Midterm study guide and Aggrandization of Rome

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Marius and Sulla – the (first) Roman Civil War

Marius and Sulla – the (first) Roman Civil War

Sources: Sallust Jugerthine War, Plutarch Marius, Sulla, Cassius Dio, others
I. Rome after the death of Gaius Gracchus
1. murderers of the Gracchi go unpunished
2. (unusual) era of dominance of one gens, Caecilii Metelli
a. an unparalleled level of consular dominance
b. they conquer Balaerics, Macedon, Numidia, etc.
3. Roman power stretches from Spain to Asia Minor, many provinces
4. Marius was a client of Q. Caecilius Metellus (later Numidicus) cos. 109

II. Rome and Numidia come to blows
1. Micipsa dies and leaves his throne to Jugertha, Hiempsal, Adherbal
2. Jugertha rubs out Hiempsal and drives out Adherbal
3. Called to Rome he says “Rome is a city where everyone and everything is for sale.” In past has bribed his way out of trouble.
4. Jugertha kills Adherbal after siege of Cirta, but also slays Romans
5. Roman senators forced by popular opinion to favor a war with Numidia

III. The war drags on 115-109
1. No swift victory
2. Aulus Postumius’ army forced to surrender and walk under the yoke
3. Q. Caecilius Metellus elected consul to run the war in Africa, brings Marius

IV. Metellus vs. Jugertha, 109-108
1. Metellus defeats Jugertha in battle several times, but can not destroy him
2. Metellus captures Jugertha’s treasury (J has trouble paying his troops)
3. Jugertha resorts to guerilla warfare since he can not beat QCM in field
4. QCM renewed in command, but still can not defeat J.
5. Marius often exercises command of half the army when R army divides
6. Marius, though a novus homo wants to run for consul for 107 and asks QCM to send him to Italy to campaign; QCM insults him

V. Marius elected consul
1. Marius asks his friends to launch first grass roots candidacy
2. QCM finally yields and lets Marius return to Italy to canvass
3. Marius wins on a platform to end Jugerthine War, accuses QCM of ineptitude
4. 1 Jan 107, Marius as consul is sent to Africa, but must raise his own troops
5. Marius opens Roman army to landless volunteers and raises 2+ legions
6. Brings as his lieutenant L. Cornelius Sulla
7. QCM in disgust quits Africa and undoes much of the work he started to make Marius’ job harder. Rutilius hands over command to M (QCM left)

VI. The War in Africa 107-106 and France
1. Marius has same exp as QCM; J refuses a pitched battle
2. Jugertha finally enlists Bocchus of Mauretania to fight Rome for $$
3. Sulla, on a secret mission, invites Bochus to betray Jugertha
4. Jugertha betrayed in 107, (anti climactic)
5. Germans defeat Servilius Caepio at Arausio (Orange, FR) in terrible defeat, all Italy threatened with destruction
6. Marius, right after his triumph over J is asked to command vs Germans
7. Metellus and Marius and Sulla share credit for victory

The below is not on the exam, but for lecture on Monday
VII. The German War
1. Marius elected consul for 105-101 year after year (irregular, but emergency)
2. M destroys Teutons at Aquiae Sextiae (near Aix en Provence)
3. M and Q. Lutatius Catulus destroy Cimbri at Vercellae (No Italy)
4. Marius takes the credit and is reelected in 101 for 100 after war is over
5. These victories saved W civilization as we know it

VIII. Political turmoil in Rome
1. Q. Appuleius Saturninus (tr. 102-100) sees self as an heir to Gracchi; his foes call him a demagogue.
2. Appuleius ingratiates self to Marius by forcing the exile of QCM Numidicus when the latter refuses to swear to abide by a plebescite
3. Marius craves recognition/welcome from Senatorial patrician elite
4. The patricians use M against Saturninus
5. Marius betrays his ally for political recognition, but after he uses troops to suppress Saturninus, the senatorial elite abandon him and leave him isolated
6. M retires from politics in disgust
7. M. Livius Drusus as tribune champions the rights of the Italians, incl their request for full citizenship in 91.
8. M. Livius Drusus murdered, Italians rebel and start Social War (Marsic War)
9. Sulla, L. Julius Caesar, and Marius all command armies; Sulla emerges as more of a hero than Marius.
10. Social War rages -89 when Romans offer full citizenship to Italians.

IX. Eastern Affairs
1. Mithridates VI hates Rome (immune to poison and a new Hannibal)
2. Massacres 80,000 Romans in Asia Minor (exaggeration?)
3. Rome declares war, everyone wants to command
4. Sulla gets the command, but Marius craves it.
5. Marius gets a tribune to reverse in the comitia tributa the Senatorial bill (passed in comitia centuriata) so that M replaces Sulla as the general.
6. Sulla marches back to Rome and purges M’s supporters; Marius forced into flight and has narrow escapes from death
7. Sulla goes East; Marius flees Italy in exile and lurks in ruins of Carthage
8. Sulla’s party has Marius declared an exile and public enemy

X. Roman Affairs while Sulla is in Greece/Asia Minor
1. The consuls Octavius and Cornelius Cinna quarrel; Cinna driven out
2. L. Cornelius Merula (Flamen Dialis) tapped to replace Cinna
3. Cinna calls upon Marius for help
4. They march on Rome, which surrenders without a fight
5. Marius insists his exile be lifted, but then just tires and enters Rome
6. The Proscription begins, a headhunt for enemies
7. Marius elected to his 7th consulship along with Cinna for 86
8. L. Cornelius Merula commits suicide in Temple of Jupiter Optimus et Maximus and curses Rome for the proscription
9. A teenage Gaius Julius Caesar nominated to be Flamen Dialis
10. Marius dies on 14 or 17 January in his 7th consulship
11. Cinna and his gang run Rome – 82; Cinna consul (illegally) from 86-83

XI. Sulla in the East
1. Sulla repeatedly defeats Mithridates’ generals in Greece and eventually Asia
2. Mithridates enlists Tigran the Great of Armenia; Sulla defeats them
3. Sulla gives M generous terms so that he can turn back to Italy
4. Sulla besieges Athens and sacks it.
5. Sulla invades Italy in 83; his staff generally refuses to follow him, but his soldiers fight enthusiastically.

XII. Civil War, 83-82
1. Sulla acquires allies in Pompey and Crassus, both of whom bring troops
2. Sulla fights his way up Italy, defeating army after army from Populares
3. Sulla takes Rome at Colline Gate, due to Crassus
4. Sulla launches a Proscription and massacres or exiles the Marian party; young Julius ordered to divorce Cornelia, and was hunted when he refused (82)
5. Sulla takes the dictatorship of Rome (illegal) in 81
6. Sertorius quits Italy and raises revolt in Spain
7. Sulla elected consul with Q. Caecilius Metellus Pius for 80.

XIII. Sulla’s Constitutional reforms (think of the Compromise of 1850)
1. Courts of provincial extortion returned to Senate
2. New age minimums for office (consul 43, praetor 39, aedile 35), three year gap between posts, 10 year gap between consulships mandated by law
3. Promotion of 300 Italian equites into Senate
4. Tribune becomes a dead end post, rendering one ineligible for higher office
5. Election to quaestorship renders automatic entry to Senate (bypassing censors)

XIV. Sulla retires and the aftermath
1. P. Servilius and App. Claudius Pulcher coss. 79 under Sulla’s eye
2. Sulla retires to the country to hunt and indulge self
3. Q. Aemilius Lepidus and – consuls in 78, a near civil war
4. Metellius Pius and Pompey sent to Spain to destroy Sertorius
5. Sertorius defeats them, but is assassinated by his lieutenant Perpenna
6. Pompey restores rule in Spain, builds ties to local towns
7. Stage set for new leaders: Pompey, Catulus, Crassus, Lucullus

Upcoming schedule changes:

Monday October 22- The Gracchi and the Agrarian Crisis.

Wednesday October 24- The Rise of Marius, and The Sullan Reforms

Midterm Review Wednesday 24 at 3:00 pm. Tentatively in DMH163, our
classroom. Please verify location ahead of time.

Monday October 29- Midterm
Note: Lecture speed may or may not push this back to the 31st

Wednesday October 31- Lecture on Dr. Stern's dissertation.
"Augustus' Rome and why the Senate built the Ara Pacis"

Paper topics (more tba)

These are SOME of the general topics that Dr Stern has set up for
papers.
More are to come. Actual questions and additional topics will be
coming
soon.

• Compare/Contrast the two biographies of Julius, note where the
authors'
accounts differ, and why.
• Compare Sullust on Marius with Plutarch's life of Marius - note
where
the authors' accounts differ, and why.
• Watch/read the script of A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the
Forum
and read through 6 Plautus plays to see where the writers got their
source material
• Do a Biography of a famous Roman not covered by Plutarch or
Suetonius.
A shorter version along the style of Cornelius Nepos (6-8 pages) is
entirely sufficient.
more topics to come

Agrarian crisis and Gracchus

I. Agrarian crisis
A. Too little Italian land used for food production (population level at 1.5% growth)
B. Land ownership consolidates in hands of few, wealth also consolidates
C. # of voters in top 213 centuries now smaller (i.e. fewer own 750,000 sesterces)
D. Agitation of the poor
E. The census of 131BC showed that there were 318,823 Roman citizens. This represented a drop in population from 337,452 recorded for 159, each census in the intervening years showing a decline. In 125 the number again grew to 394,736. It has been assumed that this increase of 76,000 between 131 and 125 BC resulted from the Gracchan land distributions.
F. Ti. Sempronius Gracchus steps forward to solve problems as tribune in 133

II. Tiberius Gracchus
A. from a wealthy plebeian noble family, father was consul + censor; g-father 3x consul, his mother the famous Cornelia – herself daughter of Scipio Africanus
B. As Tribune in 133 proposes restoring lex Licinia traditional cap of 500 iugera per citizen, with all excess land to be rendered to the state and rented out to landless urban plebs. Hotly opposed by the senatorial magnates, so Tiberius took it directly to the people until M. Octavius, another tribune vetoed it. Tiberius agreed to bring his bill before senatorial debate.
C. After this bill fails in the Senate, Gracchus takes back it to the comitia tributa (why there?) upon which Octavius vetoes it. Gracchus tries to get Octavius to withraw veto, Octavius refuses, Gracchus has Octavius deposed by a vote of the tribes, and pushes through the bill.
D. Second bill to establish a commission of Tiberius, App.Claudius Pulcher, and C. Gracchus to allot the land passes
E. Senate blocks his funding
F. Attalus of Pergamum wills his kingdom to Rome; Tiberius wants to settle the land or its profits for landless urban plebs
G. Against the lex Villia of 180, Tiberius wants to run a second time for Tribune
H. Riots at the election, led by Scipio Nasica, lead to Tiberius’ death
I. Tiberius’ policy goes through, Nasica dies abroad, no one punished
J. Scipio Aemilianus returns and dies mysteriously

