The History of Rome, Books 09 to 26 - Livy

Publius Furius Philus and Manius Pomponius, the praetors, assembled the senate in the curia hostilia, that they might deliberate about the guarding of the city; for they doubted not but that the enemy, now their armies were annihilated, would come to assault Rome, the only operation of the war which remained. Unable to form any plan in misfortunes, not only very great, but unknown and undefined, and while the loud lamentations of the women were resounding, and nothing was as yet made known, the living and the dead alike being lamented in almost every house; such being the state of things, Quintus Fabius gave it as his opinion, "That light horsemen should be sent out on the Latin and Appian ways, who, questioning those they met, as some would certainly be dispersed in all directions from the flight, might bring back word what was the fate of the consuls and their armies; and if the gods, pitying the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name where these forces were; whither Hannibal had repaired after the battle, what he was meditating; what he was doing, or about to do. That these points should be searched out and ascertained by active youths. That it should be the business of the fathers, since there was a deficiency of magistrates, to do away with the tumult and trepidation in the city; to keep the women from coming into public, and compel each to abide within her own threshold; to put a stop to the lamentations of families; to obtain silence in the city; to take care that the bearers of every kind of intelligence should be brought before the praetors; that each person should await at home the bearer of tidings respecting his own fortune: moreover, that they should post guards at the gates, to prevent any person from quitting the city; and oblige men to place their sole hopes of safety in the preservation of the walls and the city. That when the tumult had subsided the fathers should be called again to the senate-house, and deliberate on the defence of the city."

When all had signified their approbation of this opinion, and after the crowd had been removed by the magistrates from the forum, and the senators had proceeded in different directions to allay the tumult; then at length a letter is brought from the consul Terentius, stating, "That Lucius Aemilius, the consul, and his army were slain; that he himself was at Canusium, collecting, as it were after a shipwreck, the remains of this great disaster; that he had nearly ten thousand irregular and unorganized troops. That the Carthaginian was sitting still at Cannae, bargaining about the price of the captives and the other booty, neither with the spirit of a conqueror nor in the style of a great general." Then also the losses of private families were made known throughout the several houses; and so completely was the whole city filled with grief, that the anniversary sacred rite of Ceres was intermitted, because it was neither allowable to perform it while in mourning, nor was there at that juncture a single matron who was not in mourning. Accordingly, lest the same cause should occasion the neglect of other public and private sacred rites, the mourning was limited to thirty days, by a decree of the senate. Now when the tumult in the city was allayed, an additional letter was brought from Sicily, from Titus Otacilius, the propraetor, stating, "that the kingdom of Hiero was being devastated by the Carthaginian fleet: and that, being desirous of affording him the assistance he implored, he received intelligence that another Carthaginian fleet was stationed at the Aegates, equipped and prepared; in order that when the Carthaginians had perceived that he was gone away to protect the coast of Syracuse, they might immediately attack Lilybaeum and other parts of the Roman province; that he therefore needed a fleet, if they wished him to protect the king their ally, and Sicily."

The letters of the consul and the propraetor having been read, they resolved that Marcus Claudius, who commanded the fleet stationed at Ostia, should be sent to the army to Canusium; and a letter be written to the consul, to the effect that, having delivered the army to the praetor, he should return to Rome the first moment he could, consistently with the interest of the republic. They were terrified also, in addition to these disasters, both with other prodigies, and also because two vestal virgins, Opimia and Floronia, were that year convicted of incontinence; one of whom was, according to custom, buried alive at the Colline gate; the other destroyed herself. Lucius Cantilius, secretary of the pontiff, whom they now call the lesser pontiffs, who had debauched Floronia, was beaten by rods in the comitium, by order of the chief pontiff, so that he expired under the stripes. This impiety being converted into a prodigy, as is usually the case when happening in the midst of so many calamities, the decemviri were desired to consult the sacred books. Quintus Fabius Pictor was also sent to Delphi, to inquire of the oracle by what prayers and offerings they might appease the gods, and what termination there would be to such great distresses. Meanwhile certain extraordinary sacrifices were performed, according to the directions of the books of the fates; among which a Gallic man and woman, and a Greek man and woman, were let down alive in the cattle market, into a place fenced round with stone, which had been already polluted with human victims, a rite by no means Roman. The gods being, as they supposed, sufficiently appeased, Marcus Claudius Marcellus sends from Ostia to Rome, as a garrison for the city, one thousand five hundred soldiers, which he had with him, levied for the fleet. He himself sending before him a marine legion, (it was the third legion,) under the command of the military tribunes, to Teanum Sidicinum, and delivering the fleet to Publius Furius Philus, his colleague, after a few days, proceeded by long marches to Cannsium. Marcus Junius, created dictator on the authority of the senate, and Titus Sempronius, master of the horse, proclaiming a levy, enrol the younger men from the age of seventeen, and some who wore the toga praetexta: of these, four legions and a thousand horse were formed. They send also to the allies and the Latin confederacy, to receive the soldiers according to the terms of the treaty. They order that arms, weapons, and other things should be prepared; and they take down from the temples and porticoes the old spoils taken from the enemy. They adopted also another and a new form of levy, from the scarcity of free persons, and from necessity: they armed eight thousand stout youths from the slaves, purchased at the public expense, first inquiring of each whether he was willing to serve. They preferred this description of troops, though they had the power of redeeming the captives at a less expense.