Livy: Periochae 23-25

Campani ad Hannibalem defecerunt. Nuntius Cannensis victoriae, Mago, Carthaginem missus anulos aureos corporibus occisorum detractos in vestibulo curiae effudit, quos excessisse modii mensuram traditur. Post quem nuntium Hannon, vir ex Poenis nobilibus, suadebat senatui Carthaginensium ut pacem a populo Romano peterent, nec tenuit obstrepente Barcina factione.

Claudius Marcellus praetor ad Nolam, eruptione adversus Hannibalem ex oppido facta, prospere pugnavit.

Casilinum a Poenis obsessum ita fame vexatum est ut lora et pelles scutis detractas et mures inclusi essent. Nucibus per Vulturnum amnem a Romanis missis vixerunt.

Senatus ex equestri ordine hominibus CXCVII suppletus est.

L. Postumius praetor a Gallis cum exercitu caesus est.

Cn. et P. Scipiones in Hispania Asdrubalem vicerunt et Hispaniam suam fecerunt.

Reliquiae Cannensis exercitus in Siciliam relegatae sunt, ne decederent inde nisi finito bello.

Sempronius Gracchus cos. Campanos cecidit.

Claudius Marcellus praetor Hannibalis exercitum ad Nolam proelio fudit et vicit, primusque tot cladibus fessis Romanis meliorem spem belli dedit.

Inter Philippum, Macedoniae regem, et Hannibalem societas iuncta est.

Praeterea in Hispania feliciter a Publio et [Cnaeo Scipionibus, in Sardinia a] Manlio praetore adversus Poenos res gestas continet, a quibus Hasdrubal dux et Mago et Hanno capti.

Exercitus Hannibalis per hiberna ita luxuriatus est ut corporis animique viribus enervaretur.

At Nola, praetor [Marcus] Claudius Marcellus, made a sally against Hannibal, and was successful.

Casilinum was besieged by the Carthaginians and the garrison suffered so much from hunger that they ate thongs, the hides that they had removed from their shields, and even mice. They survived on nuts that were sent down the Vulturnum by the Romans.

The Senate was supplemented with hundred and seventeen new members of the equestrian order.

Praetor Lucius Postumius and his army were killed by the Gauls.

In Hispania, Gnaeus and Publius [Cornelius] Scipio defeated Hasdrubal and made Hispania theirs.

The survivors of the army of Cannae were sent to Sicily, and were not to return before the end of the war.

Consul Sempronius Gracchus defeated the Campanians.

Praetor Claudius Marcellus routed and defeated the army of Hannibal near Nola, and gave the Romans, tired by so many defeats, a better hope for the war.

[215] A treaty was concluded between king Philip[V] of Macedonia and Hannibal.

It [book 23] also contains an account of successful fights against the Carthaginians in Hispania, waged by Publius [and Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, and on Sardinia by] praetor Manlius. They captured general Hasdrubal, Mago, and Hanno.

In its winter camps, Hannibal's army got so used to luxury, that it was weakened in mind and body.

Hieronymus, Syracusanorum rex, cuius pater Hiero amicus populi R. fuerat, ad Carthaginiensis defecit et propter crudelitatem superbiamque a suis interfectus est.

Tib. Sempronius Gracchus procos. prospere adversus Poenos et Hannonem ducem ad Beneventum pugnavit servorum maxime opera, quos liberos esse iussit. Claudius Marcellus cos. in Sicilia, quae prope tota ad Poenos defecerat, Syracusas obsedit.

Philippo, Macedonum regi, bellum indictum est, qui ad Apolloniam nocturno bello obpressus fugatusque Macedoniam cum prope inermi exercitu profugit. Ad id bellum gerendum M. Valerius praetor missus.

Res praeterea in Hispania a P. et Cn. Scipionibus adversus Carthaginienses gestas continet. A quibus Syphax, rex Numidiae, in amicitiam adscitus, qui a Masinissa, Massyliorum rege, pro Carthaginiensibus pugnante, victus in Hispaniam ad Scipionem cum magna manu transiit contra Gades, ubi angusto freto Africa et Hispania dirimuntur.

Celtiberi quoque in amicitiam recepti sunt. Quorum auxiliis adscitis tunc primum mercennarium militem Romana castra habuerunt.

King Hieronymus of Syracuse, whose father Hiero had been a friend of the Roman people, defected to the Carthaginians and was murdered because of his cruelty and pride.

