Complete Works of Silius Italicus Read online

  Is it your pleasure, Almighty Father, that the future shall be hidden in such utter darkness? A happier age will one day come, when loyal Rome shall welcome a consul from Capua; the rods which she long withheld from armed force she will then surrender willingly and confidently to the high-souled descendants of her foes.° This penalty, however, for the insolence of their ancestors shall remain, that Capua shall not send voters to Rome before Carthage sends them also. — Virrius, skilfully mixing truth with falsehood, first set forth what the Senate had said and done, and then sounded to his excited hearers the fatal note of bloody war. The frantic people cried out for arms and for Hannibal. They rushed together from every quarter and invited the Carthaginians to their city. Men recalled the mighty achievements of the Tyrian youth: how, rivalling the glory of Hercules, he had burst the barrier of the Alps and overrun the peaks that reach to heaven; how he dammed the river Po with heaps of dead; how, ever victorious, he dyed the Etruscan lake with Roman blood; how he gave eternal glory to the Trebia, and himself in battle sent down to Hades both Paulus and Flaminius, the Roman leaders. To all this they add his early prowess in the sacking of Saguntum, his crossing over the Pyrenees and the Ebro, and the sacrifice offered by his father when he swore in boyhood to make war against Rome. He alone, they said, was impervious in battle to all weapons, though so many leaders had been slain and so many routed. “When the goodness of Providence allows us to join hands with this hero and to ally our-

  selves with him, shall Capua, forsooth, put up with the pride and baseless insolence of an effete people, and be ruled by a state which refuses us, as if we were slaves, the rods of the consulship and equal rights? Varro, forsooth, they think more worthy of that high title, that his flight may be made more conspicuous by the consul’s purple.”

  Talking thus wildly, they were about to send envoys, chosen by lot, to make an alliance with the Carthaginians. But Decius, the sole glory of Capua in that hour, refused to put aside the firm purpose of his brave heart. When he was admitted to the conclave and temporizing was impossible, he spoke thus:—” Fellow-citizens, are you about to violate the ties which our fathers cherished, and make friends with a man whom the gods have condemned for breach of treaty? How utterly you have forgotten the path of duty! It is a noble thing, and a property of noble nations and noble men, to show loyalty to the distressed. Now is the time to go to battle in defence of the Romans, and to take the field while their state is critical and their wounds call for treatment. This is the time to serve them, when success lingers and when stern Fortune summons us to help. To court the prosperous is by no means the glory of a noble mind. Hasten hither to their support! I know their godlike spirits and hearts that can bear every great disaster; they can bear, I assure you, Cannae and Lake Trasimene and the noble death of Paulus. These are the men who dislodged the enemy established in your city and rescued Capua from the tyranny of the Samnites. These are the men who, when that menace was driven out, gave you a constitution and put an end to the fighting of the Sidicini. Compare the allies whom you are deserting with the new allies whom you are gaining. Shall I, with Trojan blood in my veins, I, to whom Capys of old, the kinsman of great lulus, bequeathed his sacred rites and his name derived from Jupiter — shall I consort with half-human Nasamonians and Garamantians, as cruel and savage as wild beasts, and pitch my tent cheek by jowl with a native of Marmarica? Shall I put up with a leader, whose sword now usurps the place of justice and sworn agreements, and all whose glory is derived from bloodshed? God forbid! Decius does not so confuse right and wrong that he is capable of such a choice. The greatest boon with which grudging Nature has equipped man is this — that the door of death stands open and suffers us to depart from a life that is too hard.” Such was the appeal that Decius made in vain to deaf ears.

  The chosen body of envoys made a treaty with Hannibal. He sent ahead a numerous troop of Autololes, and they soon arrived with noise and confusion. He himself was coming with the main body, moving in haste over the plains. Then Decius spoke: “Friends, now is the time and now the hour! Rally round me, while the arm of vengeance achieves a deed worthy of Capua and of me as leader. Lay these barbarous soldiers low. Let each man among you be eager to snatch this crown of glory. If Hannibal tries to enter, block the gates against him with corpses and wipe out your guilt by the sword. That bloodshed, and nothing else, will wash away the stain with which your hearts are polluted.”

