28.11
In the
anxiety caused by the strain of such a serious war when men referred every
occurrence, fortunate or the reverse, to the direct action of the gods,
numerous portents were announced. At Tarracina the temple of Jupiter, at
Satricum that of Mater Matuta were struck by lightning. At the latter place
quite as much alarm was created by the appearance of two snakes which
glided straight through the doors into the temple of Jupiter. From Antium it
was reported that the ears of corn seemed to those who were reaping them
to be covered with blood. At Caere a pig had been farrowed with two heads,
and a lamb yeaned which was both male and female. Two suns were said to
have been seen at Alba, and at Fregellae it had become light during the night.
In the precinct of Rome an ox was said to have spoken; the altar of Neptune
in the Circus Flaminius was asserted to have been bathed in perspiration, and
the temples of Ceres, Salus and Quirinus were all struck by lightning. The
consuls received orders to expiate the portents by sacrificing full-grown
victims and to appoint a day of solemn intercession. These measures were
carried out in accordance with the senatorial resolution. What was a much
more terrifying experience than all the portents reported from the country or
seen in the City, was the extinction of the fire in the temple of Vesta. The
vestal who was in charge of the fire that night was severely flogged by order
of P. Licinius, the Pontifex Maximus. Though this was no portent sent by the
gods, but merely the result of human carelessness, it was decided to sacrifice
full-grown victims and hold a service of solemn supplication in the temple of
Vestal.
Before the consuls left for the seat of war, they were advised by the
senate "to see to it that the plebeians were reinstated on their holdings.
Through the goodness of the gods the burden of war had now been shifted
from the City of Rome and from Latium, and men could dwell in the country
parts without fear, it was by no means fitting that they should be more
concerned for the cultivation of Sicily than for that of Italy." The people
found it, however, anything but an easy matter. The small holders had been
carried off by the war, there was hardly any servile labour available, the
cattle had been driven off as plunder, and the homesteads had been either
stripped or burnt. Still, at the authoritative behest of the consuls a
considerable number did return to their farms. What led to the senate taking
up this question was the presence of deputations from Placentia and
Cremona, who came to complain of the invasion and wasting of their
country by their neighbours, the Gauls. A large proportion of their settlers,
they said, had disappeared, their cities were almost without inhabitants, and
the countryside was a deserted wilderness. The praetor Mamilius was
charged with the defence of these colonies; the consuls, acting on a
resolution of the senate, published an edict requiring all those who were
citizens of Cremona and Placentia to return to their homes before a certain
day. At last, towards the beginning of spring, they left for the seat of war.
The consul Q. Caecilius took over the army from C. Nero, and L. Veturius,
the one which Q. Claudius had commanded, and this he brought up to its full
strength with the fresh levies which he had raised. They led their armies into
the district of Consentia, and ravaged it in all directions. As they were
returning laden with plunder they were attacked in a narrow pass by a force
of Bruttians and Numidian javelin-men, and not only the plunder but the
troops themselves were in danger. There was, however, more alarm and
confusion than real fighting. The plunder was sent forward and the legions
succeeded in getting into a position free from danger. They advanced into
Lucania, and the whole of the district returned to its allegiance to Rome
without offering any resistance.
