27.25
There
was an animated debate in the senate as to the treatment to be meted out to
the Tarentines. Fabius was present, and stood up for those whom he had
subjugated; others took the opposite line, the majority regarded their guilt as
equal to that of Capua and deserving equally severe punishment. At last a
resolution was adopted embodying the proposal of Manlius Acilius, viz. that
the town should be garrisoned and the entire population confined within their
walls until Italy was in a less disturbed state, when the whole question could
be reconsidered. An equally warm discussion arose in connection with M.
Livius who had commanded the force in the citadel. Some were for passing a
formal vote of censure on him for having, through his negligence, allowed
the place to be betrayed to the enemy. Others considered that he ought to be
rewarded for having successfully defended the citadel for five years, and
having done more than any one else to effect the recapture of Tarentum. A
third party, taking a middle course, urged that it was for the censors, not the
senate, to take cognisance of his action. This view was supported by Fabius,
who remarked that he quite admitted what Livius' friends were constantly
asserting in that House, that it was owing to his efforts that Tarentum had
been retaken, for there would have been no recapture had it not previously
been lost. One of the consuls, T. Quinctius Crispinus, left with
reinforcements for the army in Lucania which Q. Fulvius Flaccus had
commanded. Marcellus was detained by religious difficulties which one after
another presented themselves. In the war with the Gauls he had vowed
during the battle of Clastidium a temple to Honos and Virtus, but he was
prevented from dedicating it by the pontiffs. They said that one shrine could
not be lawfully dedicated to two deities, because in case it were struck by
lightning, or some other portent occurred in it, there would be a difficulty
about the expiation, since it could not be known which deity was to be
propitiated; one victim could not be sacrificed to two deities except in the
case of certain specified deities. A second temple was hastily built to Virtus,
but this was not dedicated by Marcellus. At last he started with
reinforcements for the army which he had left the previous year at Venusia.
Seeing how Tarentum had enhanced Fabius' reputation, Crispinus
determined to attempt the capture of Locri in Bruttium. He had sent to Sicily
for all kinds of artillery and military engines, and had also collected a number
of ships to attack that part of the city which faced the sea. As, however,
Hannibal had brought up his army to Lacinium, he abandoned the siege, and
hearing that his colleague had moved out by Venusia, he was anxious to join
forces with him. With this view he marched back into Apulia, and the two
consuls encamped within three miles of each other in a place between
Venusia and Bantia. As all was now quiet at Locri Hannibal moved up into
their neighbourhood. But the consuls were quite sanguine of success; they
drew out their armies for battle almost every day, feeling perfectly certain
that if the enemy would try his chance against two consular armies, the war
would be brought to a close.
