27.51
Word
was brought that the envoys were approaching. Everybody young and old
alike ran out to meet them, each eager to drink in the good tidings with eyes
and ears, and the crowd extended as far as the Mulvian bridge. The envoys
were L. Veturius Philo, P. Licinius Varus and Q. Caecilius Metellus. They
made their way to the Forum surrounded by a crowd which represented
every class of the population, and besieged by questions on all sides as to
what had really happened. No sooner did any one hear that the army of the
enemy and its commander had been slain whilst the consuls and their army
were safe, than he hastened to make others sharers of his joy. The
senate-house was reached with difficulty, and with much greater difficulty
was the crowd prevented from invading the space reserved for the senators.
Here the despatch was read, and then the envoys were conducted to the
Assembly. After the despatch was read, L. Veturius gave fuller details and
his narrative was received with bursts of applause, which finally swelled into
universal cheers, the Assembly being hardly able to contain itself for joy.
Some ran to the temples to give thanks to heaven, others hurried home that
their wives and children might hear the good news. The senate decreed a
three days' thanksgiving "because the consuls, M. Livius and C. Claudius
Nero, had preserved their own armies in safety and destroyed the army of
the enemy and its commander." C. Hostilius, the praetor, issued the order for
its observance. The services were attended by men and women alike, the
temples were crowded all through the three days, and the matrons in their
most splendid robes, accompanied by their children, offered their
thanksgivings to the gods, as free from anxiety and fear as though the war
were over. This victory also relieved the financial position. People ventured
to do business just as in a time of peace, buying and selling, lending and
repaying loans. After Nero had returned to camp he gave orders for
Hasdrubal's head, which he had kept and brought with him, to be thrown in
front of the enemies' outpost, and the African prisoners to be exhibited just
as they were in chains. Two of them were released with orders to go to
Hannibal and report all that had happened. Stunned by the blow which had
fallen on his country and on his family, it is said that Hannibal declared that
he recognised the doom which awaited Carthage. He broke up his camp, and
decided to concentrate in Bruttium, the remotest corner of Italy, all his
supporters whom he could no longer protect, whilst scattered in the different
cities. The whole population of Metapontum had to leave their homes
together with all the Lucanians who acknowledged his supremacy, and were
transported into Bruttian territory.
End of Book 27
