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  While Hannibal startled the sea by conveying the fleet in this strange fashion, news came that filled him with a fever of anxiety. While he was far away, trying to take their town from the descendants of Oebalus and ploughing the fields for the first time in history with the beaks of ships, he heard that Capua was besieged, even her gates broken down, and her wretched inhabitants exposed to all the horrors of war. In anger he gave up his enterprise. Shame and wrath together lent him wings; he flew through the surrounding country at furious speed and rushed eagerly to the conflict, threatening vengeance. So, when a tigress has lost her cub and dashes forth in pursuit, the distracted beast traverses the whole Caucasus in a few hours and takes a flying leap over the Ganges, until her lightning speed finds the footprints of her young one; then she catches her enemy and wreaks all her fury upon him.

  Centenius, foolhardy and careless in danger, faced him but was soon routed and his force dispersed. Yet Hannibal got little glory by it. For Centenius, who had once carried the vine-staff of a Roman centurion, had hastily stirred up the country people and thrown his ill-armed levies against the foe to be destroyed. Twice seven thousand men were slain, nor did the victor halt: twice seven thousand more, fully armed, were led by Fulvius, no better skilled in war for all his famous name; and again the enemy dashed on over their prostrate bodies and refused to check the rate of their march. One thing only made Hannibal pause: seeking a reputation for humanity, he gave burial to Gracchus, though rejoicing at his death. For Gracchus, while seeking by means of a conference to gain the adherence of the false Lucanians, had been treacherously and foully slain by his host; encompassed by hidden guile he had been murdered, and Hannibal snatched at the credit of giving him burial.

  But when it was known that Hannibal was hastening to Capua, no stone was left unturned. Both consuls flew to the spot, and all the forces from Nola; the younger Fabius brought his men with speed from Arpi; Nero from one quarter and swift Silanus from another urged their armies on night and day for instant battle. From all sides they assembled; and Rome was resolved to pit all her generals against that one young commander. He himself encamped aloft on Mount Tifata, the height that rises close by the walls of Capua, and looked down thence upon the city below. But now, when he saw himself surrounded by so many armies, and the city of his allies blockaded, so that it was impossible either for him to enter or for the Capuans to sally forth, he was troubled for the issue. At one time he thought of shattering every obstacle with the sword; or again he might swerve from his present purpose, and devise some stratagem to draw that great host away from the closed gates and set free the beleaguered city. Thus then he spoke to himself, and thus he turned over his anxious thoughts: “Whither does my wavering purpose summon me? Shall I face the risk again, though the lie of the land is against me? Shall I turn my back, with Capua looking on? Or shall I sit here close by on the mountain and suffer the city of my allies to be sacked before my face? That is not like me: — Fabius and his Master of the Knights did not find me discomfited when I escaped triumphantly through the hills beset by Roman soldiers, and forced the cattle, by setting light to their horns, to scatter through the fields tossing fire-brands. Not yet have I lost all my cunning. If the defence of Capua is denied me, I shall find it possible to besiege Rome.”

  When this was settled and his mind made up, he did not wait until the Sun brought his fire-breathing steeds up from Ocean. With voice and gesture he urged his men to march, and revealed his daring design: “On, soldiers, on! with courage superior to every hardship, and increase your speed to the utmost limit of human endurance. Rome is your object. The Alps and Cannae paved the way for our present march. On with you, and dash your shields against the Roman walls, and take vengeance for the destruction of Capua. The fall of Capua is a price worth paying, if you see the Palatine Hill and the Thunder-god evicted from his abode on the Capitol.”

  Thus appealed to, they marched with speed. Rome rang in their ears, Rome stood before their eyes. They believed that, thanks to their general’s adroitness, this enterprise was better timed than if he had led them there straight from the field so fatal to the Aeneadae. Quickly they crossed the river Vulturnus in boats; and the rearguard, in order to delay the Romans, set fire to the boats and left them useless. Then the soldiers hurried through the territory of Sidicinum, and Thracian Cales, the abode of Orithyia, named after her son. Next they laid waste the land of Allifae, dear to Bacchus, and the country where the nymphs of Casinum dwell; and soon the speedy column passed Aquinum, and Fregellae where a buried Giant sends up smoke. On they rushed over the heights where the warlike men of Frusino cling to their rugged rocks, and where Anagnia rises on a swelling ridge, a fertile land for corn. And at last Hannibal set foot on the plains and corn-fields of Labicum and left behind the walls of Telegonus, battered by the ram already but not worth delay at such a crisis. Nor did the beauty of Algidus detain him, nor Gabii, the city of Juno. With furious speed he rushed forwards to the banks where cold Anio, gliding noiselessly, winds smoothly with sulphurous waters towards Father Tiber.

