27.27
Marcellus, however, was seized with
such a keen desire of engaging Hannibal that he never thought that their
respective camps were near enough to each other. As he was crossing the
rampart on his way to the hill he signalled to the soldiers to be at their posts,
ready to get the baggage together and follow him in case he decided that the
hill which he was going to reconnoitre was suitable for a camp. There was a
narrow stretch of level ground in front of the camp, and from there a road
led up to the hill which was open and visible from all sides. The Numidians
posted a vidette to keep a look out, not in the least anticipating such a
serious encounter as followed, but simply in the hope of intercepting any
who had strayed too far from their camp after wood or fodder. This man
gave the signal for them to rise from their concealment. Those who were in
front of the Romans further up the hill did not show themselves until those
who were to close the road behind them had worked round their rear. Then
they sprang up on all sides, and with a loud shout charged down. Though the
consuls were hemmed in, unable to force their way to the hill which was
occupied, and with their retreat cut off by those in their rear, still the conflict
might have kept up for a longer time if the Etruscans, who were the first to
flee, had not created a panic among the rest. The Fregellans, however,
though abandoned by the Etruscans, maintained the conflict as long as the
consuls were unwounded and able to cheer them on and take their part in the
fighting. But when both the consuls were wounded, when they saw
Marcellus fall dying from his horse, run through with a lance, then the little
band of survivors fled in company with Crispinus, who had been hit by two
darts, and young Marcellus, who was himself wounded. Aulus Manlius was
killed, and Manius Aulius; the other prefect of allies, Arrenius, was taken
prisoner. Five of the consuls' lictors fell into the hands of the enemy, the rest
were either killed or escaped with the consul. Forty-three of the cavalry fell
either in the battle or the pursuit, eighteen were made prisoners. There was
great excitement in the camp, and they were hurriedly preparing to go to the
consuls' assistance when they saw one consul and the son of the other
coming back wounded with the scanty remnant who had survived the
disastrous expedition. The death of Marcellus was to be deplored for many
reasons, especially because, with an imprudence not to be expected at his
age -he was more than sixty -and altogether out of keeping with the caution
of a veteran general, he had flung into headlong danger not only himself but
his colleague as well, and almost the entire commonwealth. I should make
too long a digression about one solitary fact, if I were to go through all the
accounts of the death of Marcellus. I will only cite one authority, Coelius.
He gives three different versions of what happened, one handed down by
tradition, another copied from the funeral oration delivered by his son who
was on the spot, and a third which Coelius gives as the ascertained result of
his own researches. Amidst the variations of the story, however, most
authorities agree that he left the camp to reconnoitre the position, and all
agree that he was ambushed.
