9.6
The consuls
were the first to be sent, little more than half-clothed, under the yoke, then
each in the order of his rank was exposed to the same disgrace, and finally,
the legionaries one after another. Around them stood the enemy fully armed,
reviling and jeering at them; swords were pointed at most of them, and when
they offended their victors by showing their indignation and resentment too
plainly some were wounded and even killed. Thus were they marched under
the yoke. But what was still harder to bear was that after they had emerged
from the pass under the eyes of the foe though, like men dragged up from
the jaws of hell, they seemed to behold the light for the first time, the very
light itself, serving only to reveal such a hideous sight as they marched along,
was more gloomy than any shape of death. They could have reached Capua
before nightfall, but not knowing how their allies would receive them, and
kept back by a feeling of shame, they all flung themselves, destitute of
everything, on the sides of the road near Capua. As soon as news of this
reached the place, a proper feeling of compassion for their allies got the
better of the inborn disdain of the Campanian; they immediately sent to the
consuls their own insignia of office, the fasces and the lictors, and the
soldiers they generously supplied with arms, horses, clothes, and provisions.
As they entered Capua the senate and people came out in a body to meet
them, showed them all due hospitality, and paid them all the consideration to
which as individuals and as members of an allied state they were entitled. But
all the courtesies and kindly looks and cheerful greetings of their allies were
powerless to evoke a single word or even to make them lift up their eyes and
look in the face the friends who were trying to comfort them. To such an
extent did feelings of shame make their gloom and despondency all the
heavier, and constrain them to shun the converse and society of men. The
next day some young nobles were commissioned to escort them to the
frontier. On their return they were summoned to the Senate-house, and in
answer to inquiries on the part of the older senators they reported that they
seemed to be much more gloomy and depressed than the day before; the
column moved along so silently that they might have been dumb; the Roman
mettle was cowed; they had lost their spirit with their arms; they saluted no
man, nor did they return any man's salutation; not a single man had the
power to open his mouth for fear of what was coming; their necks were
bowed as if they were still beneath the yoke. The Samnites had won not only
a glorious victory but a lasting one; they had not only captured Rome as the
Gauls had done before them, but, what was a still more warlike exploit, they
had captured the Roman courage and hardihood.