  Here he proudly planted his standards and measured out his camp; and, when the banks shook beneath the trampling of his horsemen, their noise straightway drove Ilia down in fear to hide in the sacred grotto of her spouse, and all the nymphs of the stream took flight. Meanwhile the Roman women, as if the walls were already levelled, ran aimlessly to and fro in their distraction like madwomen. Their terror saw ghosts standing before them — ghosts of mangled men, who met their death by the fatal streams of Trebia and Ticinus; the bleeding forms of Paulus and Gracchus and Flaminius moved before their eyes. The streets were blocked by the crowds. But the Senators stood erect and formidable in wrath, and their grim aspect quelled the mighty panic. Yet sometimes silent tears burst forth from beneath a helmet. “What,” they asked, “does Fortune threaten us with, and what is the purpose of the gods?” The young men were distributed for service among the high towers, and each said to himself: “It has come to this, that Rome now is content if she can but defend her walls!”

  Hannibal granted his men a short night’s sleep, that they might rest after their furious march. He himself kept watch; he was never willing to rest, and thought that every hour claimed by sleep was so much lost to life. He put on his shining armour and ordered his Numidian horsemen to gallop in front. Then he rode swiftly round the walls, and the trampling of the horses raised panic in the city. Now he examined the approaches, now he beat on the closed gates with angry spear and enjoyed the terror of the citizens. Or again, he stood motionless on some eminence, bending his gaze upon the city, learning the name of each spot and the origin of its name. He would have surveyed it all, and his piercing eye would have left no part unseen, had not Fulvius come up in furious haste, without entirely abandoning the siege of Capua. Then only did Hannibal, having feasted his eyes on the sight of Rome, turn his triumphant squadrons towards their camp. And, when night was banished from the sky, and the sea grew red with sunrise, and Dawn called men back to their labours, he sent his army forth from the demolished rampart, and, as he rode along, shouted with all the power of his voice: “Comrades, I adjure you by your countless laurels and your right hands consecrated by bloodshed, go forward and rival your former deeds; let your boldness in battle be as great as the fear in Roman hearts. Destroy this one obstacle, and nothing will remain in the whole world for you to conquer. Nor, though they spring from Mars, let that parentage delay your attack: you will take a city that is accustomed to be taken, a city that the Senones entered in their thousands. Perhaps the Senators are already duly seated on their high curule chairs, even as their ancestors sat, preparing for a glorious death and waiting for you to inflict it.”

  Thus spoke Hannibal; but the men of Rome, on their side, needed no speech or appeal from any leader. They found incentive enough in the sight of women and children, and of loved parents weeping and holding out their hands in supplication. Mothers hold up their infants and stir the eager hearts of the men by the children�
�s cries, and imprint kisses on hands that grasp the sword. The men are eager to march and breast the enemy outside the walls in close array; and they look back at their dear ones and choke down their tears. But, when the opened gate turned on its hinges and the host sallied forth together in arms, the noise of beaten breasts, mingled with sobs and prayers, rose up over the high walls to heaven; and the matrons shrieked, baring their breasts and letting loose their hair. At the head of the army rode Fulvius. “It is an open secret,” he said, “that Hannibal was no free agent when he came to attack our homes: he was driven in flight from the gates of Capua.” He was about to say more, when he was interrupted by a fearful crash and loud rumbling in the sky; and a tempest burst suddenly from the clouds.