III. Gaius Gracchus
A. Laid low after Tiberius’ murder until he was quaestor in 126, tribune in 123
B. Grand legislative program 123-22 and got reelected easily
1. new roads (jobs + more grain to Rome)
2. new colonies near Capua, Tarrentum, Carthage = Junonia
3. storage of grain in horrarea in Ostia for public sale at cost
4. no draft for those under 17, limit to length of military service
5. exiled P. Popillius (cos 132) who had executed Tiberius’ supporters
6. transferred court cases of bad governorship to juries of equestrians
7. set consular provinces for next year before this year’s elections
8. reinstated taxation on new province of Asia (needed revenue), from which publicani benefited immensely

IV. The Fall of Gaius
A. Senate finds its own people’s champion in M. Livius Drusus, who curries favor
B. Gaius Gracchus defeated for third tribunate
C. Senate declares martial law, kills Gaius and 3,000 followers by Opimius (cos 122)
D. Aside from a few modifications, Gracchus program retained
E. Arrival of the Caecilii Metelli as a dominant family

Spain – Rome

Spain – Rome’s Vietnam, the Agrarian Crisis, and the Gracchi

I. Many reverses in Spain during SPW
A. Scipio brothers have initial success, but KIA in 211
B. Scipio Africanus (not yet called Africanus) goes to Spain and wins over tribes
C. Scipio’s victories at New Carthage (209), Baecula 208, Ilipia (206) destr Carth sway in Spain, Hasdrubal driven north, Hasdrubal Gisco south to Africa
D. rapacious rule in Spain causes tribal rebellion
E. Cato the Elder conquers many towns
F. Sempronius Gracchus conquers many towns (180-78), but governs justly
G. more rapacious Roman rule
H. Numantine War (20 years)
1. last Spanish stronghold to resist
2. defeats Hostilius Mancinus, forces his army to walk under yoke
3. Rs send Mancinus back as a POW, refuse to make peace
4. New commanders, Scipio has as lieutenants Marius and Jugertha
5. Scipio Aemilianus sacks Numantia, 129
II. Importance of Spain as a Roman theater
A. Unlike Greek east, the wars in Spain last decades
B. R soldiers from East come home with loot; those from Spain never return
C. Spain a quagmire, R troops go there to grow old or die
D. While troops are away, their families can not run farm, sell the land
E. Veterans returning from Spain find themselves landless, migrate to Rome
F. Urban population (near homeless) skyrockets
G. Soldiers’ farmland bought up by wealthy few – turned to fallow or ranch
H. Farmland lies unused, Rome imports food (Sicily, Egypt), commons grow bitter

Hellenism 101 and 202

Hellenism 202 and Roman Literature I

I. Hellenism 101: Earliest sources of contact with Greek East
A. Aeneas a refugee from Troy, Mycenean era
B. Sabines claim Spartan origin, Mycenean or Dark Ages era (?)
C. Tarquin I was a son of Demaratus, an exile from Corinth, 600 BC
D. Obvious other Greek-Etruscan roots (pottery, alphabet), 600 BC
E. Tarquin II sent his sons to Delphi (not Cumae) to interpret an omen
F. Some trade with Magna Graecia including grain in the 430s.
G. A few religious cults including Heracles, Castores, Apollo

II. Trickle of Greek thought into Roman World
A. Increased trade with Magna Graecia
B. Cult of Aesculapius on Tiber Island, 291 BC how is this date determined?
C. War with Pyrrhus brought Macedonian war technology to Italy, 280-75
D. Contact and alliance with the enemies of Macedon, 215-05
E. Cult of Magna Mater (Cybele) brought to Rome 205/04
F. Scipio adopts Greek clothing and culture in 205 while in Sicily

III. Hellenism 202: Trickle becomes a Flood 200-150
A. Greek luxury goods enter R markets
B. Greek political philosophy and thought
C. Greek literature, especially comedies and epic
D. Greek replaced Etruscan as the foreign language in Roman schools
E. Greek vocabulary enters upper class Latin and especially literature
F. Greek physicians and tutors become the sine qua non
G. Negative Greek qualities emerge – greed, dishonesty, selfish motives
H. Backlash seen in Plutarch Cato Major, reaction to Bacchanalial Cult 186.

IV. Roman Foreign Policy in Greek East (215-195)
A. Philip V declared war on Rome out of the blue in 215 (why then?)
B. Rome allies with Aetolians and soon Pergamum against Philip, but prefers to fight Philip “to the last Greek.” Greeks unhappy. Peace of Phoenice 205
C. Rome improves reputation and makes ties with Pergamum, Athens, Rhodes, coming to their defense in 2MW when Philip V (imitating Philip II) fights in the N. Aegaean Sea and rejects the R ultimatum.
D. Eventual R. success, T. Quinctius Flamininus announces the Freedom of the Greeks at Isthmian Games, 196. Flamininus totally Hellenized.
E. Romans withdraw forces from East

V. the Roman version
A. Philip V attacked us for no reason in 215 (revenge or some other anxiety?)
B. Sulpicius Galba (cos. 200) pushes Senate to declare war, but C. Cent reject it.
Galba “war now in Greece, or later in Italy, a new Pyrrhus.” C. Cent declare war
C. Little success until the wonderkind Flamininus elected consul, 198.
D. In 197 at Cynoscephalae Flamininus destroys flower of Mac army – 25,000 KIA.
E. Romans never made war to conquer Greece, but a pre-emptive defense.
F. Macedon reduced in territory, 1000 talent indemnity, loss of fleet, son a hostage
G. Roman withdrawl.

VI. The Syrian War (192-190)
A. Greeks soon start fighting among themselves
B. Antiochus III and Philip V consider dividing Egypt’s territory
C. Antiochus III (a new Alexander want-to be) turns on Greece, invades
D. Rome invades and Acilius Glabrio with Cato defeats Ant III at Thermoylae
E. Rs chase Ant III out of Europe, L. Scipio Asiaticus beats him at Magnesia, 191
F. Philip V rewarded for providing support in the war
G. Antiochus III clipped totally and loses land, $, stability. Syrian Empire begins to crumble, a long process of 100 years w/o substantial recovery
H. Romans evacuate for 20 years

VII. Coming of the Third Macedonian War
A. The Lion in Winter, Philip V at age 60 : rearming or true to Roman alliance?
B. Philip’s sons lead factions - Demetrius vs Perseus; Demetrius put to death, 180
C. Perseus succeeds, 179, enhances stature of Mac.; P marries Laodice a Seleucid princess, his sister marries Prusias II; starts anti-Pergamum policy
D. Roman jealousy or genuine alarm at a threat?
E. R declares war, 169, Perseus ably defends Mac.
F. L. Aemilius Paullus crushes the phalanx at Pydna, conquers Mac. Pers captured
G. Macedon divided into 4 republics, Pers matches in Paullus’ tragic triumph

VIII. Achaean War, Sparta, the occupation of Greece
A. Achaea had opposed R in FMW, joined her in SMW and TMW. But grew too large from R patronage and opposed R policy in 150s.
B. Sparta wanted out of Achaean League; Rome assented, Achaeans declared war
C. A pretender, Andriscus, in Macedon rose up and defeated a Roman force
D. Rome faced 3 wars: TPW, Achaean War, FMW – all easy. Polybius a hostage
E. New Roman policy: occupy Greece, they can not be trusted to behave.

Roman Literature I

Roman Literature I

I. Earliest sources of Greek legends probably through Etruscans
A. Vase paintings on Etruscan art: Hercules, Chimera, etc.
B. Aeneas story widely circulates, also Diomedes, Ulysses, Philoctetes in Italy
C. No evidence of indigenous R literature, but Etruscans wrote something (lost)
D. Greeks started writing about Rome with Pyrrhus
II. First Roman authors
A. In imitation of Homer, Ennius and Naevius wrote Latin epics (fragments or lost)
B. Fabius Pictor was a POW with Hannibal, wrote lost first hand account of the war
C. Plautus wrote Roman comedies, near translations of Greek New Comedy, 200
D. Cato, De Origines, in 4 books: Monarchy, Early Republic, Middle, Modern, 180
E. Terrence, six comedies, less bawdy than Plautus, 150, a freed slave
F. Polybius, a Greek writing Greek and Roman history, a hostage in Rome after the Achaean War, friend of Scipio Aemilianus and primary source for 264-150 BC. Accompanied PCSAm to Carthage, saw him weep at fall of Carth. His theme: How amid so many rivals, R conquered the Med World in 50 years

III. Why did Rome fail to develop a written tradition earlier?
A. Strong Oral Tradition? Yes, but not the answer 2 styles can co-exist
B. Annalist tradition goes pretty far back, with Fasti (list of consuls)
C. Sibylline Books allegedly date to 515 BC or so
D. Etruscan literature was required reading in Roman schools
E. Writing was principally an instrument to maintain the status quo, not to entertain
F. Why did this change? Hellenism
G. By 125 many R historians writing (expanding) R history – often in Greek! E.g. Cincius Alimentius (lost), C. Acilius -184 (lost), Why in Greek?
H. In Latin but lost: Sempronius Tuditanus, Valerius Antias, Claudius Quadrigarius, Coelius Antipater. Livy used all of these as sources.

