22.50
Such
was the battle of Cannae, a battle as famous as the disastrous one at the
Allia; not so serious in its results, owing to the inaction of the enemy, but
more serious and more horrible in view of the slaughter of the army. For the
flight at the Allia saved the army though it lost the City, whereas at Cannae
hardly fifty men shared the consul's flight, nearly the whole army met their
death in company with the other consul. As those who had taken refuge in
the two camps were only a defenceless crowd without any leaders, the men
in the larger camp sent a message to the others asking them to cross over to
them at night when the enemy, tired after the battle and the feasting in
honour of their victory, would be buried in sleep. Then they would go in one
body to Canusium. Some rejected the proposal with scorn. "Why," they
asked, "cannot those who sent the message come themselves, since they are
quite as able to join us as we to join them? Because, of course, all the
country between us is scoured by the enemy and they prefer to expose other
people to that deadly peril rather than themselves." Others did not
disapprove of the proposal, but they lacked courage to carry it out. P.
Sempronius Tuditanus protested against this cowardice. "Would you," he
asked, "rather be taken prisoners by a most avaricious and ruthless foe and a
price put upon your heads and your value assessed after you have been
asked whether you are a Roman citizen or a Latin ally, in order that another
may win honour from your misery and disgrace? Certainly not, if you are
really the fellow-countrymen of L. Aemilius, who chose a noble death rather
than a life of degradation, and of all the brave men who are lying in heaps
around him. But, before daylight overtakes us and the enemy gathers in
larger force to bar our path, let us cut our way through the men who in
disorder and confusion are clamouring at our gates. Good swords and brave
hearts make a way through enemies, however densely they are massed. If
you march shoulder to shoulder you will scatter this loose and disorganised
force as easily as if nothing opposed you. Come then with me, all you who
want to preserve yourselves and the State." With these words he drew his
sword, and with his men in close formation marched through the very midst
of the enemy. When the Numidians hurled their javelins on the right, the
unprotected side, they transferred their shields to their right arms, and so got
clear away to the larger camp As many as 600 escaped on this occasion, and
after another large body had joined them they at once left the camp and came
through safely to Canusium. This action on the part of defeated men was due
to the impulse of natural courage or of accident rather than to any concerted
plan of their own or any one's generalship.
