26.11
The
following day Hannibal crossed the Anio and led out the whole of his force
to battle; Flaccus and the consuls did not decline the challenge. When both
sides were drawn up to decide an action in which Rome was the victor's
prize, a tremendous hailstorm threw the two armies into such disorder that
they had difficulty in holding their arms. They retired to their respective
camps, fearing everything rather than their enemy. The following day, when
the armies were drawn up in the same position, a similar storm separated
them. On each occasion, after they were once more in camp, the weather
cleared up in an extraordinary way. The Carthaginians looked upon the
occasion as preternatural, and the story runs that Hannibal was heard to say
that at one time he lacked the will, at another the opportunity, of becoming
master of Rome. His hopes were further damped by two incidents, one of
some importance, the other less so. The more important was his receiving
information that while he was actually in arms near the walls of Rome a
force had marched out fully equipped, under their standards, to reinforce the
army in Spain. The other incident, which he learnt from a prisoner, was the
sale by auction of the spot on which he had fixed his camp, and the fact that,
in spite of his occupation of it, there was no abatement in the price. That any
one should have been found in Rome to buy the ground which he was
holding in possession as spoil of war, seemed to Hannibal such an insulting
piece of arrogance that he instantly summoned a crier and made him give
notice of the sale of the silversmiths' shops round the Forum of Rome.
These incidents led to his withdrawal from Rome, and he retired as
far as the river Tutia, six miles distant from the City. From there he marched
to the grove of Feronia and the temple, which was celebrated in those days
for its wealth. The people of Capena and other cities round used to bring
their first-fruits and other offerings, according to their ability, and they had
also embellished it with a considerable quantity of gold and silver. Now the
temple was despoiled of all its treasures. Great heaps of metal, where the
soldiers, struck by remorse, had thrown pieces of uncoined brass, were
found there after Hannibal's departure. All writers are agreed as to the
plundering of this temple. Coelius tell us that Hannibal diverted his march to
it while he was going from Eretum to Rome, after marching from
Amiternum by Reate and Cutiliae. According to this writer, on leaving
Capua, Hannibal entered Samnium, and from there passed to the Peligni;
then, marching past the town of Sulmo, he crossed the frontiers of the
Marrucini and then advanced through the Alban territory to the country of
the Marsi, and from there to Amiternum and the hamlet of Foruli. There can
be no uncertainty as to the route he took, for the traces of that great
commander and his large army could not have been lost in so short a space
of time; the only point at issue is whether that was the route he took when he
marched to Rome or whether he followed it on his return to Campania.