The First Two Punic Wars

The First Two Punic Wars: Rome vs. Carthage

First Punic War 264-41
Primary authors: Polybius, Livy, Appian, scattered others
Cause: both sides wanted Sicily
Leading combatants:
Carthaginians: a bunch of guys named Hannibal, and Hamilcar Barca
Romans: App. Claudius, C. Duilius, M. Atilius Regulus, C. Lutatius Catulus,
P. Claudius Pulcher

Romans overwhelmed Sicily quick, but lacked a fleet to take the Punic strongholds. Duilius invented the corvus and won Mylae in 260. In 256 Regulus invaded Africa and beat the Carthaginian army at Adys. The Spartan mercenary Xanthippus hired himself to Carthage and defeated Regulus at Tunes in 255, capturing him alive. Regulus’ real end followed immediately, despite a popular Roman legend. In 249 Claudius Pulcher lost the naval battle of Drepanum after an act of sacrilege, for which he was tried and fined. The war droned on in a stalemate with Hamilcar Barca using guerilla warfare on the Romans, and them unable to secure peace. Finally Lutatius Catulus defeated the last Carth fleet at Aegates Islands in 241 and forced them to accept terms.

Bellum Inexpiabile 241-38 (Never-ending War)
The mercenaries demanded wages, but Carthage insisted it had no cash. Mercenaries seized Corsica and Sardinia from the Carth garrisons. Soon the mercenaries led by Spendius and Matho attacked Carthage. (Read Flaubert’s Salambo). Finally Hamilcar Barca defeated them and brutally executed all of them in retaliation for what they had done to some Carth nobles. Meanwhile the islands remained in Roman hands, many in Carthage chafed.

The intermission – Carthage
Having saved the state from the mercenaries, Hamilcar Barca was in a position to pressure the gvt. Eventually the gvt sent Hamilcar to Spain to conquer a new land for Carth to recover the wealth lost in Sicily (ca. 235). Hamilcar conquered part of Spain when he was killed in battle (228). His son-in-law Hasdrubal Pulcher (the Handsome) took command and continued the conquest, more by diplomacy than warfare. He negotiated the Ebro River Pact with Rome ca. 226 limiting Carth’s northern sphere of influence. After 7 years he was assassinated by a man disgruntled over losing a woman to HP. Hannibal took over and conquered the rest of Spain south of the Ebro, then turned on a Roman ally, Saguntum. Rome had made an alliance with Saguntum, perhaps prior to the ERP, and may have failed to include Sag in the ERP. Hannibal and Rome disputed whether he had a right to attack Sag, but Hannibal attacked anyway. After a lengthy siege of 8 months he took Sag by storm. The townspeople burned some of the loot when they all killed themselves. Hannibal got a ruined city and a war with Rome.

The intermission – Rome
During the Bellum Inexpiabile Rome drove the mercs out of Corsica and Sardinia (Roman sources claim Carth asked them to do it). When Carth asked for the islands to return to Carth sovereignty, Rome threatened war. Rome kept the islands permanently. Without any foreign enemies to combat, Rome finally closed the Gates of Janus for the third time in 235, allowing T. Manlius Torquatus to be master of ceremonies. The Gates soon reopened due to Gallic and Illyrian threats. The Illyrians seized Roman merchants and this led to war (231) with Queen Teuta. Rome crushed her. Rome signed the Ebro River Pact with HP. Soon after the Gauls invaded and Rome faced a desperate war. Gauls killed the consul Atilius Regulus and desecrated his body in 225, but the following year beat them at the Battle of Telemon. The Roman counteroffensive under C. Flaminius crushed the Insubres in 223 and M. Claudius Marcellus killed the Insubrian king in hand to hand combat, winning the spolia opima in 222. The Romans then founded colonies in north Italy: Cremona and Placentia to help control the area.
Just when it looked peaceful, new trouble brewed in the Adriatic when the freebooter Demetrius of Pharos turned against Rome and had to be spanked. M. Livius Salinator and L. Aemilius Paullus drove him from power (to Macedon).
Then trouble arose with Hannibal over Saguntum. Saguntum sent a request for help, to which the Romans responded with ambassadors who urged Hannibal to desist w/o success. Rome sent a second embassy directly to Carthage. Q. Fabius Buteo urged Carth to turn over Hannibal to avoid war, and when that failed war came. Rome organized an army to go to Spain, but too late; Saguntum fell.

Second Punic War 218-02
Primary authors: Polybius, Livy, Appian, Plutarch, Cassius Dio, many others
Cause: Hannibal’s aggression (according to Rome)
Revenge for Rome taking the islands and being jerks (according to Carthage)
Leading combatants
Carths: Hannibal, brothers Hasdrubal & Mago, Hasdrubal Gisco, Maharbal
Romans: Ti. Sempronius Gracchus, P. Cornelius Scipio, Q. Fabius Maximus,
C. Flaminius, C. Terrentius Varro, L. Aemilius Paullus, M. Claudius Marcellus,
C. Claudius Nero, M. Livius Salinator and P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus.

Hannibal crossed the Alps in autumn 218, having evaded the Romans in Gaul led by Scipio. Scipio doubled back and was able to intercept Hannibal at the Trebbia River where he was wounded and defeated. Then Scipio and Longus engaged H at Ticinus and lost again, also in Dec. 218.
217 H defeated Flaminius and killed him at Trasimene; QFMC dictator
216 H defeats Varro and Paullus and kills LAP at Cannae; a few defections
215 Philip V allies with Carth, makes war on R
212 H gains Tarrentum, Marcellus retakes Syracuse, Roman reverse in Spain
209 QFMQ regains Tarrentum
208 both consuls, MCM and Quinctius KIA, Scipio in Spain, Illipia
207 Claudius Nero and Livius Salinator kill Hasdrubal at Metaurus River
205 Scipio consul, prepares to invade Africa; T of Phoenice ends F Mac War
203 Intrigue with Numidia, Syphax and Massinissa
202 Scipio beats H at Zama and forces an unconditional surrender

Terms: Carthage surrenders all territory outside Africa, yields some land to Numidia under Massinissa; fleet reduced to ca. 20 ships, becomes Roman ally and must contribute forces if asked, can not declare war w/o Roman permission, can not war another R ally, war indemnity to be paid over 50 years.

Aftermath: Rome exhausted by 16 years of warfare on Italian soil, but will be flooded with new wealth as Eastern markets open and Carth indemnity arrives.

Changes: Some of old aristocracy killed in war leaving vacancies for new, ambitious families. Within 25 years many wealthy equestrian families will bid for power and push their way to the top.
More important, Rome was now a Western Med Empire with many new peoples to rule and an open door to the East, drawing fire from the heirs to Alexander (Seleucid, Ptolemaic, Antigonid dynasties)
And the trials of SPW drew Romans together and forged a greater sense of national identity (already strong beforehand, now stronger).
Roman military ethos changes after Cannae to never surrender.

