Ea intromissa legio erat, iussu proconsulis aperta est. 7 una et duae alae cum C. Fulvio legato. primum arma telaque quae Capuae erant ad se conferenda curasset, custodiis ad omnes portas dispositis, ne quis exire aut emitti posset, praesidium Punicum conprehendit, senatum Campanum ire in castra ad imperatores 8 Romanos iussit. Quo cum venissent, extemplo iis omnibus catenae iniectae, iussique ad quaestores deferre quod auri atque argenti haberent. Auri pondo duo milia septuaginta fuit, argenti triginta milia pondo et mille ducenta. 9 Senatores quinque et viginti Cales in custodiam, duodetriginta Teanum missi, quorum de sententia maxime descitum ab Romanis constabat. Book XXVII Battle of the Metaurus River I 43. Inter haec ab Hasdrubale, postquam a Placentiae 207 obsidione abscessit, quattuor Galli equites, duo Numidae B.C. deferre: to report.—auri . . . fuit : the singular verb may be explained by supplying a subject pondus (weight) and taking pondo (pounds) as ablative. The indeclinable noun pondo is elsewhere used more simply as a nom. plural with a plural verb. The gold pound was worth about $225, the silver pound about $15.— mille : this separation of the smaller number of thousands is unusual. 9. Cales . . . Teanum: these two towns had remained loyal to Rome. cum litteris missi ad Hannibalem cum per medios hostes totam ferme longitudinem Italiae emensi essent, dum Meta- 2 pontum cedentem Hannibalem sequuntur, incertis itineribus Tarentum delati a vagis per agros pabulatoribus Romanis ad Q. Claudium propraetorem deducuntur. Eum 3 primo incertis inplicantes responsis, ut metus tormentorum admotus fateri vera coegit, edocuerunt litteras se ab Hasdrubale ad Hannibalem ferre. Cum iis litteris sicut erant 4 signatis L. Verginio tribuno militum ducendi ad Clau 43. 1. inter haec: since the fall of Capua, Hannibal had remained in southern Italy; he won several battles against Roman generals, but, on the whole, accomplished little, and his position was weakened by the loss of Tarentum in 209. His brother Hasdrubal, having been defeated in Spain by Scipio at the battle of Baecula in 208, marched rapidly through Gaul and over the Alps into Italy. ab Hasdrubale: this phrase in its conspicuous position serves to transfer the scene from southern to northern Italy. -a Placentiae obsidione: he had attempted to take the place by storm; he had not time for a long siege, as he was anxious to join Hannibal at the earliest possible moment. cum for the position of the conjunction see on 21, 34, 4. 2. Metapontum : Hannibal had been recently defeated by the consul, C. Claudius Nero, near Grumentum in Lucania. From there he escaped to Venusia and thence to Metapontum. Having sent a recruiting force from there into Bruttium, he himself returned to Venusia, and then proceeded to Canusium in Apulia. In all these movements he was followed by the Roman consul. incertis itineribus: i.e. they were easily deceived because of their ignorance of the road. Tarentum: now held by the Romans; see on 26, 12, 14.— Romanis connect with a 5 dium consulem traduntur; duae simul turmae Samnitium praesidi causa missae. Qui ubi ad consulem pervenerunt litteraeque lectae per interpretem sunt et ex captivis per6 cunctatio facta, tum Claudius non id tempus esse rei publicae ratus, quo consiliis ordinariis provinciae suae quisque finibus per exercitus suos cum hoste destinato ab senatu 7 bellum gereret: audendum ac novandum aliquid inprovisum, inopinatum, quod coeptum non minorem apud cives quam hostes terrorem faceret, perpetratum in magnam 8 laetitiam ex magno metu verteret; litteris Hasdrubalis Romam ad senatum missis simul et ipse patres conscriptos quid pararet edocet: ut, cum in Vmbria se occursu9 rum Hasdrubal fratri scribat, legionem a Capua Romam arcessant, dilectum Romae habeant, exercitum urbanum 10 ad Narniam hosti opponant. Haec senatu scripta. Prae 6. Claudius subject of edocet in § 8.- provinciae connect with finibus. 