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ut eum motum terræ, qui multarum urbium Italiæ magnas U. C. 537. partes prostravit, avertitque cursu rapidos amnes, mare A. C. 217. fluminibus invexit, montes lapsu ingenti proruit, nemo pugnantium senserit.

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Tres ferme horas pugnatum est, et ubique atrociter. Circa consulem tamen acrior infestiorque' pugna est. Eum et robora virorum sequebantur, et ipse, quacunque in parte premi ac laborare senserat suos, impigre ferebat opem; insignemque armis et hostes summa vi petebant, et tuebantur cives: donec Insuber eques (Ducario nomen erat) facie quoque noscitans', 'Consul, en,' inquit, 'hic est,' popularibus suis,qui legiones nostras cecidit, agrosque et urbem est depopulatus. Jam ego hanc victimam Manibus perempto'rum foede civium dabo:' subditisque calcaribus equo, per confertissimam hostium turbam impetum facit: obtruncatoque prius armigero, qui se infesto venienti obviam objecerat, consulem lancea transfixit. Spoliare cupientem triarii objectis scutis arcuere. Magnæ partis fuga inde primum cœpit et jam nec lacus, nec montes obstabant pavori. Per omnia arta præruptaque velut cæci evadunt: armaque et viri super alium alii præcipitantur. Pars magna, ubi locus fugæ deest, per prima vada paludis in aquam progressi, quoad capitibus humerisque exstare possunt, sese immergunt. Fuere, quos inconsultus pavor nando etiam capessere fugam impulerit. Quæ ubi immensa ac sine spe' erat, aut deficientibus animis hauriebantur gurgitibus, aut nequicquam fessi vada retro ægerrime repetebant, atque ibi ab ingressis aquam hostium equitibus passim trucidabantur. Sex millia ferme primi agminis, per adversos hostes eruptione impigre facta, ignari omnium, quæ post se agerentur, ex saltu evasere. Et, quum in tumulo quodam constitissent', cla

down mountains with a heavy crash,
not one of the combatants felt."

And such the storm of battle on this day,
And such the frenzy, whose convulsion blinds
To all save carnage, that, beneath the fray,
An earthquake reel'd unheededly away!
None felt stern Nature rocking at his feet,

And yawning forth a grave for those who lay

Upon their bucklers for a winding-sheet:
Such the absorbing hate when warring nations
meet!
Childe Harold, iv. 63.

1 Acrior infestiorque.] "More fierce and deadly."

2 Insuber-facie-noscitans.] Because Flaminius had commanded against them in his former Consul

ship'Inde primum-jam.]

"From that moment the rout began, and thenceforth," &c.

4 Omnia arta præruptaque.]
"Every defile and precipice."
5 Prima vada.]
"The nearest
shallows."

6 Quæ ubi immensa ac sine spe
&c.] "And when this proved end-
less and hopeless, they were either
overwhelmed in the water, as their
courage (or strength) failed; or,
after having in vain exhausted them-
selves (fessi mid. voice), made their
way back with difficulty to the
shallows, and there they were
slaughtered indiscriminately by the
enemy's cavalry," &c.

7 Et, quum in tumulo quodam constitissent.] "And, though they took up a position on a rising ground, as they could only hear the sound of

6.

A. C. 217.

U. C. 537. morem modo ac sonum armorum audientes, quæ fortuna pugnæ esset, neque scire, nec perspicere præ caligine poterant. Inclinata denique re, quum incalescente sole dispulsa nebula aperuisset diem, tum liquida jam luce montes campique perditas res stratamque ostendere fœde Romanam aciem. Itaque, ne in conspectos procul immitteretur eques, sublatis raptim signis, quam citatissimo poterant agmine, sese abripuerunt. Postero die, quum super cetera extrema fames etiam instaret, fidem dante Maharbale, qui cum omnibus equestribus copiis nocte consecutus erat, si arma tradidissent, abire cum singulis vestimentis passurum, sese dediderunt. Quæ Punica religione servata fides ab Hannibale est, atque in vincula omnes conjecit.

