30.24
The
consul Cnaeus Servilius, fully persuaded that the credit of restoring peace in
Italy was due to him, and that it was he who had driven Hannibal out of the
country, followed the Carthaginian commander to Sicily, intending to sail
from there to Africa. When this became known in Rome the senate decided
that the praetor should write to him and inform him that the senate thought it
right that he should remain in Italy. The praetor said that Servilius would pay
no attention to a letter from him, and on this it was resolved to appoint P.
Sulpicius Dictator, and he by virtue of his superior authority recalled the
consul to Italy. The Dictator spent the remainder of the year in visiting,
accompanied by M. Servilius, his Master of the Horse, the different cities of
Italy which had fallen away from Rome during the war, and holding an
enquiry in each case. During the armistice a hundred transports carrying
supplies and escorted by twenty warships were despatched from Sardinia by
Lentulus the praetor and reached Africa without any damage either from the
enemy or from storms. Cnaeus Octavius sailed from Sicily with two hundred
transports and thirty warships, but was not equally fortunate. He had a
favourable voyage until he was almost within sight of Africa, when he was
becalmed; then a south-westerly wind sprang up which scattered his ships in
all directions. Thanks to the extraordinary efforts of the rowers against the
adverse waves, Octavius succeeded in making the Promontory of Apollo.
The greater part of the transports were driven to Aegimurus, an island which
forms a breakwater to the bay on which Carthage is situated and about thirty
miles distant from the city. Other were carried up to the city itself as far as
the Aquae Calidae ("hot-springs"). All this was visible from Carthage, and a
crowd gathered from all parts of the city in the forum. The magistrates
convened the senate; the people who were in the vestibule of the
senate-house protested against so much booty being allowed to slip out of
their hands and out of their sight. Some objected that this would be a breach
of faith whilst peace negotiations were going on, others were for respecting
the truce which had not yet expired. The popular assembly was so mixed up
with the senate that they almost formed one body, and they unanimously
decided that Hasdrubal should proceed to Aegimurum with fifty ships of war
and pick up the Roman ships which were scattered along the coast or in the
harbours. Those transports which had been abandoned by their crews at
Aegimurum were towed to Carthage, and subsequently others were brought
in from Aquae Calidae.
