22.49
Paulus
was on the other side of the field. In spite of his having been seriously
wounded at the commencement of the action by a bullet from a sling, he
frequently encountered Hannibal with a compact body of troops, and in
several places restored the battle. The Roman cavalry formed a bodyguard
round him, but at last, as he became too weak to manage his horse, they all
dismounted. It is stated that when some one reported to Hannibal that the
consul had ordered his men to fight on foot, he remarked, "I would rather he
handed them over to me bound hand and foot.'' Now that the victory of the
enemy was no longer doubtful this struggle of the dismounted cavalry was
such as might be expected when men preferred to die where they stood
rather than flee, and the victors, furious at them for delaying the victory,
butchered without mercy those whom they could not dislodge. They did,
however, repulse a few survivors exhausted with their exertions and their
wounds. All were at last scattered, and those who could regained their
horses for flight. Cn. Lentulus, a military tribune, saw, as he rode by, the
consul covered with blood sitting on a boulder. "Lucius Aemilius," he said,
"the one man whom the gods must hold guiltless of this day's disaster, take
this horse while you have still some strength left, and I can lift you into the
saddle and keep by your side to protect you. Do not make this day of battle
still more fatal by a consul's death, there are enough tears and mourning
without that." The consul replied: "Long may you live to do brave deeds,
Cornelius, but do not waste in useless pity the few moments left in which to
escape from the hands of the enemy. Go, announce publicly to the senate
that they must fortify Rome and make its defence strong before the
victorious enemy approaches, and tell Q. Fabius privately that I have ever
remembered his precepts in life and in death. Suffer me to breathe my last
among my slaughtered soldiers, let me not have to defend myself again when
I am no longer consul, or appear as the accuser of my colleague and protect
my own innocence by throwing the guilt on another." During this
conversation a crowd of fugitives came suddenly upon them, followed by the
enemy, who, not knowing who the consul was, overwhelmed him with a
shower of missiles. Lentulus escaped on horseback in the rush. Then there
was flight in all directions; 7000 men escaped to the smaller camp, 10,000 to
the larger, and about 2000 to the village of Cannae. These latter were at
once surrounded by Carthalo and his cavalry, as the village was quite
unfortified. The other consul, who either by accident or design had not
joined any of these bodies of fugitives, escaped with about fifty cavalry to
Venusia; 45,500 infantry, 2700 cavalry -almost an equal proportion of
Romans and allies -are said to have been killed. Amongst the number were
both the quaestors attached to the consuls, L. Atilius and L. Furius Bibulcus,
twenty-nine military tribunes, several ex-consuls, ex-praetors, and ex-aediles
(amongst them are included Cn. Servilius Geminus and M. Minucius, who
was Master of the Horse the previous year and, some years before that,
consul), and in addition to these, eighty men who had either been senators or
filled offices qualifying them for election to the senate and who had
volunteered for service with the legions. The prisoners taken in the battle are
stated to have amounted to 3000 infantry and 1500 cavalry.
