A council was then held respecting the war; when some advised that he should endeavour to overtake Hasdrubal forthwith. But thinking that hazardous, lest Mago and the other Hasdrubal should unite their forces with his, he sent a body of troops to occupy the pass of the Pyrenees, and employed the remainder of the summer in receiving the states of Spain into his alliance. A few days after the battle of Baecula, when Scipio on his return to Tarraco had now cleared the pass of Castulo, the generals, Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, and Mago came from the farther Spain and joined Hasdrubal; a late assistance after the defeat he had sustained, though their arrival was somewhat seasonable, for counsel with respect to the further prosecution of the war. They then consulted together as to what was the feeling of the Spaniards in the quarters where their several provinces were situated, when Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, alone gave it as his opinion, that the remotest tract of Spain which borders on the ocean and Gades, was, as yet, unacquainted with the Romans, and might therefore be somewhat friendly to the Carthaginians. Between the other Hasdrubal and Mago it was agreed, that "Scipio by his good offices had gained the affections of all, both publicly and privately; and that there would be no end of desertions till all the Spanish soldiers were removed to the remotest parts of Spain, or were marched over into Gaul. That, therefore, though the Carthaginian senate had not decreed it, Hasdrubal must, nevertheless, march into Italy, the principal seat and object of the war; and thus at the same time lead away all the Spanish soldiers out of Spain far from the name of Scipio. That the army, which had been diminished by desertions and defeats, should be recruited by Spanish soldiers. That Mago, having delivered over his army to Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, should himself pass over to the Baleares with a large sum of money to hire auxiliaries; that Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, should retire with the army into the remotest part of Lusitania, and avoid an encounter with the Romans. That a body of three thousand horse should be made up for Masinissa, the flower of the whole cavalry; and that he, shifting about from place to place throughout hither Spain should succour their allies and commit depredations on the towns and lands of their enemies." Having adopted these resolutions, the generals departed to put in execution what they had resolved on. Such were the transactions in Spain of this year. At Rome the reputation of Scipio increased daily. The capture of Tarentum, though effected by artifice more than valour, was considered honourable to Fabius. The fame of Fulvius was on the wane. Marcellus was even under an ill report, not only because he had failed in his first battle, but further, because while Hannibal was going wherever he pleased throughout Italy, he had led his troops to Venusia in the midst of summer to lodge in houses. Caius Publicius Bibulus, a tribune of the people, was hostile to him. This man, ever since the time of his first battle which had failed, had in constant harangues made Claudius obnoxious and odious to the people; and now his object was to deprive him of his command. The connexions of Marcellus, however, then obtained leave that Marcellus, leaving a lieutenant-general at Venusia, should return to Rome to clear himself of the charges which his enemies were urging, and that the question of depriving him of his command should not be agitated during his absence. It happened that nearly at the same time, Marcellus, and Quintius Fulvius the consul, came to Rome, the former to exonerate himself from ignominy, the latter on account of the elections.
