* * * * *
BOOK XXII.
B.C. 217-216
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [a]43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] [57] [58] [59] [60] [61]
Hannibal, after an uninterrupted march of four days and three nights, arrives in Etruria, through the marshes, in which he lost an eye. Caius Flaminius, the consul, an inconsiderate man, having gone forth in opposition to the omens, dug up the standards which could not otherwise be raised, and been thrown from his horse immediately after he had mounted, is insnared by Hannibal, and cut off by his army near the Thrasimene lake. Three thousand who had escaped are placed in chains by Hannibal, in violation of pledges given. Distress occasioned in Rome by the intelligence. The Sibylline books consulted, and a sacred spring decreed. Fabius Maximus sent as dictator against Hannibal, whom he frustrates by caution and delay. Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse, a rash and impetuous man, inveighs against the caution of Fabius, and obtains an equality of command with him. The army is divided between them, and Minucius engaging Hannibal in an unfavourable position, is reduced to the extremity of danger, and is rescued by the dictator, and places himself under his authority. Hannibal, after ravaging Campania, is shut up by Fabius in a valley near the town of Casilinum, but escapes by night, putting to flight the Romans on guard by oxen with lighted faggots attached to their horns. Hannibal attempts to excite a suspicion of the fidelity of Fabius by sparing his farm while ravaging with fire the whole country around it. Aemilius Paulus and Terentius Varro are routed at Cannae, and forty thousand men slain, among whom were Paulus the consul, eighty senators, and thirty who had served the office of consul, praetor, or edile. A design projected by some noble youths of quitting Italy in despair after this calamity, is intrepidly quashed by Publius Cornelius Scipio, a military tribune, afterwards surnamed Africanus. Successes in Spain, eight thousand slaves are enlisted by the Romans, they refuse to ransom the captives, they go out in a body to meet Varro, and thank him for not having despaired of the commonwealth.