‘The overthrow of Cannae was so complete that every other nation but the Romans would have given up the idea of further resistance.’ --Ihne.
SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B.C. CANNAE, 216 B.C. (3)
A. _Maharbal urges Hannibal to march on Rome._
Hannibali victori cum ceteri circumfusi gratularentur suaderentque, ut tanto perfunctus bello diei quod reliquum esset noctisque insequentis quietem et ipse sibi sumeret et fessis daret militibus, Maharbal praefectus equitum, minime cessandum ratus, ‘Immo { 5} ut, quid hac pugna sit actum, scias, die quinto’ inquit ‘victor in Capitolio epulaberis. Sequere: cum equite, ut prius venisse quam venturum sciant, praecedam.’ Hannibali nimis laeta res est visa maiorque, quam ut eam statim capere animo posset. Itaque voluntatem { 10} se laudare Maharbalis ait; ad consilium pensandum temporis opus esse. Tum Maharbal: ‘Non omnia nimirum eidem di dedere; vincere scis, Hannibal, victoria uti nescis.’ Mora eius diei satis creditur saluti fuisse urbi atque imperio. { 15}
[Linenotes: 2-4. +diei ... sumeret+ = _he should take what remained of that day and the following night for rest_. --Church and Brodribb. 8. +venisse+, sc. +te+, suggested by +sequere+. --Dimsdale. 9. +res+ = _the idea_, i.e. of such a rapid termination to the war. --D. Hannibal was too far off (11 days’ march) to take Rome by storm. Its population contained as many soldiers as his army, and the city was strongly fortified by its situation and by art.]
B. _Scipio forbids the Nobles to abandon Italy._
Post Cannensem cladem perculsis ita Romanorum animis, ut pars magna reliquiarum nobilissimis auctoribus deserendae Italiae iniret consilium, P. Scipio adulescens admodum impetu facto, in eo ipso in quo talia agitabantur coetu pronuntiavit manu se { 20} sua interfecturum, nisi qui iurasset non esse sibi mentem destituendae rei publicae: cumque ipse se primus religione tali obligasset, stricto gladio mortem uni ex proximis minatus, nisi acciperet sacramentum, illum metu, ceteros etiam exemplo coegit ad iurandum. { 25}
[Linenote: 18. +P. Scipio adulescens+, i.e. P. Corn. Scipio Africanns Maior, _fatalis dux huiusce belli_, the predestined champion in this war.]
+Parallel Passage.+ Livy, xxii. 53, and cf. Livy, v. 50-55, where Camillus dissuades the commons from migrating to Veii.