Livy 22: Trasimene and Cannae

Livy Book 22

216 BC

[22.1]Spring was now coming on; Hannibal accordingly moved out of his winter quarters. His previous attempt to cross the Apennines had been frustrated by the insupportable cold; to remain where he was would have been to court danger. The Gauls had rallied to him through the prospect of booty and spoil, but when they found that instead of plundering other people's territory their own had become the seat of war and had to bear the burden of furnishing winter quarters for both sides, they diverted their hatred from the Romans to Hannibal. Plots against his life were frequently hatched by their chiefs, and he owed his safety to their mutual faithlessness, for they betrayed the plots to him in the same spirit of fickleness in which they had formed them. He guarded himself from their attempts by assuming different disguises, at one time wearing a different dress, at another putting on false hair. But these constant alarms were an additional motive for his early departure from his winter quarters. About the same time Cn. Servilius entered upon his consulship at Rome, on the 15th of March. When he had laid before the senate the policy which he proposed to carry out, the indignation against C. Flaminius broke out afresh. "Two consuls had been elected, but as a matter of fact they only had one. What legitimate authority did this man possess? What religious sanctions? Magistrates only take these sanctions with them from home, from the altars of the State, and from their private altars at home after they have celebrated the Latin Festival, offered the sacrifice on the Alban Mount, and duly recited the vows in the Capitol. These sanctions do not follow a private citizen, nor if he has departed without them can he obtain them afresh in all their fullness on a foreign soil."
To add to the general feeling of apprehension, information was received of portents having occurred simultaneously in several places. In Sicily several of the soldiers' darts were covered with flames; in Sardinia the same thing happened to the staff in the hand of an officer who was going his rounds to inspect the sentinels on the wall; the shores had been lit up by numerous fires; a couple of shields had sweated blood; some soldiers had been struck by lightning; an eclipse of the sun had been observed; at Praeneste there had been a shower of red-hot stones; at Arpi shields had been seen in the sky and the sun had appeared to be fighting with the moon; at Capena two moons were visible in the daytime; at Caere the waters ran mingled with blood, and even the spring of Hercules had bubbled up with drops of blood on the water; at Antium the ears of corn which fell into the reapers' basket were blood-stained; at Falerii the sky seemed to be cleft asunder as with an enormous rift and all over the opening there was a blazing light; the oracular tablets shrank and shrivelled without being touched and one had fallen out with this inscription, "MARS IS SHAKING HIS SPEAR"; and at the same time the statue of Mars on the Appian Way and the images of the Wolves sweated blood. Finally, at Capua the sight was seen of the sky on fire and the moon falling in the midst of a shower of rain. Then credence was given to comparatively trifling portents, such as that certain people's goats were suddenly clothed with wool, a hen turned into a cock, and a cock into a hen. After giving the details exactly as they were reported to him and bringing his informants before the senate, the consul consulted the House as to what religious observances ought to be proclaimed. A decree was passed that to avert the evils which these portents foreboded, sacrifices should be offered, the victims to be both full-grown animals and sucklings, and also that special intercessions should be made at all the shrines for three days. What other ceremonial was necessary was to be carried out in accordance with the instructions of the decemvirs after they had inspected the Sacred Books and ascertained the will of the gods. On their advice it was decreed that the first votive offering should be made to Jupiter in the shape of a golden thunderbolt weighing fifty pounds, gifts of silver to Juno and Minerva, and sacrifices of full-grown victims to Queen Juno on the Aventine and Juno Sospita at Lanuvium, whilst the matrons were to contribute according to their means and bear their gift to Queen Juno on the Aventine. A lectisternium was to be held, and even the freedwomen were to contribute what they could for a gift to the temple of Feronia. When these instructions had been carried out the decemvirs sacrificed full-grown victims in the forum at Ardea, and finally in the middle of December there was a sacrifice at the Temple of Saturn, a lectisternium was ordered (the senators prepared the couch), and a public banquet. For a day and a night the cry of the Saturnalia resounded through the City, and the people were ordered to make that day a festival and observe it as such for ever.
[22.2]While the consul was occupied in these propitiatory ceremonies and also in the enrolment of troops, information reached Hannibal that Flaminius had arrived at Arretium, and he at once broke up his winter quarters. There were two routes into Etruria, both of which were pointed out to Hannibal; one was considerably longer than the other but a much better road, the shorter route, which he decided to take, passed through the marshes of the Arno, which was at the time in higher flood than usual. He ordered the Spaniards and Africans, the main strength of his veteran army, to lead, and they were to take their own baggage with them, so that, in case of a halt, they might have the necessary supplies; the Gauls were to follow so as to form the centre of the column; the cavalry were to march last, and Mago and his Numidian light horse were to close up the column, mainly to keep the Gauls up to the mark in case they fell out or came to a halt through the fatigue and exertion of so long a march, for as a nation they were unable to stand that kind of thing. Those in front followed wherever the guides led the way, through the deep and almost bottomless pools of water, and though almost sucked in by the mud through which they were half-wading, half-swimming, still kept their ranks. The Gauls could neither recover themselves when they slipped nor when once down had they the strength to struggle out of the pools; depressed and hopeless they had no spirits left to keep up their bodily powers. Some dragged their worn-out limbs painfully along, others gave up the struggle and lay dying amongst the baggage animals which were lying about in all directions. What distressed them most of all was want of sleep, from which they had been suffering for four days and three nights. As everything was covered with water and they had not a dry spot on which to lay their wearied bodies, they piled up the baggage in the water and lay on the top, whilst some snatched a few minutes' needful rest by making couches of the heaps of baggage animals which were everywhere standing out of the water. Hannibal himself, whose eyes were affected by the changeable and inclement spring weather, rode upon the only surviving elephant so that he might be a little higher above the water. Owing, however, to want of sleep and the night mists and the malaria from the marshes, his head became affected, and as neither place nor time admitted of any proper treatment, he completely lost the sight of one eye.
[22.3]After losing many men and beasts under these frightful .circumstances, he at last got clear of the marshes, and as soon as he could find some dry ground he pitched his camp. The scouting parties he had sent out reported that the Roman army was lying in the neighbourhood of Arretium. His next step was to investigate as carefully as he possibly could all that it was material for him to know - what mood the consul was in, what designs he was forming, what the character of the country and the kind of roads it possessed, and what resources it offered for the obtaining of supplies. The district was amongst the most fertile in Italy; the plains of Etruria, which extend from Faesulae to Arretium, are rich in corn and live stock and every kind of produce. The consul's overbearing temper, which had grown steadily worse since his last consulship, made him lose all proper respect and reverence even for the gods, to say nothing of the majesty of the senate and the laws, and this self-willed and obstinate side of his character had been aggravated by the successes he had achieved both at home and in the field. It was perfectly obvious that he would not seek counsel from either God or man, and whatever he did would be done in an impetuous and headstrong manner. By way of making him show these faults of character still more flagrantly, the Carthaginian prepared to irritate and annoy him. He left the Roman camp on his left, and marched in the direction of Faesulae to plunder the central districts of Etruria. Within actual view of the consul he created as widespread a devastation as he possibly could, and from the Roman camp they saw in the distance an extensive scene of fire and .massacre.
Flaminius had no intention of keeping quiet even if the enemy had done so, but now that he saw the possessions of the allies of Rome plundered and pillaged almost before his very eyes, he felt it to be a personal disgrace that an enemy should be roaming at will through Italy and advancing to attack Rome with none to hinder him. All the other members of the council of war were in favour of a policy of safety rather than of display; they urged him to wait for his colleague, that they might unite their forces and act with one mind on a common plan, and pending his arrival they should check the wild excesses of the plundering enemy with cavalry and the light-armed auxiliaries. Enraged at these suggestions he dashed out of the council and ordered the trumpets to give the signal for march and battle; exclaiming at the same time: "We are to sit, I suppose, before the walls of Arretium, because our country and our household gods are here. Now that Hannibal has slipped through our hands, he is to ravage Italy, destroy and burn everything in his way till he reaches Rome, while we are not to stir from here until the senate summons C. Flaminius from Arretium as they once summoned Camillus from Veii." During this outburst, he ordered the standards to be pulled up with all speed and at the same time mounted his horse. No sooner had he done so than the animal stumbled and fell and threw him over its head All those who were standing round were appalled by what they took to be an evil omen at the beginning of a campaign, and their alarm was considerably increased by a message brought to the consul that the standard could not be moved though the standard-bearer had exerted his utmost strength. He turned to the messenger and asked him: "Are you bringing a despatch from the senate, also, forbidding me to go on with the campaign? Go, let them dig out the standard if their hands are too benumbed with fear for them to pull it up." Then the column began its march. The superior officers, besides being absolutely opposed to his plans, were thoroughly alarmed by the double portent, but the great body of the soldiers were delighted at the spirit their general had shown; they shared his confidence without knowing on what slender grounds it rested.
[22.4]In order still further to exasperate his enemy and make him eager to avenge the injuries inflicted on the allies of Rome, Hannibal laid waste with all the horrors of war the land between Cortona and Lake Trasumennus. He had now reached a position eminently adapted for surprise tactics, where the lake comes up close under the hills of Cortona. There is only a very narrow road here between the hills and the lake, as though a space had been purposely left far it. Further on there is a small expanse of level ground flanked by hills, and it was here that Hannibal pitched camp, which was only occupied by his Africans and Spaniards, he himself being in command. The Balearics and the rest of the light infantry he sent behind the hills; the cavalry, conveniently screened by some low hills, he stationed at the mouth of the defile, so that when the Romans had entered it they would be completely shut in by the cavalry, the lake, and the hills. Flaminius had reached the lake at sunset. The next morning, in a still uncertain light, he passed through the defile, without sending any scouts on to feel the way, and when the column began to deploy in the wider extent of level ground the only enemy they saw was the one in front, the rest were concealed in their rear and above their heads. When the Carthaginian saw his object achieved and had his enemy shut in between the lake and the hills with his forces surrounding them, he gave the signal for all to make a simultaneous attack, and they charged straight down upon the point nearest to them. The affair was all the more sudden and unexpected to the Romans because a fog which had risen from the lake was denser on the plain than on the heights; the bodies of the enemy on the various hills could see each other well enough, and it was all the easier for them to charge all at the same time. The shout of battle rose round the Romans before they could see clearly from whence it came, or became aware that they were surrounded. Fighting began in front and flank before they could form line or get their weapons ready or draw their swords.
[22.5]In the universal panic, the consul displayed all the coolness that could be expected under the circumstances. The ranks were broken by each man turning towards the discordant shouts; he re-formed them as well as time and place allowed, and wherever he could be seen or heard, he encouraged his men and bade them stand and fight. "It is not by prayers or entreaties to the gods that you must make your way out," he said, "but by your strength and your courage. It is the sword that cuts a path through the middle of the enemy, and where there is less fear there is generally less danger." But such was the uproar and confusion that neither counsel nor command could be heard, and so far was the soldier from recognising his standard or his company or his place in the rank, that he had hardly sufficient presence of mind to get hold of his weapons and make them available for use, and some who found them a burden rather than a protection were overtaken by the enemy. In such a thick fog ears were of more use than eyes; the men turned their gaze in every direction as they heard the groans of the wounded and the blows on shield or breastplate, and the mingled shouts of triumph and cries of panic. Some who tried to fly ran into a dense body of combatants and could get no further; others who were returning to the fray were swept away by a rush of fugitives. At last, when ineffective charges had been made in every direction and they found themselves completely hemmed in, by the lake and the hills on either side, and by the enemy in front and rear, it became clear to every man that his only hope of safety lay in his own right hand and his sword. Then each began to depend upon himself for guidance and encouragement, and the fighting began afresh, not the orderly battle with its three divisions of principes, hastati, and triarii, where the fighting line is in front of the standards and the rest of the army behind, and where each soldier is in his own legion and cohort and maniple. Chance massed them together, each man took his place in front or rear as his courage prompted him, and such was the ardour of the combatants, so intent were they on the battle, that not a single man on the field was aware of the earthquake which levelled large portions of many towns in Italy, altered the course of swift streams, brought the sea up into the rivers, and occasioned enormous landslips amongst the mountains.
