23.35
In
Italy the war had been less vigorously conducted since the battle of Cannae;
for the strength of the one side was broken and the temper of the other
enervated. Under these circumstances the Campanians made an attempt by
themselves to become masters of Cumae. They first tried persuasion, but as
they could not succeed in inducing them to revolt from Rome, they decided
to employ stratagem. All the Campanians held a sacrificial service at stated
intervals at Hamae. They informed the Cumans that the Campanian senate
was going there, and they asked the Cuman senate also to be present in
order to come to a common understanding, so that both peoples might have
the same allies and the same enemies. They also promised that they would
have an armed force there, to guard against any danger from either Romans
or Carthaginians. Although the Cumans suspected a plot, they made no
difficulty about going, for they thought that by thus consenting they would
be able to conceal a maneuver of their own. The consul Tiberius Sempronius
had in the meanwhile purified his army at Sinuessa, the appointed
rendezvous, and after crossing the Vulturnus pitched his camp near
Liternum. As there was nothing for them to do in camp, he put his men
through frequent war maneuvers to accustom the recruits, most of whom
were volunteer slaves, to follow the standards and know their places in the
ranks when in action. In carrying out these exercises, the general's main
object -and he had given similar instructions to the officers -was that there
should be no class-feeling in the ranks, through the slaves being twitted with
their former condition; the old soldiers were to regard themselves as on a
perfect equality with the recruits, the free men with the slaves; all to whom
Rome had entrusted her standards and her arms were to be regarded as
equally honourable, equally well-born; Fortune had compelled them to adopt
this state of things, and now that it was adopted she compelled them to
acquiesce to it. The soldiers were quite as anxious to obey these instructions
as the officers were to enforce them, and in a short time the men had become
so fused together that it was almost forgotten what condition of life each
man had been in before he became a soldier.
While Gracchus was thus occupied messengers from Cumae
informed him of the proposals made by the Campanians a few days
previously and of their reply, and that the festival was to be held in three
days' time, when not only the whole senate would be there but also the
Campanian army in camp. Gracchus gave the Cumans orders to remove
everything from their fields into the city and to remain within their walls,
whilst he himself moved his camp to Cumae the day before the Campanians
were to perform their sacrifice. Hamae was about three miles distant. The
Campanians had already, as arranged, assembled there in large numbers and
not far away Marius Alfius, the "Medixtuticus" (the chief magistrate of the
Campanians), was secretly encamped with 14,000 troops, but he was more
intent on making preparations for the sacrifice and the stratagem he was to
execute during its performance than on fortifying his camp or any other
military duty. The ceremonial took place at night and was over by midnight.
Gracchus thought this the best time for his purpose, and after stationing
guards at the camp gate to prevent any one from conveying information of
his design, he ordered his men to refresh themselves and get what sleep they
could at four o'clock in the afternoon so that they might be ready to
assemble round the standards as soon as it was dark. About the first watch
he ordered the advance to be made and the army marched in silence to
Hamae, which they reached at midnight. The Campanian camp, as might be
expected during a nocturnal festival, was negligently guarded, and he made a
simultaneous attack on all sides of it. Some were slain whilst stretched in
slumber, others whilst returning unarmed after the ceremony. In the
confusion and terror of the night more than 2000 men were killed, including
their general, Marius Alfius, and 34 standards seized.
