22.54
Whilst
these things were happening at Canusium, as many as 4500 infantry and
cavalry, who had been dispersed in flight over the country, succeeded in
reaching the consul at Venusia. The inhabitants received them with every
mark of kindness and distributed them all amongst their households to be
taken care of. They gave each of the troopers a toga and a tunic and
twenty-five "chariot pieces," and to each legionary ten pieces, and whatever
arms they required. All hospitality was shown them both by the government
and by private citizens, for the people of Venusia were determined not to be
outdone in kindness by a lady of Canusium. But the large number of men,
which now amounted to something like 10,000, made the burden imposed
upon Busa much heavier. For Appius and Scipio, on hearing that the consul
was safe, at once sent to him to inquire what amount of foot and horse he
had with him, and also whether he wanted the army to be taken to Venusia
or to remain at Canusium. Varro transferred his forces to Canusium, and
now there was something like a consular army; it seemed as though they
would defend themselves successfully behind their walls if not in the open
field. The reports which reached Rome left no room for hope that even these
remnants of citizens and allies were still surviving; it was asserted that the
army with its two consuls had been annihilated and the whole of the forces
wiped out. Never before, while the City itself was still safe, had there been
such excitement and panic within its walls. I shall not attempt to describe it,
nor will I weaken the reality by going into details. After the loss of the
consul and the army at Trasumennus the previous year, it was not wound
upon wound but multiplied disaster that was now announced. For according
to the reports two consular armies and two consuls were lost; there was no
longer any Roman camp, any general, any single soldier in existence; Apulia,
Samnium, almost the whole of Italy lay at Hannibal's feet. Certainly there is
no other nation that would not have succumbed beneath such a weight of
calamity. One might, of course, compare the naval defeat of the
Carthaginians at the Aegates, which broke their power to such an extent that
they gave up Sicily and Sardinia and submitted to the payment of tribute and
a war indemnity; or, again, the battle which they lost in Africa, in which
Hannibal himself was crushed. But there is no point of comparison between
these and Cannae, unless it be that they were borne with less fortitude.