27, 35, 10 provinciae iis non permixtae regionibus, sicut superioribus annis, sed diversae extremis Italiae finibus, alteri adversus Hannibalem Bruttii, Lucani, alteri Gallia adversus Hasdrubalem, quem iam Alpibus adpropinquare fama erat, decreta. 27, 38, 9 senatus liberam potestatem consulibus fecit et supplendi unde vellent, et eligendi de omnibus exercitibus quos vellent permutandique et ex provinciis quo e re publica censerent esse traducendi. Ordinarily the magistrate or general was not allowed to leave his province without special permission.- gereret: subj. of characteristic. 7. novandum : originated. verteret transitive; sc. cives. 8. simul et ipse: i.e. he sent a letter of his own at the same time, setting forth his plan. patres conscriptos: regularly used in direct address, but occasionally, as here, where there is reference to a direct address; 10, 45, 5 obtestabantur patres conscriptos; 22, 37, 4 patres conscriptos orare; 30, 42, 14 monendo patres conscriptos. - pararet: for the tense see on I, 28, 1.- edocet: introducing the ind. quest. and, in a somewhat different sense, the following object clauses. fratri: connect with occursurum and scribat. missi item per agrum Larinatem, Marrucinum, Frentanum, Praetutianum, qua exercitum ducturus erat, ut omnes ex agris urbibusque commeatus paratos militi ad vescendum in viam deferrent, equos iumentaque alia producerent, ut vehiculorum fessis copia esset. Ipse de toto exercitu 11 civium sociorumque quod roboris erat delegit, sex milia peditum, mille equites; pronuntiat occupare se in Lucanis proximam urbem Punicumque in ea praesidium velle: ut ad iter parati omnes essent. Profectus nocte flexit in Picenum. 12 Et consul quidem quantis maximis itineribus poterat ad collegam ducebat, relicto Q. Catio legato qui castris praeesset. 44. Romae haud minus terroris ac tumultus erat quam I fuerat biennio ante, cum castra Punica obiecta Romanis was to be sent with the new levy into Umbria. The object was to protect Rome if Hasdrubal should succeed in forcing his way through. 10: senatu: for this dat. form cf. 7, 2, 7.- praemissi: sc. sunt; messengers were sent ahead to announce. - Larinatem Praetutianum: another instance of Livy's geographical carelessness (see on 9, 19, 4); Larinum is included in the territory of the Frentani; the Marrucini, moreover, lived north of the Frentani. The Praetutii occupied the southern part of Picenum. Sil. Ital. 15, 568 mentions these places in the same order, following Livy or Livy's source, who was probably Coelius. - ducturus erat: sc. Claudius. paratos: i.e. all ready to be eaten. -alia: see on 21, 27, 5. The moenibus portisque fuerant. Neque satis constabat animis, tam audax iter consulis laudarent vituperarentne; adparebat, quo nihil iniquius est, ex eventu famam habiturum : 2 castra prope Hannibalem hostem relicta sine duce, cum exercitu, cui detractum foret omne quod roboris, quod floris fuerit, et consulem in Lucanos ostendisse iter, cum 3 Picenum et Galliam peteret, castra relinquentem nulla alia re tutiora quam errore hostis, qui ducem inde atque exerci4 tus partem abesse ignoraret. Quid futurum, si id palam fiat, et aut insequi Neronem cum sex milibus armatorum profectum Hannibal toto exercitu velit aut castra invadere praedae relicta sine viribus, sine imperio, sine auspicio? years before. fuerant: a statement of fact rather than a mere expression of time; hence the indicative. The use of the plup. instead of the imperf. is justified by the fact that the writer retains the same point of view, i.e. the year 207, and does not allow the tense to be affected by the preceding fuerat. — animis: cf. 30, 28, I nec satis certum constare apud animos poterat. — vituperarentne : double indirect questions, with -ne only in the second member are very rare; 2, 40, 5 sciam . . captiva materne in castris tuis sim; 5, 28, 5 in incerto fuerit . . . vicissent victine essent; 27, 47, 3. In the following sections four reasons for fear are given, the dangerous position of Nero's army (§§ 2-4), the increased danger to Italy, due to the arrival of another general and another army (§ 5), the great ability of Hasdrubal |