25.37
With
the destruction of the armies it seemed as though Spain must be lost. But
one man restored the fallen fortunes of the State. There was in the army a
Lucius Marcius, the son of Septimius, a Roman knight, an active and
energetic youth whose character and abilities were somewhat superior to the
position in which he had been born. His many natural gifts had been
developed by Scipio's training, under whom he had learnt all the arts of war.
Out of the fugitive soldiers whom he had rallied, and some whom he had
drawn from the garrisons in Spain, he had formed quite a respectable army,
and with it had joined Ti. Fonteius, Scipio's lieutenant. After they had
entrenched themselves in a camp on this side of the Ebrot his soldiers
decided to hold a regular election for the purpose of choosing a general to
command the united armies, and they relieved each other on sentinel and
outpost duty so that every man might give his vote. So far did the Roman
knight surpass all others in the authority and respect which he possessed
with the soldiers that the whole army unanimously conferred the supreme
command on L. Marcius. After this he spent the whole of the time -and
short enough it was -in strengthening the defences of the camp and storing
supplies in it, and the soldiers carried out all his commands with alacrity and
in anything but a despondent mood. But when the news arrived that
Hasdrubal -Gisgo's son -had crossed the Ebro and was coming to stamp
out the remains of the war and the soldiers saw the signal for battle put out
by their new general they gave way completely. The recollection of the men
who had so lately commanded them, the proud confidence which they had
always felt in their generals and their armies when they went into battle quite
unnerved them; they all burst into tears and smote their heads; some raised
their hands to heaven and reproached the gods; others lay on the ground and
invoked the names of their old commanders. Nothing could check these wild
outbursts of grief, though the centurions tried to rouse their men, and
Marcius himself went about calming them and at the same time reproaching
them for their unmanly conduct. "Why," he asked them, "have you given
way to womanish and idle tears instead of bracing yourselves up to defend
yourselves and the republic and not allowing your commanders' death to go
unavenged?"
Suddenly a shout was heard and the sound of trumpets, for the
enemy was now close up to the rampart. In an instant their grief changed to
fury, they rushed to arms, and racing to the gates like madmen they dashed
upon the enemy who were coming on carelessly and in disorder. The sudden
and unlooked for movement created a panic among the Carthaginians. They
wondered whence all these enemies had arisen, after their army had been all
but annihilated, what gave such daring and self-confidence to men who had
been vanquished and put to flight, who had come forward as their
commander now that the two Scipios were killed, who was over the camp,
who had given the signal for battle. Bewildered and astounded at all these
utterly unlooked-for surprises they at first slowly retired, then as the attack
became heavier and more insistent they turned and fled. There would have
been either a frightful slaughter amongst the fugitives or a rash and
dangerous attack on the part of the pursuers if Marcius had not hurriedly
given the signal to retire and kept back the excited troops by throwing
himself in front of the foremost and even holding some back with his hands.
Then he marched them back to camp still thirsting for blood. When the
Carthaginians saw that none were pursuing them after the first repulse from
the rampart they imagined that they had been afraid to go any further, their
feelings of contempt returned, and they marched at a leisurely pace back to
their camp. They showed as much carelessness in guarding their own camp
as they had shown in attacking the Roman, for although their enemy was
near them they regarded them as only the wreckage of two armies which had
been destroyed a few days before. Whilst they were, in consequence of this,
neglectful of everything, Marcius, who had become thoroughly aware of it,
thought out a plan, at first glance hazardous rather than bold, which was to
assume the aggressive and attack the enemy's camp. He thought it would be
easier to storm Hasdrubal's camp whilst he was alone than to defend his
own, in case the three commanders united their forces once more. Besides, if
he succeeded he would have gone far to retrieve their late disasters; if he
failed the enemy could no longer despise him, since he would have been the
first to attack.