[22.6]For almost three hours the fighting went on; everywhere a desperate struggle was kept up, but it raged with greater fierceness round the consul. He was followed by the pick of his army, and wherever he saw his men hard pressed and in difficulties he at once went to their help. Distinguished by his armour he was the object of the enemy's fiercest attacks, which his comrades did their utmost to repel, until an Insubrian horseman who knew the consul by sight - his name was Ducarius - cried out to his countrymen, "Here is the man who slew our legions and laid waste our city and our lands! I will offer him in sacrifice to the shades of my foully murdered countrymen." Digging spurs into his horse he charged into the dense masses of the enemy, and slew an armour-bearer who threw himself in the way as he galloped up lance in rest, and then plunged his lance into the consul; but the triarii protected the body with their shields and prevented him from despoiling it. Then began a general flight, neither lake nor mountain stopped the panic-stricken fugitives, they rushed like blind men over cliff and defile, men and arms tumbled pell-mell on one another. A large number, finding no avenue of escape, went into the water up to their shoulders; some in their wild terror even attempted to escape by swimming, an endless and hopeless task in that lake. Either their spirits gave way and they were drowned, or else finding their efforts fruitless, they regained with great difficulty the shallow water at the edge of the lake and were butchered in all directions by the enemy's cavalry who had ridden into the water. About 6000 men who had formed the head of the line of march cut their way through the enemy and cleared the defile, quite unconscious of all that had been going on behind them. They halted on some rising ground, and listened to the shouting below and the clash of arms, but were unable, owing to the fog, to see or find out what the fortunes of the fight were. At last, when the battle was over and the sun's heat had dispelled the fog, mountain and plain revealed in the clear light the disastrous overthrow of the Roman army and showed only too plainly that all was lost. Fearing lest they should be seen in the distance and cavalry be sent against them, they hurriedly took up their standards and disappeared with all possible speed. Maharbal pursued them through the night with the whole of his mounted force, and on the morrow, as starvation, in addition to all their other miseries, was threatening them, they surrendered to Maharbal, on condition of being allowed to depart with one garment apiece. This promise was kept with Punic faith by Hannibal, and he threw them all into chains.
[22.7]This was the famous battle at Trasumennus, and a disaster for Rome memorable as few others have been. Fifteen thousand Romans were killed in action; 1000 fugitives were scattered all over Etruria and reached the City by divers routes; 2500 of the enemy perished on the field, many in both armies afterwards of their wounds. Other authors give the loss on each side as many times greater, but I refuse to indulge in the idle exaggerations to which writers are far too much given, and what is more, I am supported by the authority of Fabius, who was living during the war. Hannibal dismissed without ransom those prisoners who belonged to the allies and threw the Romans into chains. He then gave orders for the bodies of his own men to be picked out from the heaps of slain and buried; careful search was also made for the body of Flaminius that it might receive honourable interment but it was not found. As soon as the news of this disaster reached Rome the people flocked into the Forum in a great state of panic and confusion. Matrons were wandering about the streets and asking those they met what recent disaster had been reported or what news was there of the army. The throng in the Forum, as numerous as a crowded Assembly, flocked towards the Comitium and the Senate-house and called for the magistrates. At last, shortly before sunset, M. Pomponius, the praetor, announced, "We have been defeated in a great battle." Though nothing more definite was heard from him, the people, full of the reports which they had heard from one another, carried back to their homes the information that the consul had been killed with the greater part of his army; only a few survived, and these were either dispersed in flight throughout Etruria or had been made prisoners by the enemy.
The misfortunes which had befallen the defeated army were not more numerous than the anxieties of those whose relatives had served under C. Flaminius, ignorant as they were of the fate of each of their friends, and not in the least knowing what to hope for or what to fear. The next day and several days afterwards, a large crowd, containing more women than men, stood at the gates waiting for some one of their friends or for news about them, and they crowded round those they met with eager and anxious inquiries, nor was it possible to get them away, especially from those they knew, until they had got all the details from first to last. Then as they came away from their informants you might see the different expressions on their faces, according as each had received good or bad news, and friends congratulating or consoling them as they wended their way homewards. The women were especially demonstrative in their joy and in their grief. They say that one who suddenly met her son at the gate safe and sound expired in his arms, whilst another who had received false tidings of her son's death and was sitting as a sorrowful mourner in her house, no sooner saw him returning than she died from too great happiness. For several days the praetors kept the senate in session from sunrise to sunset, deliberating under what general or with what forces they could offer effectual resistance to the victorious Carthaginian.
[22.8]Before they had formed any definite plans, a fresh disaster was announced; 4000 cavalry under the command of C. Centenius, the propraetor, had been sent by the consul Servilius to the assistance of his colleague. When they heard of the battle at Trasumennus they marched into Umbria, and here they were surrounded and captured by Hannibal. The news of this occurrence affected men in very different ways. Some, whose thoughts were preoccupied with more serious troubles, looked upon this loss of cavalry as a light matter in comparison with the previous losses; others estimated the importance of the incident not by the magnitude of the loss but by its moral effect. Just as where the constitution is impaired, any malady however slight is felt more than it would be in a strong robust person, so any misfortune which befell the State in its present sick and disordered condition must be measured not by its actual importance but by its effect on a State already exhausted and unable to bear anything which would aggravate its condition. Accordingly the citizens took refuge in a remedy which for a long time had not been made use of or required, namely the appointment of a Dictator. As the consul by whom alone one could be nominated was absent, and it was not easy for a messenger or a despatch to be sent through Italy, overrun as it was by the arms of Carthage, and as it would have been contrary to all precedent for the people to appoint a Dictator, the Assembly invested Q. Fabius Maximus with dictatorial powers and appointed M. Minucius Rufus to act as his Master of the Horse. They were commissioned by the senate to strengthen the walls and towers of the City and place garrisons in whatever positions they thought best, and cut down the bridges over the various rivers, for now it was a fight for their City and their homes, since they were no longer able to defend Italy.
[22.9]Hannibal marched in a straight course through Umbria as far as Spoletum, and after laying the country round utterly waste, he commenced an attack upon the city which was repulsed with heavy loss. As a single colony was strong enough to defeat his unfortunate attempt he was able to form some conjecture as to the difficulties attending the capture of Rome, and consequently diverted his march into the territory of Picenum, a district which not only abounded in every kind of produce but was richly stored with property which the greedy and needy soldiers seized and plundered without restraint. He remained in camp there for several days during which his soldiers recruited their strength after their winter campaigns and their journey across the marshes, and a battle which though ultimately successful was neither without heavy loss nor easily won. When sufficient time for rest had been allowed to men who delighted much more in plundering and destroying than in ease and idleness, Hannibal resumed his march and devastated the districts of Praetutia and Hadria, then he treated in the same way the country of the Marsi, the Marrucini, and the Peligni and the part of Apulia which was nearest to him, including the cities of Arpi and Luceria. Cn. Servilius had fought some insignificant actions with the Gauls and taken one small town, but when he heard of his colleague's death and the destruction of his army, he was alarmed for the walls of his native City, and marched straight for Rome that he might not be absent at this most critical juncture.
Q. Fabius Maximus was now Dictator for the second time. On the very day of his entrance upon office he summoned a meeting of the senate, and commenced by discussing matters of religion. He made it quite clear to the senators that C. Flaminius' fault lay much more in his neglect of the auspices and of his religious duties than in bad generalship and foolhardiness. The gods themselves, he maintained, must be consulted as to the necessary measures to avert their displeasure, and he succeeded in getting a decree passed that the decemvirs should be ordered to consult the Sibylline Books, a course which is only adopted when the most alarming portents have been reported. After inspecting the Books of Fate they informed the senate that the vow which had been made to Mars in view of that war had not been duly discharged, and that it must be discharged afresh and on a much greater scale. The Great Games must be vowed to Jupiter, a temple to Venus Erycina and one to Mens; a lectisternium must be held and solemn intercessions made; a Sacred Spring must also be vowed. All these things must be done if the war was to be a successful one and the republic remain in the same position in which it was at the beginning of the war. As Fabius would be wholly occupied with the necessary arrangements for the war, the senate with the full approval of the pontifical college ordered the praetor, M. Aemilius, to take care that all these orders were carried out in good time.
[22.10]After these resolutions had been passed in the senate the praetor consulted the pontifical college as to the proper means of giving effect to them, and L. Cornelius Lentulus, the Pontifex Maximus, decided that the very first step to take was to refer to the people the question of a "Sacred Spring," as this particular form of vow could not be undertaken without the order of the people. The form of procedure was as follows: "Is it," the praetor asked the Assembly, "your will and pleasure that all be done and performed in manner following? That is to say, if the commonwealth of the Romans and the Quirites be preserved, as I pray it may be, safe and sound through these present wars - to wit, the war between Rome and Carthage and the wars with the Gauls now dwelling on the hither side of the Alps - then shall the Romans and Quirites present as an offering whatever the spring shall produce from their flocks and herds, whether it be from swine or sheep or goats or cattle, and all that is not already devoted to any other deity shall be consecrated to Jupiter from such time as the senate and people shall order. Whosoever shall make an offering let him do it at whatsoever time and in whatsoever manner he will, and howsoever he offers it, it shall be accounted to be duly offered. If the animal which should have been sacrificed die, it shall be as though unconsecrated, there shall be no sin. If any man shall hurt or slay a consecrated thing unwittingly he shall not be held guilty. If a man shall have stolen any such animal, the people shall not bear the guilt, nor he from whom it was stolen. If a man offer his sacrifice unwittingly on a forbidden day, it shall be accounted to be duly offered. Whether he do so by night or day, whether he be slave or freeman, it shall be accounted to be duly offered. If any sacrifice be offered before the senate and people have ordered that it shall be done, the people shall be free and absolved from all guilt therefrom." To the same end the Great Games were vowed at a cost of 333,333 1/3 ases, and in addition 300 oxen to Jupiter, and white oxen and the other customary victims to a number of deities. When the vows had been duly pronounced a litany of intercession was ordered, and not only the population of the City but the people from the country districts, whose private interests were being affected by the public distress, went in procession with their wives and children. Then a lectisternium was held for three days under the supervision of the ten keepers of the Sacred Books. Six couches were publicly exhibited; one for Jupiter and Juno, another for Neptune and Minerva, a third for Mars and Venus, a fourth for Apollo and Diana, a fifth for Vulcan and Vesta, and the sixth for Mercury and Ceres. This was followed by the vowing of temples. Q. Fabius Maximus, as Dictator, vowed the temple to Venus Erycina, because it was laid down in the Books of Fate that this vow should be made by the man who possessed the supreme authority in the State. T. Otacilius, the praetor, vowed the temple to Mens.