7.

Hæc est nobilis ad Trasimenum pugna, atque inter paucas memorata populi Romani clades. Quindecim millia' Romanorum in acie cæsa sunt; decem millia, sparsa fuga per omnem Etruriam, diversis itineribus urbem petiere. Mille quingenti hostium in acie, multi postea utrimque ex vulneribus periere. Multiplex cædes utrimque facta traditur ab aliis. Ego', præterquam quod nihil haustum ex vano velim, quo nimis inclinant ferme scribentium animi, Fabium æqualem temporibus hujusce belli potissimum auctorem habui. Hannibal, captivorum qui Latini nominis essent, sine pretio dimissis, Romanis in vincula datis, segregata ex hostium coacervatorum cumulis corpora suorum quum sepeliri jussisset, Flaminii quoque corpus, funeris causa magna cum cura inquisitum, non invenit.

Romæ, ad primum nuntium cladis ejus, cum ingenti terrore ac tumultu concursus in forum populi est factus. Matronæ vagæ per vias2, quæ repens clades allata, quæve

voices and clash of arms, they were
unable in the darkness to ascertain or
see what was the turn of the battle."

8 Quæ Punica religione &c.]
"But this promise was kept by
Hannibal with Punic sincerity," &c.
9 Quindecim millia &c.] The
calculation given here by Livy, on
the authority of Fabius, shews a
proportion of ten deaths to one against
the Romans. The proportion of
deaths at Thermopylae was about
100 to one against the Persians, the
largest on record.

Ego.] The position of the pronoun requires a very emphatic translation: we must say, "I, for my part, in addition to my objection to any thing drawn from imagination,"

&c.

2 Matrona vaga per vias, &c.]

It is in the delineation of such scenes as Rome must have presented on this occasion of terror, suspense, and despair, that Livy always exhibits his power of description to most advantage. The lines and shadows of the following passage are SO skilfully touched and so artistically true, that it seems entitled to some attempt to present it in English: sc. "The matrons, wandering through the streets, enquired of all who met them what sudden calamity had been announced, or, what was the fate of the army. As the multitude, like a crowded assembly, looking to the comitium and the senate-house, were calling on the magistrates; M. Pomponius the Prætor, after some delay and a short time before sunset, proclaimed,

fortuna exercitus esset, obvios percunctantur. Et quum U. C. 537. frequentis concionis modo turba in comitium et curiam A. C. 217. versa magistratus vocaret; tandem haud multo ante solis occasum M. Pomponius prætor, Pugna,' inquit, magna 'victi sumus:' et, quanquam nihil certius ex eo auditum est, tamen alius ab alio impleti rumoribus domos referunt, 'consulem cum magna parte copiarum cæsum: superesse 'paucos, aut fuga passim per Etruriam sparsos, aut captos 'ab hoste.' Quot casus exercitus victi fuerant, tot in curas dispertiti eorum animi erant, quorum propinqui sub C. Flaminio consule meruerant, ignorantium, quæ cujusque suorum fortuna esset: nec quisquam satis certum habet, quid aut speret aut timeat. Postero, ac deinceps aliquot diebus, ad portas major prope mulierum, quam virorum, multitudo stetit, aut suorum aliquem, aut nuntios de his opperiens circumfundebanturque obviis sciscitantes; neque avelli, utique ab notis, prius, quam ordine omnia inquisissent, poterant. Inde varios vultus digredientium ab nuntiis cerneres, ut cuique aut læta aut tristia nuntiabantur : gratulantesque aut consolantes redeuntibus domos circumfusos. Feminarum præcipue et gaudia insignia erant, et luctus. Unam in ipsa porta, sospiti filio repente oblatam, in conspectu ejus exspirasse ferunt; alteram, cui mors filii