  While he spoke thus in vain and no man welcomed his words, Hannibal learned the hostility and desperate design of Decius. His heart swelled high with anger, and he ordered a chosen troop to bring the obstinate man at once to his camp outside the walls. That austere virtue, that breast armed with loyalty and love of justice, that heart greater than all Capua, stood there unshaken and unterrified. With frowning brows he listened to the general’s threats and even assailed him with bitter speech. Then Hannibal raised his voice to a shout as he rebuked the man who defied all the standards and all the swords of Carthage. “Paulus is dead,” he cried, “and Flaminius is dead; and now I am matched against this madman, Decius, who is fain to contend with me, that he may win glory and honour in death. Seize your standards, ye captains, and go forward with speed. I would fain find out whether Capua opens her gates to me in defiance of Decius, even as the Alps opened a path to me at the outset of my campaign — the Alps whose peaks strike the sky and which only a god ° had trodden before me.” His face was flushed with blood, and his angry eye flashed fire; he foamed at the mouth; and the breathing that issued from his panting lungs expressed the inarticulate rage of his breast. Thus he rode into the city, escorted by all the senators and surrounded by the rabble, rushing to behold the general’s face, while he gave vent to all his fury and stormy passion.

  The heart of Decius also was kindled by the approach of danger. He saw that the time had come, when he, though unarmed, might win more glory than the ever-victorious general. He did not run away nor hide himself in the seclusion of his own house, but lived on his quiet life with fearless mien, as free as if Hannibal had never entered Capua. But now, alas, a savage band of armed soldiers quickly seized him and set him down before the feet of Hannibal who sat there in state. From his high seat the conqueror thundered at him with angry speech: “Do you intend with your single hand to prop the falling building and restore a dead Rome to life? Poor fool! are you the man to snatch from me the great gifts of the gods? They kept me alive merely that I might be conquered by Decius, Decius the carpet-knight, weaker than any woman born on the Tyrian shores of our native Carthage. But why should I submit to insult? Hasten, soldiers, to fasten round the neck of this hero the fetters he deserves.” Thus he spoke, and the flow of his abuse was still unchecked. So, when a lion springs upon the herd and settles aloft upon their necks, he roars terribly in his victorious rage; then he drives in his claws to keep his great weight steady, and devours the panting steer, perched high upon its neck. But Decius, while they bound him, said: “Put on the fetters with all speed: they are a fitting symbol of Hannibal’s entrance and the just reward for this ill-starred alliance. Decius is indeed the fit victim to be slain. For Hannibal delights in human blood, and we should do wrong to appease him by the sacrifice of oxen. Look at his friendship! look at his alliance! He has not yet entered the senate-house or the temple doors, but already the cruel tyrant opens the prison. Proceed, and follow up your noble beginning with like deeds! In the nether world I shall have news of your fall, crushed beneath the ruins of Capua.” No more was he suffered to say: his head was veiled in a black mantle, and he was carried off still defiant in the sight of his countrymen.

  Thereupon the conqueror’s rage at last sank to rest. Calm and well-pleased, in triumph he turned his gaze upon the buildings and temples of the city, and learned one thing and another — who was the founder of the city, how many men they had under arms, how many talents of silver and copper were available for war, the quality of their cavalry, and lastly the number of their infantry. They showed him their lofty citadel an
d told him of the Stellatian plain with its bountiful harvests. By now Phoebus was driving his weary steeds down the sky to their goal, and Evening spread her gradual shade and darkened his car in its course to the sea. Then the citizens made a feast as their manner was; the city kept holiday, and banquets were held at tables piled with regal splendour. Hannibal himself, adorned like a god and received with divine honours, was placed high upon a seat of honour covered with far-shining purple. Those who served at the meal were divided into many companies: it was the duty of some to set the dishes, of others to keep the fires alight, and of others to bring round the wine-cup in due order; and yet others were appointed to pile up the store of food. Heavy golden cups, chased in relief by craftsmen of old, sparkled on the board. The bright lighting banished night, and the lofty chamber hummed with the sound of moving attendants. The soldiers of Carthage, unaccustomed to such banquets, were astonished and drank in with wondering eyes that unfamiliar scene of lavish display. Hannibal himself kept silence while eating, disapproving the splendour of the feast and the great retinue that ministered to a need so easily satisfied; but, when he had eaten enough, the gift of Bacchus softened his harsh mood. Then at last he regained a cheerful aspect and laid aside his pressing anxieties.