  Jupiter was returning from the land of the Ethiopians, when he saw Hannibal’s threatening approach to the ramparts of Romulus. At once he summoned the gods and bade them defend the Dardan city and each to take his place on the Seven Hills. He himself, raised high on the Tarpeian Mount, stirred up all his armoury — winds and clouds and angry hail, thunder and lightning and black rain-storms. The firmament was struck and trembled, darkness veiled the sky, and earth was hidden by the black robe of night. The enemy were blinded by the storm, and Rome, though close beside them, was hidden from their eyes. The flame, hurled through the clouds upon their ranks, kept roaring on, and the fire hisses against their limbs. Then the South-wind and the North, and the dark-winged South-west wind, began a war fierce enough to satisfy the anger in the breast of Jupiter. A deluge of rain came down, mingled with pitchy hurricanes and black storms, and covered all the surrounding plains with foaming waves. The Ruler of the gods, high on his hill-top, hurled a thunderbolt with his lifted arm and smote the shield of Hannibal. The general was resolved never to give way; but the point of his spear was melted, and his sword was fused, as if it had been plunged in the furnace.

  But, though his weapons were scathed by the fire, Hannibal still rallied his men, telling them that the fire from heaven was blind, and the tumultuous roaring of the winds a mere empty din. At last, when his men had suffered and all heaven had come crashing down, without their seeing an enemy or an enemy’s sword through the rain, he ordered a retreat to the camp, and thus revived his wrath and sorrow: “Rome, you may thank the winds and stormy weather, forsooth! for a single day’s reprieve; but the morrow shall never snatch you from my grasp, not if Jupiter descends to earth in person.” While he spoke thus and gnashed his teeth, behold! the heavens cleared and the sun shone out, the clouds dispersed and the sky became pure and bright. The Aeneadae recognized the hand of the god: laying down their weapons, they held their hands up humbly towards the lofty Capitol and wreathed the temple on the hill with festal laurel. Then they looked at Jupiter’s face, cheerful now though bathed in sweat a little while ago: “O supreme Father of the gods,” they prayed, “grant that Hannibal may be slain in battle by a bolt from heaven. No other hand has power to destroy him.”

  Thus they prayed and then kept silence, after Hesperus had hidden the earth beneath the shades of night. But when the sun raised his ruddy torch and hid the morning-star, and mortal men resumed the business of life, back the Carthaginians came, nor did the Roman soldiers remain in their camp. Swords were not yet drawn, and a space, only the length of a spear-cast, separated the armies, when suddenly the brightness of the sky grew dim, and thick darkness came on; daylight fled and Jupiter began to arm for battle a second time. On came the winds, and a thick mass of fiery cloud was whirled before the South-wind. Jupiter himself thundered, till Rhodope and Taurus, Pindus and Atlas, were shaken by it. The pools of Erebus heard it, and Typhoeus, hidden in deep darkness, recognized the sound of war in heaven. The South-wind attacked, driving on a pitch-dark cloud with pelting hail, and turned Hannibal about, forcing him to retreat to his camp, in spite of his reluctance and his idle threats.

  But when the invader had laid down his arms and was protected by his ramparts, the skies cleared and the face of heaven smiled again: it was hard to believe that so benign a Jupiter had lately wielded bolts and vexed with his thunders a sky so peaceful. Hannibal held out: he promised and vowed that the fury of the elements would not again attack the army, if only they recovered their native valour and thought it no sacrilege for Carthage to sack Rome. Where, he asked, were the thunderbolts of invincible Jupiter hidden away, when the sword was strewing the Aetolian plain ° with corpses, or when the Etruscan lake was swollen with human gore? “If the Ruler of the gods,” said he, “is fighting in defence of Rome and hurling bolt after bolt from his high place, why, when he is so busy, is he unwilling to strike down me, his adversary? Are we to turn our backs, and be routed by winds and rough weather? Show once more, I entreat you, that firmness of purpose with which you resolved to fight a second war, in spite of treaties and of the covenants of our senate.” Thus he sought to inflame their ardour, until the Sun loosed the foaming bits of his steeds. Night brought him no peace of mind, nor did sleep dare to visit his stormy breast; and his frenzy came back with the dawn. Once mere he summoned his frightened men to arms, and clashed on his shield with a terrible din, and rivalled with his armour the roll of thunder.