'we have been defeated in a great battle.' And although nothing more explicit had been heard from him: still, full of the news communicated from one to another, they severally brought home the intelligence that the consul and a considerable portion of the army were slain; and that a few were still alive, either dispersed in flight through Etruria, or prisoners of the enemy.' As many as had been the disasters of the defeated army, were the various forms of anxiety into which their minds were thrown whose friends had been serving under C. Flaminius, not knowing what might be the fate of their several relatives; for none had any thing definite either to hope or fear. On the next and several succeeding days, a crowd, consisting more of women than men, stood at the gates, expecting either some of their relatives, or some intelligence about them: and they pressed around all who came, with anxious inquiries, and could not tear themselves away, from acquaintances especially, be

P

fore they had exhausted their whole
series of questions. Then might
be observed the various expressions
of countenance as they turned away
from their informants, and the groups
of congratulating or condoling friends
who accompanied them on their re-
turn home. Among the women espe-
cially, joy and sorrow both were
strongly marked. One woman, just
at the gate, suddenly meeting her
son coming back in safety, dropped
dead, it is said, before his eyes;
another, to whom her son's death
had been erroneously reported, while
waiting in despair at home, ex-
pired under the overpowering joy
of the first sight of his return. The
Prætors kept the senate in the house
for several days from day-break to
sun-set, deliberating under what
commander, or by what forces, the
victorious Carthaginians could be
checked." A very similar descrip-
tion is given of the aspect of the city
after the defeat at the Furce Cau-
dina; with the difference that, on
that occasion, the senate appeared in
mourning for the national disgrace.

U. C. 537. falso nuntiata erat, mæstam sedentem domi, ad primum A. C. 217. conspectum redeuntis filii gaudio nimio exanimatam. Senatum prætores per dies aliquot ab orto usque ad occidentem solem in curia retinent, consultantes, quonam duce, aut quibus copiis, resisti victoribus Pœnis posset.

8.

9.

Priusquam satis certa3 consilia essent, repens alia nuntiatur clades: quattuor millia equitum, cum C. Centenio proprætore missa ad collegam ab Servilio consule, in Umbria, quo post pugnam ad Trasimenum auditam averterant iter, ab Hannibale circumventa. Ejus rei fama varie homines affecit. Pars, occupatis majore ægritudine animis, levem, ex comparatione priorum, ducere recentem equitum jacturam: pars non id, quod acciderat, per se æstimare, sed, ut in affecto corpore quamvis levis causa magis, quam valido gravior, sentiretur; ita tum ægræ et affectæ civitati quodcunque adversi inciderit, non rerum magnitudine, sed viribus extenuatis, quæ nihil, quod aggravaret, pati possent, æstimandum esse. Itaque ad remedium, jam diu neque desideratum nec adhibitum, dictatorem dicendum, civitas confugit: et quia et consul aberat, a quo uno dici posse videbatur; nec per occupatam armis Punicis Italiam facile erat aut nuntium, aut literas mitti; nec' dictatorem populus creare poterat, quod nunquam ante eam diem factum erat: prodictatorem populus creavit Q. Fabium Maximum3, et magistrum equitum M. Minucium Rufum. Hisque negotium ab senatu datum, ut muros turresque urbis firmarent, et præsidia disponerent, quibus locis videretur, pontesque rescinderent fluminum: ad penates pro urbe dimicandum esse, quando Italiam tueri nequissent.

Hannibal recto itinere per Umbriam usque ad Spoletum9

3 Priusquam satis certa, &c.] "Before their plans could be well

defined."

4 Proprætore.] "With the authority of commander." Centenius had never been a Prætor.

5 Pars non id, quod acciderat, &c.] "Some estimated what had happened not on its own merits, but that as an influence however slight is felt more sensibly in a disordered frame, than one more powerful in a state of health; so, whatever happened to the state in its present weak and shaken condition, should be regarded not with reference to its actual importance; but to its exhausted strength, which was now beyond the endurance of further oppression."

