26.1
The new consuls, Cn,
Fulvius Centimalus and P. Sulpicius Galba, entered upon office on the 15th
of March, and at once convened a meeting of the senate in the Capitol to
discuss questions of State, the conduct of the war and the distribution of the
provinces and the armies. The retiring consuls -Q. Fulvius and Appius
Claudius -retained their commands and were instructed to prosecute the
siege of Capua unremittingly until they had effected its capture. The
recovery of this city was the main concern of the Romans now. What
determined them was not only the bitter resentment which its defection had
evoked, a feeling which was never more justified in the case of any city, but
also the certainty they felt that, as in its revolt it had drawn many
communities with it, owing to its greatness and strength, so its recapture
would create amongst these communities a feeling of respect for the power
whose sovereignty they had formerly acknowledged. The praetors of the
past year, M. Junius in Etruria and P. Sempronius in Gaul, had their
commands extended and were each to retain the two legions they had. M.
Marcellus was to act as proconsul and finish the war in Sicily with the army
which he had. If he needed reinforcements he was to take them from the
troops which P. Cornelius was commanding in Sicily, but none were to be
selected from those who had been forbidden by the senate to take a furlough
or return home before the end of the war. The province of Sicily was
assigned to C. Sulpicius, and he was to take over the two legions which
were with P. Cornelius; any reinforcements he needed were to be supplied
from the army of Cn. Fulvius which had been so disgracefully routed and cut
up the previous year in Apulia. The soldiers who had so disgraced
themselves were placed under the same conditions with regard to length of
service as the survivors of Cannae. As an additional brand of ignominy the
men of both these armies were forbidden to winter in towns or to construct
winter quarters for themselves within ten miles of any town. The two legions
which Q. Mucius had commanded in Sardinia were given to L. Cornelius,
and any additional force he might require was to be raised by the consuls. T.
Otacilius and M. Valerius were ordered to cruise off the coasts of Sicily and
Greece respectively with the fleets and soldiers they had previously
commanded. The former had a hundred ships with two legions on board; the
latter, fifty ships and one legion. The total strength of the Roman armies
engaged on land and sea this year amounted to twenty-five legions.