[214] Proconsul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus successfully fought against the Carthaginians and their leader Hanno near Beneventum, receiving great help from slaves, whom he ordered to be liberated. On Sicily, which had almost completely transferred its loyalty to the Carthaginians, consul [Marcus] Claudius Marcellus besieged Syracuse.

War was declared against king Philip of Macedonia, who was surprised during a nocturnal battle at Apollonia and was forced to flee to Macedonia with an almost disarmed army. Praetor Marcus Valerius was sent out to wage this war.

[213] It [book 24] also contains an account of the war fought in Hispania against the Carthaginians by Publius and Gnaeus [Cornelius] Scipio. They received king Syphax of Numidia as friend. He had been defeated by king Massinissa of the Massylians, who fought for the Carthaginians, and had crossed, with a large army, to Scipio in Hispania near Gades, where Africa and Hispania are separated by a narrow strait.

The Celtiberians were received as friends too. When their help had been invoked, for the first time, a Roman camp included mercenaries.

P. Cornelius Scipio, postea Africanus, ante annos aedilis factus.

Hannibal urbem Tarenton praeter arcem, in quam praesidium Romanorum fugerat, per Tarentinos iuvenes, qui se noctu venatum ire simulabant, cepit.

Ludi Apollinares ex Marci carminibus, quibus Cannensis clades praedicta fuerat, instituti sunt.

A Q. Fulvio et Ap. Claudio coss. adversus Hannonem, Poenorum ducem, prospere pugnatum est.

Tib. Sempronius Gracchus procos. ab hospite suo Lucano in insidias deductus a Magone interfectus est.

Centenius Paenula, qui centurio militaverat, cum petisset a senatu ut sibi exercitus daretur pollicitusque esset, si hoc impetrasset, de Hannibale victoriam, VIII milibus acceptis militum dux factus conflixit acie cum Hannibale et cum exercitu caesus est.

Capua obsessa est a Q. Fulvio et Ap. Claudio coss.

Cn. Fulvius praetor male adversus Hannibalem pugnavit. In quo proelio XX milia hominum ceciderunt; ipse cum equitibus CC effugit.

Claudius Marcellus Syracusas expugnavit tertio anno et ingentem virum gessit. In eo tumultu captae urbis Archimedes intentus formis, quas in pulvere descripserat, interfectus est.

P. et Cn. Scipiones in Hispania tot rerum feliciter gestarum tristem exitum tulerunt, prope cum totis exercitibus caesi anno octavo quam in Hispaniam ierunt. Amissaque eius provinciae possessio foret, nisi L. Marci, equitis Romani, virtute et industria contractis exercituum reliquiis, eiusdem hortatu bina castra hostium expugnata essent. Ad XXVII milia caesa, ex mille octingentos, praeda ingens capta. Dux Marcius appellatus est.

Publius Cornelius Scipio, later called Africanus, was made aedile before he had reached the minimum age.

[212] Aided by a group of young Tarentines who pretended to go out hunting during the night, Hannibal captured Tarentum, except for the citadel, to which the Roman garrison had escaped.

The Games of Apollo were organized in accordance with the Oracles of Marcius, which had predicted the disaster at Cannae.

Consuls Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius successfully fought against the Carthaginian leader Hanno.

Proconsul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, led into an ambush by his host in Lucania, was killed by Mago.

Centennius Paenula, who had served as a centurion, asked the Senate to give him an army and promissed a victory over Hannibal if he received it, received eight thousand soldiers, was made general, engaged Hannibal, and was slain with his army.

Capua was besieged by consuls Quintus Fulvius and Appius Claudius.

Praetor Gnaeus Fulvius unsuccessfully fought against Hannibal. Twenty thousand men were killed in action, but he himself escaped with two hundred cavalry.

In the third year, [Marcus] Claudius Marcellus took Syracuse, and behaved himself as a great man. In the chaos of the captured city, Archimedes, concentrated on the figures he had drawn in the sand, was murdered.

After many successes, Publius and Gnaeus [Cornelius] Scipio met with a sad end in the eighth year after their arrival in Hispania, when they were massacred with almost their entire army. Possession of that province would have been lost, had not the remnants of the armies been regrouped by the valor and energy of Lucius Marcius [Septimus], a Roman knight, who encouraged the soldiers and stormed two enemy camps. About twenty-seven thousand were killed; thousand and eighty men and an enormous booty were captured Marcius was surnamed Dux, Leader.