Remedium, jam diu &c.]

The

last preceding Dictatorship had been that of Atilius Calatinus, who had superseded the Consul A. Claudius Pulcher, in the first Punic war, and was the first Dictator who commanded out of Italy.

7 Nec per occupatam &c.—nec.] These compound negatives, following et, must be resolved in translation into "and—not.”

8 Q. Fabium Maximum.] This cognomen was not a military title, having been acquired by Fabius in his censorship for his services to the aristocratic party in the revision of the city tribes, (see lib. ix. 46.) by the separation and consolidation of the libertini.

9 Spoletum.] The repulse of Hannibal from the walls of Spoleto is still commemorated by local tradition,

A. C. 217.

venit. Inde, quum perpopulato agro urbem oppugnare U. C. 537. adortus esset, cum magna cæde suorum repulsus, conjectans ex unius coloniæ haud nimis prospere tentatæ viribus, quanta moles Romanæ urbis esset, in agrum Picenum avertit iter, non copia solum omnis generis frugum abundantem, sed refertum præda, quam effuse avidi atque egentes rapiebant. Ibi per dies aliquot stativa habita: refectusque miles, hibernis itineribus ac palustri via prœlioque, magis ad eventum secundo, quam levi aut facili, affectus. Ubi satis quieti datum, præda ac populationibus magis, quam otio aut requie, gaudentibus, profectus Prætutianum Hadrianumque agrum', Marsos inde Marrucinosque et Pelignos devastat, circaque Arpos et Luceriam proximam Apuliæ regionem. Cn. Servilius consul, levibus præliis cum Gallis actis, et uno oppido ignobili expugnato, postquam de collegæ exercitusque cæde audivit, jam monibus patriæ metuens, ne abesset in discrimine extremo, ad urbem iter intendit. Q. Fabius Maximus dictator iterum2, quo die magistratum iniit, vocato senatu, ab diis orsus, quum edocuisset Patres, plus negligentia cærimoniarum auspiciorumque, quam temeritate atque inscitia, peccatum a C. Flaminio consule esse, quæque piacula iræ3 deum essent, ipsos deos consulendos esse; pervicit, ut, quod non ferme decernitur, nisi quum tætra prodigia nuntiata sunt, decemviri libros Sibyllinos adire juberentur. Qui, inspectis fatalibus libris, retulerunt Patribus, quod ejus belli causa votum Marti foret, id non rite factum, de integro atque amplius 'faciendum esse: et Jovi ludos magnos, et ædes Veneri 'Erycinæ ac Menti vovendas esse, et supplicationem lectisterniumque habendum, et ver sacrum vovendum, si bellatum prospere esset, resque publica in eodem, quo ante bellum 'fuisset, statu permansisset." Senatus, quoniam Fabium belli cura occupatura esset, M. Æmilium prætorem, ex collegii pontificum sententia, omnia ea ut mature fiant, curare jubet. His senatusconsultis perfectis, L. Cornelius Lentulus pontifex maximus, consulente collegio prætorum,

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and an inscription over the arch of an ancient gate, which is still called Porta di Annibale.

1 Prætutianum Hadrianumque agrum &c.] Not venturing to approach the city, even after his repeated successes in the north, Hannibal passed across to the eastern side of Italy, plundering and devastating as he went, until he had marched considerably to the south of Rome, on the opposite coast.

2 Dictator iterum.] Fabius had

been Dictator on a former occasion
(five years previously, according to
some authorities) with C. Flaminius
as master of the horse: but only for
the
purpose of an election.

3 Quæque piacula iræ &c.] This
genitive may be regarded as governed
either by piacula or essent: sc. either
"what were the proper atonements
under the Divine displeasure; or,
what atonements were suited to
(demanded by) the anger of Hea-
ven."

10.

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