The Battle of Cannae
[22.44]The consuls followed the Carthaginians, carefully examining the roads as they marched, and when they reached Cannae and had the enemy in view they formed two entrenched camps separated by the same interval as at Gereonium, and with the same distribution of troops in each camp. The river Aufidus, flowing past the two camps, furnished a supply of water which the soldiers got as they best could, and they generally had to fight for it. The men in the smaller camp, which was on the other side of the river, had less difficulty in obtaining it, as that bank was not held by the enemy. Hannibal now saw his hopes fulfilled, that the consuls would give him an opportunity of fighting on ground naturally adapted for the movements of cavalry, the arm in which he had so far been invincible, and accordingly he placed his army in order of battle, and tried to provoke his foe to action by repeated charges of his Numidians. The Roman camp was again disturbed by a mutinous soldiery and consuls at variance, Paulus bringing up against Varro the fatal rashness of Sempronius and Flaminius, Varro retorting by pointing to Fabius as the favourite model of cowardly and inert commanders, and calling gods and men to witness that it was through no fault of his that Hannibal had acquired, so to speak, a prescriptive right to Italy; he had had his hands tied by his colleague; his soldiers, furious and eager for fight, had had their swords and arms taken away from them. Paulus, on the other hand, declared that if anything happened to the legions flung recklessly and betrayed into an ill-considered and imprudent action, he was free from all responsibility for it, though he would have to share in all the consequences. "See to it," he said to Varro, "that those who are so free and ready with their tongues are equally so with their hands in the day of battle."
[22.45]Whilst time was thus being wasted in disputes instead of deliberation, Hannibal withdrew the bulk of his army, who had been standing most of the day in order of battle, into camp. He sent his Numidians, however, across the river to attack the parties who were getting water for the smaller camp. They had hardly gained the opposite bank when with their shouting and uproar they sent the crowd flying in wild disorder, and galloping on as far as the outpost in front of the rampart, they nearly reached the gates of the camp. It was looked upon as such an insult for a Roman camp to be actually terrorised by irregular auxiliaries that one thing, and one thing alone, held back the Romans from instantly crossing the river and forming their battle line - the supreme command that day rested with Paulus. The following day Varro, whose turn it now was, without any consultation with his colleague, exhibited the signal for battle and led his forces drawn up for action across the river. Paulus followed, for though he disapproved of the measure, he was bound to support it. After crossing, they strengthened their line with the force in the smaller camp and completed their formation. On the right, which was nearest to the river, the Roman cavalry were posted, then came the infantry; on the extreme left were the cavalry of the allies, their infantry were between them and the Roman legions. The javelin men with the rest of the light-armed auxiliaries formed the front line. The consuls took their stations on the wings, Terentius Varro on the left, Aemilius Paulus on the right.
[22.46]As soon as it grew light Hannibal sent forward the Balearics and the other light infantry. He then crossed the river in person and as each division was brought across he assigned it its place in the line. The Gaulish and Spanish horse he posted near the bank on the left wing in front of the Roman cavalry; the right wing was assigned to the Numidian troopers. The centre consisted of a strong force of infantry, the Gauls and Spaniards in the middle, the Africans at either end of them. You might fancy that the Africans were for the most part a body of Romans from the way they were armed, they were so completely equipped with the arms, some of which they had taken at the Trebia, but the most part at Trasumennus. The Gauls and Spaniards had shields almost of the same shape their swords were totally different, those of the Gauls being very long and without a point, the Spaniard, accustomed to thrust more than to cut, had a short handy sword, pointed like a dagger. These nations, more than any other, inspired terror by the vastness of their stature and their frightful appearance: the Gauls were naked above the waist, the Spaniards had taken up their position wearing white tunics embroidered with purple, of dazzling brilliancy. The total number of infantry in the field was 40,000, and there were 10,000 cavalry. Hasdrubal was in command of the left wing, Maharbal of the right; Hannibal himself with his brother Mago commanded the centre. It was a great convenience to both armies that the sun shone obliquely on them, whether it was that they had purposely so placed themselves, or whether it happened by accident, since the Romans faced the north, the Carthaginans the South. The wind, called by the inhabitants the Vulturnus, was against the Romans, and blew great clouds of dust into their faces, making it impossible for them to see in front of them.
[22.47]When the battle shout was raised the auxiliaries ran forward, and the battle began with the light infantry. Then the Gauls and Spaniards on the left engaged the Roman cavalry on the right; the battle was not at all like a cavalry fight, for there was no room for maneuvering, the river on the one side and the infantry on the other hemming them in, compelled them to fight face to face. Each side tried to force their way straight forward, till at last the horses were standing in a closely pressed mass, and the riders seized their opponents and tried to drag them from their horses. It had become mainly a struggle of infantry, fierce but short, and the Roman cavalry was repulsed and fled. Just as this battle of the cavalry was finished, the infantry became engaged, and as long as the Gauls and Spaniards kept their ranks unbroken, both sides were equally matched in strength and courage. At length after long and repeated efforts the Romans closed up their ranks, echeloned their front, and by the sheer weight of their deep column bore down the division of the enemy which was stationed in front of Hannibal's line, and was too thin and weak to resist the pressure. Without a moment's pause they followed up their broken and hastily retreating foe till they took to headlong flight. Cutting their way through the mass of fugitives, who offered no resistance, they penetrated as far as the Africans who were stationed on both wings, somewhat further back than the Gauls and Spaniards who had formed the advanced centre. As the latter fell back the whole front became level, and as they continued to give ground it became concave and crescent-shaped, the Africans at either end forming the horns. As the Romans rushed on incautiously between them, they were enfiladed by the two wings, which extended and closed round them in the rear. On this, the Romans, who had fought one battle to no purpose, left the Gauls and Spaniards, whose rear they had been slaughtering, and commenced a fresh struggle with the Africans. The contest was a very one-sided one, for not only were they hemmed in on all sides, but wearied with the previous fighting they were meeting fresh and vigorous opponents.
[22.48]By this time the Roman left wing, where the allied cavalry were fronting the Numidians, had become engaged, but the fighting was slack at first owing to a Carthaginian stratagem. About 500 Numidians, carrying, besides their usual arms and missiles, swords concealed under their coats of mail, rode out from their own line with their shields slung behind their backs as though they were deserters, and suddenly leaped from their horses and flung their shields and javelins at the feet of their enemy. They were received into their ranks, conducted to the rear, and ordered to remain quiet. While the battle was spreading to the various parts of the field they remained quiet, but when the eyes and minds of all were wholly taken up with the fighting they seized the large Roman shields which were lying everywhere amongst the heaps of slain and commenced a furious attack upon the rear of the Roman line. Slashing away at backs and hips, they made a great slaughter and a still greater panic and confusion. Amidst the rout and panic in one part of the field and the obstinate but hopeless struggle in the other, Hasdrubal, who was in command of that arm, withdrew some Numidians from the centre of the right wing, where the fighting was feebly kept up, and sent them m pursuit of the fugitives, and at the same time sent the Spanish and Gaulish horse to the aid of the Africans, who were by this time more wearied by slaughter than by fighting.
[22.49]Paulus was on the other side of the field. In spite of his having been seriously wounded at the commencement of the action by a bullet from a sling, he frequently encountered Hannibal with a compact body of troops, and in several places restored the battle. The Roman cavalry formed a bodyguard round him, but at last, as he became too weak to manage his horse, they all dismounted. It is stated that when some one reported to Hannibal that the consul had ordered his men to fight on foot, he remarked, "I would rather he handed them over to me bound hand and foot.'' Now that the victory of the enemy was no longer doubtful this struggle of the dismounted cavalry was such as might be expected when men preferred to die where they stood rather than flee, and the victors, furious at them for delaying the victory, butchered without mercy those whom they could not dislodge. They did, however, repulse a few survivors exhausted with their exertions and their wounds. All were at last scattered, and those who could regained their horses for flight. Cn. Lentulus, a military tribune, saw, as he rode by, the consul covered with blood sitting on a boulder. "Lucius Aemilius," he said, "the one man whom the gods must hold guiltless of this day's disaster, take this horse while you have still some strength left, and I can lift you into the saddle and keep by your side to protect you. Do not make this day of battle still more fatal by a consul's death, there are enough tears and mourning without that." The consul replied: "Long may you live to do brave deeds, Cornelius, but do not waste in useless pity the few moments left in which to escape from the hands of the enemy. Go, announce publicly to the senate that they must fortify Rome and make its defence strong before the victorious enemy approaches, and tell Q. Fabius privately that I have ever remembered his precepts in life and in death. Suffer me to breathe my last among my slaughtered soldiers, let me not have to defend myself again when I am no longer consul, or appear as the accuser of my colleague and protect my own innocence by throwing the guilt on another." During this conversation a crowd of fugitives came suddenly upon them, followed by the enemy, who, not knowing who the consul was, overwhelmed him with a shower of missiles. Lentulus escaped on horseback in the rush. Then there was flight in all directions; 7000 men escaped to the smaller camp, 10,000 to the larger, and about 2000 to the village of Cannae. These latter were at once surrounded by Carthalo and his cavalry, as the village was quite unfortified. The other consul, who either by accident or design had not joined any of these bodies of fugitives, escaped with about fifty cavalry to Venusia; 45,500 infantry, 2700 cavalry - almost an equal proportion of Romans and allies - are said to have been killed. Amongst the number were both the quaestors attached to the consuls, L. Atilius and L. Furius Bibulcus, twenty-nine military tribunes, several ex-consuls, ex-praetors, and ex-aediles (amongst them are included Cn. Servilius Geminus and M. Minucius, who was Master of the Horse the previous year and, some years before that, consul), and in addition to these, eighty men who had either been senators or filled offices qualifying them for election to the senate and who had volunteered for service with the legions. The prisoners taken in the battle are stated to have amounted to 3000 infantry and 1500 cavalry.
[22.50]Such was the battle of Cannae, a battle as famous as the disastrous one at the Allia; not so serious in its results, owing to the inaction of the enemy, but more serious and more horrible in view of the slaughter of the army. For the flight at the Allia saved the army though it lost the City, whereas at Cannae hardly fifty men shared the consul's flight, nearly the whole army met their death in company with the other consul. (An officer named P. Sempronius Tuditanus rallies 600 men to escape Hannibal’s clutches. They came through safely to Canusium. This action on the part of defeated men was due to the impulse of natural courage or of accident rather than to any concerted plan of their own or any one's generalship.)
[22.51]Hannibal's officers all surrounded him and congratulated him on his victory, and urged that after such a magnificent success he should allow himself and his exhausted men to rest for the remainder of the day and the following night. Maharbal, however, the commandant of the cavalry, thought that they ought not to lose a moment. "That you may know," he said to Hannibal, "what has been gained by this battle I prophesy that in five days you will be feasting as victor in the Capitol. Follow me; I will go in advance with the cavalry; they will know that you are come before they know that you are coming." To Hannibal the victory seemed too great and too joyous for him to realise all at once. He told Maharbal that he commended his zeal, but he needed time to think out his plans. Maharbal replied: "The gods have not given all their gifts to one man. You know how to win victory, Hannibal, you do not how to use it." That day's delay is believed to have saved the City and the empire. The next day, as soon as it grew light, they set about gathering the spoils on the field and viewing the carnage, which was a ghastly sight even for an enemy. There all those thousands of Romans were lying, infantry and cavalry indiscriminately as chance had brought them together in the battle or the flight. Some covered with blood raised themselves from amongst the dead around them, tortured by their wounds which were nipped by the cold of the morning, and were promptly put an end to by the enemy. Some they found lying with their thighs and knees gashed but still alive; these bared their throats and necks and bade them drain what blood they still had left. Some were discovered with their heads buried in the earth, they had evidently suffocated themselves by making holes in the ground and heaping the soil over their faces. What attracted the attention of all was a Numidian who was dragged alive from under a dead Roman lying across him; his ears and nose were torn, for the Roman with hands too powerless to grasp his weapon had, in his mad rage, torn his enemy with his teeth, and while doing so expired.