  Now Teuthras, a citizen of Cyme, played on the Euboean lyre, and his singing charmed ears deafened by the ungentle note of the fierce war-trumpet. For he sang of Chaos, once a mass lighted by no star, where dawn never rose, a benighted world. Then he told how the god had severed the expanse of sea and placed the round world in the centre of the system; how he appointed lofty Olympus to be a habitation for the gods. He told of the reign of Father Saturn over a righteous race. Next he sang of Jupiter — his sweet and secret dalliance, and his union with Electra, daughter of Atlas; how their son was Dardanus, worthy of his divine parents; and how Dardanus gave the Thunderer a grandson, Erichthonius of high deseent; then the long succession passed through Tros and Ilus to Assaraeus and thence to Capys, inferior to none in glory and great deeds; and how he bequeathed his name to the city. Carthaginians and men of Capua together applauded the singer. First of all Hannibal in solemn fashion poured forth a libation in honour of Capys, and the rest of the company followed his example, spilling wine on the tables in customary fashion, and growing heated as they drank.

  The assembled Carthaginians gave themselves up to relaxation and revelry. But there was one young man there whom I must mention; for I will not pass over your design in silenee, Perolla, or fail to record your purpose, which, even though it failed, proceeded from a noble mind. He, alone unaffeeted by wine and not enfeebled by the poison of the wine-eup, was revolving in his mind a glorious task — to fight Hannibal and kill him. And, to make his noble desire more marvellous, he was the son of Pacuvius, but had spurned his father’s intrigues. When his father, burdened by a feast of many courses, walked slowly away from the hall, Perolla went out behind him; and it became possible to reveal his plan and explain his startling design, when they had left part of the dwelling behind them and came to an unoccupied space at the back of the building. Then Perolla spoke: “Hearken to a plan worthy of Capua and of ourselves.” Then he drew back his gown and revealed a sword by his side: “I purpose to end the war by this blade, to cut off the head of Hannibal and carry it in triumph to the Thunderer. This sword shall seal the allianee which treachery has stained. If your aged eyes cannot bear to look on such a sight, if you shrink from a deed too bold for your declining age, then withdraw to the safety of your own house and leave me to my purpose. You hold Hannibal to be the chief of men, and you rank him with the gods; how much more famous than the Carthaginian shall your son be soon!” Fire flashed fiercely from his eyes, and in his thought he was already striking the blow. But his father, whose ears at once refused to hear a design of such dreadful import, fell trembling to the ground and in terror kissed his son’s feet again and again. “By what remains to me of life, by a father’s rights, and by your life, dearer to me than my own, I entreat you to abandon your purpose; let me not witness the hospitable board defiled with blood, the wine-cups filled with gore, and the tables overset in mortal conflict! Will you be able to withstand him whom neither armies nor walled cities can withstand, when his frown comes close and the fire flashes from his eyes? Will you endure the thunderbolts launched from that head, if the sight of your sword calls forth the dread voice that routs whole armies on the field? If you think that he sits unarmed at table, you are wrong. His armour is the immortal glory he has gained by constant warfare and hecatombs of victims slain. If you come close to him, you will marvel to see before you Cannae and the Trebia, the dead of Lake Trasimene and the mighty shade of Paulus. Again, will his officers and those who sit at meat beside him lift no finger while such a scene is acting? Keep still, I entreat you, and abandon a plan which, if successful, must cost you your life. Does not the example of Decius and his cruel fetters teach you to cool your passions?” Thus the father spoke. But, when he saw his son deaf to fear and burning with desire of high renown, he went on thus: “I entreat no more. Go back to the banqueting-hall; let us make haste. The task before you now is not to stab the Carthaginians when they fight in defence of their chief; mine is the throat on which you must test your blade. For, if you purpose to attack Hannibal, through my heart you must drive your weapon. Despise not my age and weakness. I shall throw my body in the way, and my death shall snatch from your hand the sword which you refused to surrender at my entreaty.” Then his tears gushed forth. Thus by the high design of Providence Hannibal was saved, in order to meet Scipio in arms; nor did Fate permit a foreign hand to perform so great an exploit. A splendid figure was Perolla in his wrath, and well he deserved to accomplish his great design. But how much fame he lost by abandoning his purpose, when the mere intention is so glorious! Then they hastened back to the feast and smoothed the trouble from their brows. At last sleep came and broke up the merry-making.

