41.21
. . .
Scipio, the alien jurisdiction. The province of Sardinia had fallen to M.
Atilius, but he was ordered to sail to Corsica with the new legion which the
consuls had raised -5000 infantry and 300 cavalry. Whilst he was engaged in
that war, Cornelius' command in Sardinia was extended. To Cnaeus Servilius
in Further Spain and P. Furius Philus in Hither Spain were voted 3000
Roman infantry and 150 cavalry, and of Latin allied troops 5000 infantry and
300 cavalry. Lucius Claudius received no reinforcements for Sicily. In
addition to these troops the consuls were required to raise two fresh legions
in full strength, both of infantry and cavalry, and also 10,000 infantry and
600 cavalry from the Latin allies. The work of enrolment was all the more
difficult for the consuls, because the pestilence which the year before had
attacked the cattle had now turned into an epidemic, and those who fell
victims to it seldom survived the seventh day; those who did survive were
subject to a long and tedious illness, which generally took the form of a
quartidian ague. The deaths occurred chiefly amongst the slaves and their
unburied bodies lay scattered in all the streets, and not even in the case of the
free population could the funeral rites be carried out decently The corpses
lay untouched by dog and vulture and slowly rotted away, and it was
generally observed that neither in this nor in the previous year had a vulture
been anywhere seen.
Several members of the sacerdotal colleges died from the epidemic
-the pontiff Cn. Servilius Caepio, father of the praetor; Tiberius Sempronius
Longus, a Keeper of the Sacred Books; P. Aelius Paetus, the augur; Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus; C. Atellus Mamilius, the chief curio; and the pontiff
M. Sempronius Tuditanus. C. Sulpicius Galba was elected pontiff in place of
Caepio . . . in place of Tuditanus. The new augurs were T. Veturius
Gracchus Sempronianus in place of Gracchus, and Q. Aelius Paetus in place
of P. Aelius. C. Sempronius Longus was appointed a Keeper of the Sacred
Books, and C. Scribonius Curio was made chief curio. As the pestilence
continued unabated the senate decided that the Keepers should consult the
Sacred Books. In accordance with their decree there were special
intercessions for one day, and the people, gathered together in the Forum,
made a solemn vow, in words dictated by Marcius Philippus, that if disease
and pestilence were banished from Roman soil they would keep two days as
solemn holy days and days of special intercession. In the district of Veii a
boy was born with two heads; at Sinuessa a child with only one hand; at
Ariminum a girl was born with teeth; a rainbow spanned the temple of
Saturn in the Forum in broad daylight and under a cloudless sky, three suns
shone at the same time, and in the same night many meteors glided through
the sky. The people of Caene declared that a crested snake covered with
golden spots had appeared in the town, and it was generally believed that an
ox had spoken in the Capuan district.
