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On hearing and seeing which the old man, as though he were actually present at the transactions which were being named to him, wild with fear, exclaimed, "I implore, I beseech you, my son, by all the ties which unite children to parents, that you will not resolve to commit and to suffer every thing that is horrible before the eyes of a father. Did we but a few hours ago, swearing by every deity, and joining right hands, pledge our fidelity to Hannibal, that immediately on separating from the conference we should arm against him the hands which were employed as the sacred pledges of our faith? Do you rise from the hospitable board to which as one of three of the Campanians you have been admitted by Hannibal, that you may ensanguine that very board with the blood of your host. Could I conciliate Hannibal to my son, and not my son to Hannibal? But let nothing be held sacred by you, neither our pledges, nor the sense of religion, nor filial duty; let the most horrid deeds be dared, if with guilt they bring not ruin upon us. Will you singly attack Hannibal? What will that numerous throng of freemen and slaves be doing? What the eyes of all intent on him alone? What those so many right hands? Will they be torpid amidst your madness? Will you be able to bear the look of Hannibal himself, which armed hosts cannot sustain, from which the Roman people shrink with horror? And though other assistance be wanting, will you have the hardihood to strike me when I oppose my body in defence of Hannibal's? But know that through my breast you must strike and transfix him. Suffer yourself to be deterred from your attempt here, rather than to be defeated there. May my entreaties prevail with you, as they did for you this day." Upon this, perceiving the youth in tears, he threw his arms around him, and kissing him affectionately, ceased not his entreaties until he prevailed upon him to lay aside his sword and give his promise that he would do no such thing. The young man then observed, "I will indeed pay to my father the debt of duty which I owe to my country, but I am grieved for you on whom the guilt of having thrice betrayed your country rests; once when you sanctioned the revolt from the Romans; next when you advised the alliance with Hannibal; and thirdly, this day, when you are the delay and impediment of the restoration of Capua to the Romans. Do thou, my country, receive this weapon, armed with which in thy behalf I would fain have defended this citadel, since a father wrests it from me." Having thus said, he threw the sword into the highway over the garden wall, and that the affair might not be suspected, himself returned to the banquet.
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The next day an audience of a full senate was given to Hannibal, when the first part of his address was full of graciousness and benignity, in which he thanked the Campanians for having preferred his friendship to an alliance with the Romans, and held out among his other magnificent promises "that Capua should soon become the capital of all Italy, and that the Romans as well as the other states should receive laws from it. That there was, however, one person who had no share in the Carthaginian friendship and the alliance formed with him, Decius Magius, who neither was nor ought to be called a Campanian. Him he requested to be surrendered to him, and that the sense of the senate should be taken respecting his conduct, and a decree passed in his presence." All concurred in this proposition, though a great many considered him as a man undeserving such severe treatment; and that this proceeding was no small infringement of their liberty to begin with. Leaving the senate-house, the magistrate took his seat on the consecrated bench, ordered Decius Magius to be apprehended, and to be placed by himself before his feet to plead his cause. But he, his proud spirit being unsubdued, denied that such a measure could be enforced agreeably to the conditions of the treaty; upon which he was ironed, and ordered to be brought into the camp before a lictor. As long as he was conducted with his head uncovered, he moved along earnestly haranguing and vociferating to the multitude which poured around him on all sides. "You have gotten that liberty, Campanians, which you seek; in the middle of the forum, in the light of day, before your eyes, I, a man second to none of the Campanians, am dragged in chains to suffer death. What greater outrage could have been committed had Capua been captured? Go out to meet Hannibal, decorate your city to the utmost, consecrate the day of his arrival, that you may behold this triumph over a fellow-citizen." As the populace seemed to be excited by him, vociferating these things, his head was covered, and he was ordered to be dragged away more speedily without the gate. Having been thus brought to the camp, he was immediately put on board a ship and sent to Carthage, lest if any commotion should arise at Capua on account of the injustice of the proceeding, the senate also should repent of having given up a leading citizen; and lest if an embassy were sent to request his restoration, he must either offend his new allies by refusing their first petition, or, by granting it, be compelled to retain at Capua a promoter of sedition and disturbance. A tempest drove the vessel to Cyrenae, which was at that time under the dominion of kings. Here flying for refuge to the statue of king Ptolemy, he was conveyed thence in custody to Alexandria to Ptolemy; and having instructed him that he had been thrown into chains by Hannibal, contrary to the law of treaties, he was liberated and allowed to return to whichever place he pleased, Rome or Capua. But Magius said, that Capua would not be a safe place for him, and that Rome, at a time when there was war between the Romans and Capuans, would be rather the residence of a deserter than a guest. That there was no place that he should rather dwell in, than in the dominions of him whom he esteemed an avenger and the protector of his liberty.
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While these things were carrying on, Quintus Fabius Pictor, the ambassador, returned from Delphi to Rome, and read the response of the oracle from a written copy. In it both the gods were mentioned, and in what manner supplication should be made. It then stated, "If you do thus, Romans, your affairs will be more prosperous and less perplexed; your state will proceed more agreeably to your wishes; and the victory in the war will be on the side of the Roman people. After that your state shall have been restored to prosperity and safety, send a present to the Pythian Apollo out of the gains you have earned, and pay honours to him out of the plunder, the booty, and the spoils. Banish licentiousness from among you." Having read aloud these words, translated from the Greek verse, he added, that immediately on his departure from the oracle, he had paid divine honours to all these deities with wine and frankincense; and that he was ordered by the chief priest of the temple, that, as he had approached the oracle and performed the sacred ceremonies decorated with a laurel crown, so he should embark wearing the crown, and not put it off till he had arrived at Rome. That he had executed all these injunctions with the most scrupulous exactness and diligence, and had deposited the garland on the altar of Apollo at Rome. The senate decreed that the sacred ceremonies and supplications enjoined should be carefully performed with all possible expedition. During these events at Rome and in Italy, Mago, the son of Hamilcar, had arrived at Carthage with the intelligence of the victory at Cannae. He was not sent direct from the field of battle by his brother, but was detained some days in receiving the submission of such states of the Bruttii as were in revolt. Having obtained an audience of the senate he gave a full statement of his brother's exploits in Italy: "That he had fought pitched battles with six generals, four of whom were consuls, two a dictator and master of the horse, with six consular armies; that he had slain above two hundred thousand of the enemy, and captured above fifty thousand. That out of the four consuls he had slain two; of the two remaining, one was wounded, the other, having lost his whole army, had fled from the field with scarcely fifty men; that the master of the horse, an authority equal to that of consul, had been routed and put to flight; that the dictator, because he had never engaged in a pitched battle, was esteemed a matchless general; that the Bruttii, the Apulians, part of the Samnites and of the Lucanians had revolted to the Carthaginians. That Capua, which was the capital not only of Campania, but after the ruin of the Roman power by the battle of Cannae, of Italy also, had delivered itself over to Hannibal. That in return for these so many and so great victories, gratitude ought assuredly to be felt and thanks returned to the immortal gods."
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