57.3 When the gods were believed to be duly propitiated, M. Claudius Marcellus sent from Ostia 1500 men who had been enrolled for service with the fleet to garrison Rome; the naval legion (the third) he sent on in advance with the military tribunes to Teanum Sidicinum, and then, handing the fleet over to his colleague, P. Furius Philus, hastened on by forced marches a few days later to Canusium. On the authority of the senate M. Junius was nominated Dictator and Ti. Sempronius Master of the Horse. A levy was ordered, and all from seventeen years upwards were enrolled, some even younger; out of these recruits four legions were formed and 1000 cavalry. They also sent to the Latin confederacy and the other allied states to enlist soldiers according to the terms of their treaties. Armour, weapons, and other things of the kind were ordered to be in readiness, and the ancient spoils gathered from the enemy were taken down from the temples and colonnades. The dearth of freemen necessitated a new kind of enlistment; 8000 sturdy youths from amongst the slaves were armed at the public cost, after they had each been asked whether they were willing to serve or no. These soldiers were preferred, as there would be an opportunity of ransoming them when taken prisoners at a lower price.
[22.58]After his great success at Cannae, Hannibal made his arrangements more as though his victory were a complete and decisive one than as if the war were still going on. The prisoners were brought before him and separated into two groups; the allies were treated as they had been at the Trebia and at Trasumennus, after some kind words they were dismissed without ransom; the Romans, too, were treated as they had never been before, for when they appeared before him he addressed them in quite a friendly way. He had no deadly feud, he told them, with Rome, all he was fighting for was his country's honour as a sovereign power. His fathers had yielded to Roman courage, his one object now was that the Romans should yield to his good fortune and courage. He now gave the prisoners permission to ransom themselves; each horseman at 500 "chariot pieces" and each foot-soldier at 300, and the slaves at 100 per head. This was somewhat more than the cavalry had agreed to when they surrendered, but they were only too glad to accept any terms. It was settled that they should elect ten of their number to go to the senate at Rome, and the only guarantee required was that they should take an oath to return. They were accompanied by Carthalo, a Carthaginian noble, who was to sound the feelings of the senators, and if they were inclined towards peace he was to propose terms. When the delegates had left the camp, one of them, a man of an utterly un-Roman temper, returned to the camp, as if he had forgotten something, and in this way hoped to free himself from his oath. He rejoined his comrades before nightfall. When it was announced that the party were on their way to Rome a lictor was despatched to meet Carthalo and order him in the name of the Dictator to quit the territory of Rome before night.
[22.59]The Dictator admitted the prisoners' delegates to an audience of the senate. Their leader, M. Junius, spoke as follows: "Senators: we are every one of us aware that no State has held its prisoners of war of less account than our own, but, unless we think our case a better one than we have any right to do, we would urge that none have ever fallen into the hands of the enemy who were more deserving of consideration than we are. For we did not give up our arms during the battle from sheer cowardice; standing on the heaps of the slain we kept up the struggle till close on night, and only then did we retire into camp; for the remainder of the day and all through the night we defended our entrenchments; the following day we were surrounded by the victorious army and cut off from the water, and there was no hope whatever now of our forcing our way through the dense masses of the enemy. We did not think it a crime for some of Rome's soldiers to survive the battle of Cannae, seeing that 50,000 men had been butchered there, and therefore in the very last resort we consented to have a price fixed for our ransom and surrendered to the enemy those arms which were no longer of the slightest use to us. Besides, we had heard that our ancestors had ransomed themselves from the Gauls with gold, and that your fathers, sternly as they set themselves against all conditions of peace, did nevertheless send delegates to Tarentum to arrange the ransom of the prisoners. But neither the battle at the Alia against the Gauls nor that at Heraclea against Pyrrhus was disgraced by the actual losses sustained so much as by the panic and flight which marked them. The plains of Cannae are covered by heaps of Roman dead, and we should not be here now if the enemy had not lacked arms and strength to slay us. There are some amongst us who were never in the battle at all, but were left to guard the camp, and when it was surrendered they fell into the hands of the enemy. I do not envy the fortune or the circumstances of any man, whether he be a fellow-citizen or a fellow-soldier, nor would I wish it to be said that I had glorified myself by depreciating others, but this I will say, not even those who fled from the battle, mostly without arms, and did not stay their flight till they had reached Venusia or Canusium, can claim precedence over us or boast that they are more of a defence to the State than we are. But you will find both in them and in us good and gallant soldiers, only we shall be still more eager to serve our country because it will be through your kindness that we shall have been ransomed and restored to our fatherland. You have enlisted men of all ages and of every condition; I hear that eight thousand slaves are armed. Our number is no less, and it will not cost more to ransom us than it did to purchase them, but if I were to compare ourselves as soldiers with them, I should be offering an insult to the name of Roman. I should think, senators, that in deciding upon a matter like this, you should also take into consideration, if you are disposed to be too severe, to what sort of an enemy you are going to abandon us. Is it to a Pyrrhus, who treated his prisoners as though they were his guests? Is it not rather to a barbarian, and what is worse, a Carthaginian, of whom it is difficult to judge whether he is more rapacious or more cruel? Could you see the chains, the squalor, the disgusting appearance of your fellow-citizens, the sight would, I am sure, move you no less than if, on the other hand, you beheld your legions lying scattered over the plains of Cannae. You can behold the anxiety and the tears of our kinsmen as they stand in the vestibule of your House and await your reply. If they are in such anxiety and suspense about us and about those who are not here, what, think you, must be the feelings of the men themselves whose life and liberty are at stake? Why, good heavens! even if Hannibal, contrary to his nature, chose to be kind to us, we should still think life not worth living after you had decided that we did not deserve to be ransomed. Years ago the prisoners who were released by Pyrrhus without ransom returned to Rome, but they returned in company with the foremost men of the State who had been sent to effect their ransom. Am I to return to my native country as a citizen not thought worth three hundred coins ? Each of us has his own feelings, senators. I know that my life and person are at stake, but I dread more the peril to my good name, in case we depart condemned and repulsed by you; for men will never believe that you grudged the cost."
[22.60]No sooner had he finished than a tearful cry arose from the crowd in the comitium; they stretched their hands towards the Senate-house and implored the senators to give them back their children, their brothers, and their relations. Fear and affection had brought even women amongst the crowd of men who thronged the Forum. After the strangers had withdrawn the debate commenced in the senate. There was great difference of opinion; some said that they ought to be ransomed at the expense of the State, others were of opinion that no public expense ought to be incurred, but they ought not to be prevented from defraying the cost from private sources, and in cases where ready money was not available it should be advanced from the treasury on personal security and mortgages. When it came to the turn of T. Manlius Torquatus, a man of old-fashioned and, some thought, excessive strictness, to give his opinion, he is said to have spoken in these terms: "If the delegates had confined themselves to asking that those who are in the hands of the enemy might be ransomed, I should have stated my opinion in few words without casting reflections on any of them, for all that would have been necessary would be to remind you that you should maintain the custom and usage handed down from our forefathers by setting an example necessary for military discipline. But as it is, since they have almost treated their surrender to the enemy as a thing to be proud of, and think it right that they should receive more consideration than the prisoners taken in the field or those who reached Venusia and Canusium, or even the consul himself, I will not allow you to remain in ignorance of what actually happened. I only wish that the facts which I am about to allege could be brought before the army at Canusium, which is best able to testify to each man's courage or cowardice, or at least that we had before us P. Sempronius Tuditanus, for if these men had followed him they would at this moment be in the Roman camp, not prisoners in the hands of the foe.
"The enemy had nearly all returned to their camp, tired out with fighting, to make merry over their victory, and these men had the night clear for a sortie. Seven thousand men could easily have made a sortie, even through dense masses of the enemy, but they did not make any attempt to do so on their own initiative, nor would they follow any one else. Nearly the whole night through P. Sempronius Tuditanus was continually warning them and urging them to follow him, whilst only a few of the enemy were watching their camp, whilst all was quiet and silent, whilst the night could still conceal their movements; before it was light they could reach safety and be protected by the cities of our allies. If he had spoken as that military tribune P. Decius spoke in the days of our fathers, or as Calpurnius Flamma, in the first Punic war, when we were young men, spoke to his three hundred volunteers whom he was leading to the capture of a height situated in the very centre of the enemy's position: 'Let us,' he exclaimed, 'die, my men, and by our death rescue our blockaded legions from their peril' - if, I say, P. Sempronius had spoken thus, I should not regard you as men, much less as Romans, if none had come forward as the comrade of so brave a man. But the way he pointed out to you led to safety quite as much as to glory, he would have brought you back to your country, your parents, your wives, and your children. You have not courage enough to save yourselves; what would you do if you had to die for your country? All round you on that day were lying fifty thousand dead, Romans and allies. If so many examples of courage did not inspire you, nothing ever will. If such an awful disaster did not make you hold your lives cheap, none will ever do so. It is whilst you are free men, with all your rights as citizens, that you must show your love for your country, or rather, while it is your country and you are its citizens. Now you are showing that love too late, your rights forfeited, your citizenship renounced, you have become the slaves of the Carthaginians. Is money going to restore you to the position which you have lost through cowardice and crime? You would not listen to your own countryman Sempronius when he bade you seize your arms and follow him, you did listen shortly afterwards to Hannibal when he bade you give up your arms and betray your camp. But why do I only charge these men with cowardice when I can prove them guilty of actual crime? For not only did they refuse to follow him when he gave them good advice, but they tried to stop him and keep him back, until a body of truly brave men drew their swords and drove back the cowards. P. Sempronius had actually to force his way through his own countrymen before he could do so through the enemy! Would our country care to have such as these for her citizens when, had all those who fought at Cannae been like them, she would not have had amongst them a single citizen worth the name! Out of seven thousand men in arms there were six hundred who had the courage to force their way, and returned to their country free men with arms in their hands. The enemy did not stop these six hundred, how safe the way would have been, do you not think? for a force of almost two legions. You would have to-day, senators, at Canusium 20,000 brave loyal soldiers; but as for these men, how can they possibly be good and loyal citizens? And as to their being 'brave,' they do not even themselves assert that - unless, indeed, some one chooses to imagine that whilst they were trying to stop the others from making the sortie, they were really encouraging them, or that, fully aware that their own timidity and cowardice was the cause of their becoming slaves, they feel no grudge towards the others for having won both safety and glory through their courage. Though they might have got away in the dead of the night, they preferred to skulk in their tents and wait for the daylight and with it the enemy. But you will say, if they lacked courage to leave the camp they had courage enough to defend it bravely; blockaded for several days and nights, they protected the rampart with their arms, and themselves with the rampart; at last, after going to the utmost lengths of endurance and daring, when every support of life failed, and they were so weakened by starvation that they had not strength to bear the weight of their arms, they were in the end conquered by the necessities of nature more than by the force of arms. What are the facts? At daybreak the enemy approached the rampart; within two hours, without trying their fortune in any conflict, they gave up their arms and themselves. This, you see, was their two days' soldiership. When duty called them to keep their line and fight they fled to their camp, when they ought to have fought at the rampart they surrendered their camp; they are useless alike in the field and in the camp. Am I to ransom you? When you ought to have made your way out of the camp you hesitated and remained there, when it was obligatory for you to remain there and defend the camp with your arms you gave up camp, arms, and yourselves to the enemy. No, senators, I do not think that those men ought to be ransomed any more than I should think it right to surrender to Hannibal the men who forced their way out of the camp through the midst of the enemy and by that supreme act of courage restored themselves to their fatherland."
[22.61]Although most of the senators had relations among the prisoners, there were two considerations which weighed with them at the close of Manlius' speech. One was the practice of the State which from early times had shown very little indulgence to prisoners of war. The other was the amount of money that would be required, for they were anxious that the treasury should not be exhausted, a large sum having been already paid out in purchasing and arming the slaves, and they did not wish to enrich Hannibal who, according to rumour, was in particular need of money. When the melancholy reply was given that the prisoners were not ransomed, the prevailing grief was intensified by the loss of so many citizens, and the delegates were accompanied to the gates by a weeping and protesting crowd. One of them went to his home because he considered himself released from his vow by his pretended return to the camp. When this became known it was reported to the senate, and they unanimously decided that he should be arrested and conveyed to Hannibal under a guard furnished by the State. There is another account extant as to the fate of the prisoners. According to this tradition ten came at first, and there was a debate in the senate as to whether they should be allowed within the City or not; they were admitted on the understanding that the senate would not grant them an audience. As they stayed longer than was generally expected, three other delegates arrived - L. Scribonius, C. Calpurnius, and L. Manlius - and a relative of Scribonius who was a tribune of the plebs made a motion in the senate to ransom the prisoners. The senate decided that they should not be ransomed, and the three who came last returned to Hannibal, but the ten remained in Rome. They alleged that they had absolved themselves from their oath because after starting on their journey they had returned to Hannibal under the pretext of reviewing the list of the prisoners' names. The question of surrendering them was hotly debated in the senate, and those in favour of this course were beaten by only a few votes. Under the next censors, however, they were so crushed beneath every mark of disgrace and infamy that some of them immediately committed suicide; the others not only avoided the Forum for all their after life, but almost shunned the light of day and the faces of men. It is easier to feel astonishment at such discrepancies amongst our authorities than to determine what is the truth.
How far that disaster surpassed previous ones is shown by one simple fact. Up to that day the loyalty of our allies had remained unshaken, now it began to waver, for no other reason, we may be certain, than that they despaired of the maintenance of our empire. The tribes who revolted to the Carthaginians were the Atellani, the Calatini, the Hirpini, a section of the Apulians, all the Samnite cantons with the exception of the Pentri, all the Bruttii and the Lucanians. In addition to these, the Uzentini and almost the whole of the coast of Magna Graecia, the people of Tarentum Crotona and Locri, as well as all Cisalpine Gaul. Yet, in spite of all their disasters and the revolt of their allies, no one anywhere in Rome mentioned the word "Peace," either before the consul's return or after his arrival when all the memories of their losses were renewed. Such a lofty spirit did the citizens exhibit in those days that though the consul was coming back from a terrible defeat for which they knew he was mainly responsible, he was met by a vast concourse drawn from every class of society, and thanks were formally voted to him because he "had not despaired of the republic." Had he been commander-in-chief of the Carthaginians there was no torture to which he would not have been subjected.