  But when he heard that the Roman Senate, trusting in divine aid, had sent reinforcements to the land of the Baetis, and that the troops had started from Rome during the night, he attacked with increased violence, indignant that Rome cared so little for Hannibal and that the besieged citizens should thus take their ease. He was nearing the walls, when Jupiter addressed Juno and soothed her fears by this warning: “Spouse and sister whom I love, will you never, never check this Carthaginian youth whose insolence knows no limit? He destroyed Saguntum and levelled the Alps; he put fetters on the sacred river Po and polluted the lakes. Let that pass; but does he intend also to force his way into the habitations of the gods and into our citadels? Bring him to a halt; for, as you see, he is now calling for fire, and means to kindle flames in rivalry of my thunderbolts.”

  Saturn’s daughter thanked him for his warning. Full of anxiety she flew down from heaven and took Hannibal by the right hand: “Madman, whither are you rushing? Are you intent on a warfare that is beyond the power of mortal man?” Thus speaking she dispersed the cloud of darkness and revealed herself in her real semblance. “You have not now to do with settlers from Troy or Laurentum. Look up and see! For I will remove the cloud for a space from your eyes and suffer you to behold all things. Where yonder peak rises high, the Palatine, so named by the Arcadian king, is held by Apollo; he makes ready for battle, his full quiver rattles, and his bow is bent. Again, where the tall pile of the Aventine rises beside the other hills, see you how the maiden daughter of Latona brandishes torches kindled in the stream of Phleget hon, and thrusts forth her bared arms in her eagerness for battle? Then look elsewhere and see how Mars, the fierce warrior, has filled all the field named after himself. Janus from one side and Quirinus from another, each god from his own hill, come forth to war. And then behold the mighty form of Jupiter — how he shakes the aegis till it vomits forth fire and storm, and how he gluts his fierce wrath with bursts of flame. Turn your face hither and dare to look at the Thunder-god. When he shakes his head, what storms, what mighty bolts you see obedient to his nod! What fire flashes from his eyes! Yield at last to Heaven, and fight no more against it like the Giants.” With these words she turned him from his purpose and restored peace to earth and heaven. Though slow to learn peace and moderation, yet he was awed by the faces and fiery limbs of the immortals.

  As he departed and ordered the standards to be wrenched up from the soil of the camp, Hannibal looked back and swore he would return. At once the sun in heaven shone brighter, and the quivering blue of the sky glittered in the sunlight. But when the Aeneadae from their walls saw the standards pulled up and Hannibal retreating in the distance, they exchanged looks in silence and conveyed by gestures what they dared not believe while panic still clung to their hearts: — they supposed that Hannibal did not mean to depart; that this was a trick
and a stratagem — an instance of Punic treachery; and mothers kept silence as they kissed their babes. But, when at last the army marched out of their sight, their fears vanished and their suspicion of a trick was lulled to rest. Then indeed they flocked to the temple on the Capitol; and, exchanging embraces, they acclaimed with mingled voices the triumph of Tarpeian Jupiter and decked his shrine with garlands. Next they threw open all the gates; and from every quarter the people came rushing with joy, seeking for pleasure that had long been beyond their hopes. Some gaze at the spot where Hannibal’s pavilion had been pitched, others at the high seat whither he had summoned his army to address them, or at the camping-ground of the warlike Asturians, savage Garamantians, and fierce Ammonites. Now they bathe in the running water of the river; now they rear altars to the nymphs who haunt the Anio; and then, having purified the walls with sacrifice, they return to the rejoicing city.

  BOOK XIII

  ARGUMENT

  HANNIBAL WITHDRAWS TO THE RIVER TUTIA, AND IS PREVENTED FROM ATTACKING ROME AGAIN BY DASIUS, A DESERTER, WHO EXPLAINS THAT THE CITY IS IMPREGNABLE SO LONG AS IT CONTAINS THE PALLADIUM. HE RETURNS TO THE LAND OF THE BRUTTII (1-93). THE ROMANS TAKE CAPUA (94-380). SCIPIO’S FATHER AND, UNCLE ARE DEFEATED AND KILLED IN SPAIN (381-384). THIS NEWS INDUCES SCIPIO TO DESCEND TO HADES, TO SEE THE SPIRITS OF HIS KINSMEN (385-396). HE SEES MANY GHOSTS OF FAMOUS MEN AND WOMEN IN HADES. FINALLY, THE SIBYL PREDICTS THE DEATH OF HANNIBAL (397-893). HE THEN RETURNS TO THE UPPER WORLD (894, 895).