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The question touching Marcellus's command was debated in the Flaminian circus, in the presence of an immense concourse of plebeians and persons of every rank. The plebeian tribune accused, not only Marcellus, but the nobility generally. "It was owing," he said, "to their dishonesty and dilatory conduct, that Hannibal occupied Italy, as though it were his province, for now ten years; that he had passed more of his life there than at Carthage. That the Roman people were enjoying the fruits of the prolonged command of Marcellus; that his army, after having been twice defeated, was now spending the summer at Venusia lodged in houses." Marcellus so completely destroyed the effect of this harangue of the tribune, by the recital of the services he had rendered, that not only the bill for depriving him of his command was thrown out, but the following day he was created consul by the votes of all the centuries with wonderful unanimity. Titus Quinctius Crispinus, who was then praetor, was joined with him as his colleague. The next day Publius Licinius Crassus Dives, then chief pontiff, Publius Licinius Varus, Sextus Julius Caesar, and Quintus Claudius Flamen were created praetors. At the very time of the election, the public were thrown into a state of anxiety relative to the defection of Etruria. Caius Calpurnius, who held that province as propraetor, had written word that the Arretians had originated such a scheme. Accordingly Marcellus, consul elect, was immediately sent thither to look into the affair, and if it should appear to him of sufficient consequence, to send for his army and transfer the war from Apulia to Etruria. The Tuscans, checked by the alarm thus occasioned, desisted. To the ambassadors of Tarentum, who solicited a treaty of peace securing to them their liberty and the enjoyment of their own laws, the senate answered, that they might return when the consul Fabius came to Rome. The Roman and plebeian games were this year repeated each for one day. The curule aediles were, Lucius Cornelius Caudinus and Servius Sulpicius Galba; the plebeian aediles, Caius Servilius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus. It was asserted that Servilius was not qualified to be plebeian tribune or aedile, because it was satisfactorily established that his father, who, for ten years, was supposed to have been killed by the Boii in the neighbourhood of Mutina, when acting as triumvir for the distribution of lands, was alive and in the hands of the enemy.
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In the eleventh year of the Punic war, Marcus Marcellus, for the fifth time, reckoning in the consulate in which he did not act in consequence of an informality in his creation, and Titus Quinctius Crispinus entered upon the office of consuls. To both the consuls the province of Italy was decreed, with both the consular armies of the former year; (the third was then at Venusia, being that which Marcus Marcellus had commanded.) That out of the three armies the consuls might, choose whichever two they liked, and that the third should be delivered to him to whose lot the province of Tarentum and the territory of Sallentum fell. The other provinces were thus distributed among the praetors: Publius Licinius Varus had the city jurisdiction, Publius Licinius Crassus, chief pontiff, the foreign, and wherever the senate though proper. Sextus Julius Caesar had Sicily, and Quintus Claudius Flamen, Tarentum. Quintus Fulvius Flaccus was to continue in command for a year, and hold the province of Capua, which had been held by Titus Quinctius, with one legion. Caius Hostilius Tubulus was also continued in command, with orders to go into Etruria, in the capacity of propraetor, and succeed Caius Calpurnius in the command of the two legions there. Lucius Veturius Philo was also continued in command, to hold in the capacity of propraetor the same province of Gaul with the same two legions with which he had held it as praetor. The senate decreed the same with respect to Caius Aurunculeius, who, as praetor, had held the province of Sardinia with two legions, which it did in the case of Lucius Veturius, and the question of the continuation of his command was proposed to the people. He had in addition, for the protection of the province, fifty ships which Publius Scipio had sent from Spain. To Publius Scipio and Marcus Silanus, their present province of Spain and their present armies were assigned. Of the eighty ships which he had with him, some taken from Italy and others captured at Carthage, Scipio was ordered to send fifty to Sardinia, in consequence of a report that great naval preparations were making at Carthage that year; and that the intention of the Carthaginians was to blockade the whole coasts of Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia with two hundred ships. In Sicily also the following distribution was made: to Sextus Caesar the troops of Cannae were assigned; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who was also continued in command, was to have the fleet of seventy ships which was at Sicily, adding to it the thirty ships which the preceding year were stationed at Tarentum. With this fleet of a hundred ships he was ordered to pass over into Africa, if he thought proper, and collect booty. Publius Sulpicius was also continued in command for a year, to hold the province of Macedonia and Greece, with the same fleet. No alteration was made with regard to the two legions which were at Rome. Permission was given to the consuls to enlist as many troops as were necessary to complete the numbers. This year the Roman empire was defended by twenty-one legions. Publius Licinius Varus, the city praetor, was also commissioned to repair the thirty old men of war which lay at Ostia, and to man twenty new ones with full complements, in order that he might defend the sea-coast in the neighbourhood hood of Rome with a fleet of fifty ships. Caius Calpurnius was ordered not to move his army from Arretium till his successor had arrived. Both he and Tubulus were ordered to be particularly careful, lest any new plots should be formed in that quarter.
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