Tarrentine War

The Tarrantine War (War with Pyrrhus) 280-275

I. Roman imperialism south led to conflict with Tarrentum
1. Most Greek poleis folded and accepted a treaty with Rome
2. Tarrentum attacked Roman merchants in their waters (280)
A. Roman ambassadors demand recompense, but are abused
B. Tarrentines seek outside help from all, but are rebuffed until
C. Pyrrhus of Epirus accepts their call
3. Pyrrhus was at a crossroads in his reign
A. He lost Macedon to Lysimachus in 285, but L was slain in 281.
B. Pyrrhus had marriage ties to Syracuse, now a democracy again
C. His long predecessor, the other Alexander, fought in Italy in 330
4. Pyrrhus levies 25,000 men and invades

II. Marks the turning point into History
1. Greek historians of Pyrrhus start to write about Rome
2. Contact with Greeks in Magna Graecia and East brings a wave of Hellenism
3. Rome takes on a kinsman of Alexander the Great (remote kinsman) and lives
4. Full force of Macedonian war machine hits Rome; new technologies

III. Pyrrhus occupies Tarrentum, prepares for war
1. Conscripts all the Tarrentines, forces them to drill
2. Tarrentum ceases to be the enemy, becomes virtual subject of Pyrrhus
3. Recruits local Italians (Messapians) to his banner vs. Rome
4. Engages Valerius Laevinius at Heraclea, 279 and defeats him, heavy losses
5. Engages Decius Mus at Asculum, 278 and defeats him, Pyrrhic Victory
6. Marches on Rome as far as Preaeneste, negotiations fail, he goes to Sicily

IV. Pyrrhus and the Romans
1. Sent Cineas to negotiate but “Rome is full of kings”
2. Sent the POWs home after Heraclea for the Saturnalia holiday
3. Freed them all when they returned
4. Tried to intimidate Fabricius Luscinus, then tried to hire him
5. Offered to split Italy, but App. Claudius Caecus prevented this
6. Respected Roman soldiers

V. Pyrrhus and Carthage
1. Quit Italy in 278 to be crowned king of Sicily – created hostilities with C
2. Renewed his father-in-law’s wars with C and beat them up a few times
3. Gained nothing for all his efforts. C had a navy.
4. Time in Sicily allowed Rome to regroup, reorganize its army.

VI. The Final Italian showdown
1. Maleventum = Beneventum 275, vs M’ Curius Dentatus, dead draw, heavy losses
2. Romans claim it was a victory, but it was not
3. Pyrrhus rushed back to Greece, but left garrisons and planned to return, slain 272

Ancient Political Thought **

Ancient Political Theory
19 Sept 07

I. Three forms of Gvt in Ancient Thought: Monarchy, Aristocracy, Democracy. Each form has a good form and a bad.
Kings and tyrants
Aristocrats and Special interests = Oligarchy
Democracy (can this be good?) and Mob Rule

II. According to Polybius, Rome’s strength comes from its mixed constitution whose combo of the three forms serves as an addition check/balance. Those poleis with a pure gvt suffer a constant political stasis, and many fall to coups/revolution where one form of gvt replaces another as soon as the pure form goes corrupt, anacylusis
A. Monarchy - two consuls have the power of a king and ability to respond swiftly if in agreement. But they have the power to oppose one another.
B. Oligarchy of the Senatorial families whose mass numbers provide the most likely right course of action in a crisis. They also in unison can oppose one consul by making things uncomfortable.
C. Elections provide mass participation in political process, but rich vote first so the poor do not always vote. They do occasionally riot to express opinions.

III. Cursus Honorum
Dictator
Censor
Consul / 2 created in 509
Praetor / 2, 4 later 8 created in 366
Aedile / 2, later 4 created in 367
Tribune ?? / 2, soon 10 created 494
Quaestor / 1 per magistrate from 509

IV. The different comitia (assemblies)
A. centuriata 193 centuries: 18 equites, 80 1st class, 20, 20, 20, 30, 2,2, 1. Rich vote first. They elect consuls, praetors, 2 aediles, quaestors. Approve treaties, laws, consists of all citizens.
B. tributa 35 tribes, vote laws, plebiscites, also consists of all citizens.
C. concilium plebis just like c. tributa w/o patricians, elects tribunes, 2 aediles.
D. curiata eventually replaced by tributa, works by acclaim. Bestows imperium and oversees adoption.

V. Class struggle and the rights of plebeians
A. Sexto-Licinian laws of 367 to open consulship to plebeians.
B. C. Marcius Rutilus, first plebeian dictator, 356.
C. CMR was also the first plebeian censor, 351.
D. Q. Publilius Philo, a plebeian dictator in 339 forced half the offices to go pleb.
E. Lex Ougulnia opened the priesthoods to plebeians, 300.
F. Lex Hortensia gave plebeian plebiscita force of law.
Rome compared to …
Athens, Thebes – democratic, accidental rise, due to a spectacular citizen
Crete – a crummy, petty society w/ a few good laws
Sparta – more excellent mixed constitution than others, officially limited biarchy,
Plato’s ideal state – imaginary, bans arts
Carthage – kings + senate, overly democratic later, dependent upon mercs.
Rome dedicated to producing good citizens –
Award the brve, punish the cowards severely
R funerals
Bribery a very severe crime
Religion – superstition – binds society

Roman Expansion across Italy.
A. Gradual expansion up Italy at Etruscans’ expense
B. War with Veii 406-396, finally captured by M. Furius Camillus. Juno carted to Rome. Camillus exiled over distribution of spoils.
C. Conflict with Gauls came up unexpectedly. The Fabii.
D. Allia River 18 July 390 or 387, a dies ater.
E. Brennus sacks Rome. The elderly sacrificed.
F. Acts of heroism by the young, esp. M. Manlius (Capitolinus)
G. Rome forced to capitulate at last (this is denied) after bread ruse.
H. Vae Victis
I. Camillus saves the day - did Camillus exist?

One generation to regain lost territory. Expansion south brought conflict with Samnites.
1 Samnite War 343-41
Latin War 340-38 P. Decius Mus – devotio at Vesontio in 340
2 Samnite War 327-04, Caudine Forks 321
3 Samnite War 299-93, – P. Decius Mus – devotio at Sentinum 297
Tarrantine War 280-75