  When the following day was about to reveal the steeds of Phaethon, and his swift chariot was already shining beneath the surface of the sea, the son of great Hamilcar had long been busily engaged. He bade proud Mago repair to the towers of Carthage and report to the senate the exploits of their general. Booty was sent with him and chosen captives and spoils stripped from the dead in bloody warfare, as thank-offerings to the gods for success in battle. Another of Hannibal’s cares was Decius; he, alas, was sent to the Libyan land, to be kept till the general returned and could inflict punishment at leisure. But Jupiter on high had pity on the innocent sufferer, and turned his course aside to the ancient city of Battus. And here Ptolemy, the Macedonian king of Egypt, rescued him from the threats of the men who brought him in their ship, and released him from his bonds. And the same land that had saved his life soon afterwards received his bones, to lie undisturbed in a peaceful grave.

  Meantime Venus did not miss the welcome opportunity to destroy the discipline of the Carthaginians by the insidious weapon of pleasure, and to tame their fierce hearts by luxury. She bade her children scatter their invisible arrows broadcast and kindle unseen fires in every breast. Then she smiled sweetly on the boys and said: “Let Juno, elated by success, give herself airs and despise us. That is no wonder; for what are we? Strong is her hand and strong her arm; we but gently launch our tiny shafts from the bows of boys, and our wounds are followed by no blood. But be up and doing, my children; the time has come for you to help me and inflame the hearts of the Tyrians with your invisible weapons. With dalliance, with excess of wine and sleep, you must rout an army that neither sword nor fire could shatter, nor the chariot of Mars with its utmost speed. Let the taste for luxury steal into Hannibal’s heart; let him drink it in, and not blush to rest his limbs on an embroidered couch, nor refuse to drench his locks with perfume of Assyria. He used to boast of sleeping under the winter sky; now let him prefer to spend whole nights under a roof. He used often to take his food on horseback with his helmet on and the horse at speed; let him change his habits and give up the peaceful day to the
god of wine; and then, when he has well drunk, let him welcome the lyre after the feast and either spend the night in drowsy sleep or watch and wake all night in my service.” When Venus spoke thus, her sportive infantry clapped their snowy wings and flew down from high heaven. The Moorish soldiers felt the fiery arrows, and their hearts were melted in a moment by that shower of bolts. They call for wine and dainty food, and for a repetition of song that sounds sweet to the musician’s lyre. No mettled horse now sweats on the open plain; no lance, hurled to a distance, tasks the bare arm. They bathe their limbs, drowsy with sleep, in water heated over the fire; and their stern valour is sapped by the bane of luxury. Even Hannibal, breathed upon by a deceitful Cupid, piles high the festal board and courts the hospitality of eager hosts, till by degrees he grows degenerate and discards the virtues of his race; for his mind was poisoned by the unseen arrow. Capua is now a second home to him: he calls it a second Carthage and honours it as much; and the character which victory could not hurt is shattered by the seductions of vice. For the men of Capua set no limits to the luxury and profligacy of their lives: they went further and further: using various arts, they sought to set off their banquets by means of stage-plays: so Memphis on the Nile resounds ever with the Phrygian flute and matches Spartan Canopus ° in its revelry. Teuthras above all charmed Hannibal, filling his ears with sweet music both of the voice and of the instrument; and he, when he saw the general marvelling at the sound his fingers drew from the strings, began by degrees to set forth the splendid triumphs of the Aonian lyre; and he sang in unison with the music in a voice that might surpass the dying swan. And this was the song he chose out of many, as most grateful to those who sat at meat: