength to their antagonists; let us, in like manner, look out for a commander equal to the general of the enemy. When we shall have chosen the man of the most consummate abilities in the nation, yet still, being elected at the moment, and appointed but for one year, he will be matched against another invested with a command of long and uninterrupted continuance, not confined by any narrow limitations either of time or of authority, or which might hinder him to conduct and execute every measure according to the exigencies of the war; whereas with us, before we have well completed our preparatory operations, and when we are just entering on business, our year expires. I need say no more concerning the qualifications of the persons whom you ought to elect consul; I shall therefore only add a few observations respecting those whom the prerogative century has made the objects of its favour. Marcus Æmilius Regillus is flamen of Quirinus, consequently we could neither send him abroad from his sacred employment, nor keep him at home, without neglecting, in one case, the business of the war, or in the other, that of religion. Otacilius is married to a daughter of my sister, and has children by her. Nevertheless, I am too sensible of the obligations which I and my ancestors owe to your kindness, not to prefer the interest of the public to that of any private connexions. In a calm sea, any mariner, even a passenger, can steer the vessel; but when a furious storm arises, putting the sea into violent agitation, and the ship is hurried away by the tempest, then a pilot of skill and resolution becomes necessary. We sail not in a calm, but have already been very near foundering in several storms; you must, therefore, be careful to use the utmost prudence and caution with respect to the person whom you place at the helm. Titus Otacilius, we have had a trial of you in a less. important business: you gave us no proof that we ought to confide in you for the management of affairs of greater moment. We fitted out, this year, a fleet, of which you had the