28.10
The
time was approaching for the elections and it was decided that they should
be conducted by a Dictator. C. Claudius Nero named his colleague M. Livius
as Dictator, and he nominated Q. Caecilius as his Master of the Horse. L.
Veturius and Q. Caecilius were both elected consuls. Then came the election
of praetors; those appointed were C. Servilius, M. Caecilius Metellus,
Tiberius Claudius Asellus and Q. Mamilius Turrinus, who was a plebeian
aedile at the time. When the elections were over, the Dictator laid down his
office and after disbanding his army went on a mission to Etruria. He had
been commissioned by the senate to hold an enquiry as to which cantons in
Etruria had entertained the design of deserting to Hasdrubal as soon as he
appeared, and also which of them had assisted him with supplies, or men, or
in any other way. Such were the events of the year at home and abroad. The
Roman Games were celebrated in full on three successive days by the curule
aediles, Cnaeus Servilius Caepio and Servilius Cornelius Lentulus; similarly
the Plebeian Games were celebrated by the plebeian aediles, M. Pomponius
Matho and Q. Mamilius Turrinus. It was now the thirteenth year of the Punic
War. Both the consuls, L. Veturius Philo and Q. Caecilius Metellus, had the
same province -Bruttium -assigned to them, that they might jointly carry on
operations against Hannibal. The praetors balloted for their provinces. M.
Caecilius Metellus obtained the City jurisdiction; Q. Mamilius, that over
aliens. Sicily fell to C. Servilius, and Sardinia to Ti. Claudius.
The armies were distributed as follows: One of the consuls took
over Nero's army; the other, that which Q. Claudius had commanded; each
consisted of two legions. M. Livius, who was acting as proconsul for the
year, took over from C. Terentius the two legions of volunteer slaves in
Etruria. It was also decreed that Q. Mamilius, to whom the jurisdiction over
aliens had been allotted, should transfer his judicial business to his colleague,
and hold Gaul with the army which L. Porcius had commanded as
propraetor; he was also instructed to ravage the fields of those Gauls who
had gone over to the Carthaginians on the arrival of Hasdrubal. C. Servilius
was to protect Sicily, as C. Mamilius had done, with the two legions of the
survivors of Cannae. The old army in Sardinia, under A. Hostilius, was
recalled, and the consuls enrolled a new legion which Tiberius Claudius was
to take with him to the island. A year's extension of command was granted
to Q. Claudius, that he might remain in charge at Tarentum, and to C.
Hostilius Tubero, that he might continue to act at Capua. M. Valerius, who
had been charged with the defence of the Sicilian seaboard, was ordered to
hand over thirty ships to the praetor' C. Servilius, and return to Rome with
the rest of his fleet.
