Livy

“ We who only the other day in our indignation at the attack on Saguntum appealed not to men alone, but to treaties and to gods, now quietly watch Hannibal scaling the walls of a Roman colony! The smoke from the burning farms and fields is blown into our faces, our ears are assailed by the cries of our despairing allies who appeal to us for help more than they do to the gods, and here are we marching an army like a herd of cattle through summer pastures and mountain paths hidden from view by woods and clouds! ”

“ The best part of the Roman army, their cavalry, who used to boast that they were invincible, have been routed by you. Their cavalry are the flower of their youth, the nursery of their senate, the men whose fathers are chosen as consuls, from whom their commanders are selected; these are the men whose spoils we have now distributed amongst you. And no less a victory have you won over their infantry, those legions who, withdrawn from your reach in a nocturnal flight, filled the river with confusion and disorder like shipwrecked men swimming for their lives. ”

“ No man can say that there was ever a time during which we enjoyed liberty when we were not at peace with you. Now, at all events, no sooner have we become our own masters through the death of the oppressors of Syracuse than we come to you to give up our arms, to surrender ourselves, our city and its fortifications, to accept any condition which you may lay upon us. To you, Marcellus, the gods have vouchsafed the glory of capturing the noblest and fairest of Grecian cities. Whatever memorable achievement we have wrought by sea or land enhances the splendour of your triumph. ”

“ When the fears of the Roman youth were allayed by the return of bright, calm sunshine after such fearful weather, they saw that the royal seat was vacant. Whilst they fully believed the assertion of the senators, who had been standing close to him, that he had been snatched away to heaven by a whirlwind, still, like men suddenly bereaved, fear and grief kept them for some time speechless. At length, after a few had taken the initiative, the whole of those present hailed Romulus as "a god, the son of a god, the King and Father of the City of Rome." ”

“ What would you do if you had to die for your country? Fifty thousand of your countrymen and allies on that very day lay around you slain. If so many examples of courage did not move you, nothing ever will. If so great a carnage did not make life less dear, none ever will. While in freedom and safety, show your affection for your country; nay, rather do so while it is your country, and you its citizens. Too late you now endeavour to evince your regard for her when degraded, disfranchised from the rights of citizens, and become the slaves of the Carthaginians. ”

“ For what say you, soldiers, is there any man in Rome, except Perseus, that wishes there should be no triumph over Macedon; and are you not tearing him in pieces with the same hands with which you subdued the Macedonians? That man, who would hinder you from entering the city in triumph, would, if it had been in his power, have hindered you from conquering. Soldiers, you are mistaken, if you imagine that a triumph is an honour to the general only, and not to the soldiers also, as well as to the whole Roman people. ”

“ Great is the Fortune of the Roman people, great and terrible its name! The recent downfall of Hannibal, of Philip, of Antiochus, had almost stunned the Gauls. With all their huge bulk they were put to flight by slings and arrows, not a sword in the army was stained by the blood of a Gaul, they fled away like flocks of birds at the first whirr of our missiles. Yes, but Fortune also warned us what would have happened to us then, if we had had a real enemy. On our return march we fell amongst Thracian brigands, and were killed, put to flight, and stripped of our baggage. ”

“ We, by the bounty of the gods, your good fortune, and that of the Roman people, have both our cause and our glory uninjured. Though of glory I would scarcely venture to say any thing; since both the enemy scoff at us with every kind of insult, as women hiding ourselves behind a rampart; and you, our general, what we grieve at still more, judge your army to be without spirit, without arms, without hands; and before you had made trial of us, you have so despaired of us, as to consider yourself to be the leader of a set of maimed and disabled men. ”

“ It is the Roman nature to act bravely and to suffer bravely. I am not alone in having made this resolve against you, behind me there is a long list of those who aspire to the same distinction. If then it is your pleasure, make up your mind for a struggle in which you will every hour have to fight for your life and find an armed foe on the threshold of your royal tent. This is the war which we the youth of Rome, declare against you. You have no serried ranks, no pitched battle to fear, the matter will be settled between you alone and each one of us singly. ”

“ Shall a man who was an alien become a patrician and afterwards consul, and a Roman citizen, if he belongs to the plebs, be cut off from all hope of the consulship? Do we believe that it is impossible for a plebeian to be brave and energetic and capable both in peace and war, or if there be such a man, are we not to allow him to touch the helm of the State; are we to have, by preference, consuls like the decemvirs, those vilest of mortals - who, nevertheless, were all patricians - rather than men who resemble the best of the kings, new men though they were? ”

“ Come, when you have blockaded the senate-house here, and have made the forum the seat of war, and filled the prison with the leading men of the state, march forth through the Esquiline gate, with that same determined spirit; or, if you do not even venture thus far, behold from your walls your lands laid waste with fire and sword, booty driven off, houses set on fire in every direction and smoking. But, I may be told, it is only the public weal that is in a worse condition through this: the land is burned, the city is besieged, the glory of the war rests with the enemy. ”

“ A camp is a resting-place for the victor, a shelter for the vanquished. How many armies to whom the fortune of battle has proved unkindly have been driven inside their ramparts and then at their own time, sometimes almost immediately, have made a sortie and repulsed their victorious foe? Here is the soldier's second fatherland, here is his abode, with the rampart for its walls; here each finds in his tent, his home and his household gods. Ought we to have fought as homeless wanderers with no place to receive us after our victory? ”

“ The immortal gods have made you so completely masters of the situation that they have put it into your hands to decide whether there shall be hence-forth a Latium or not. So far, then, as the Latins are concerned, you can secure for yourselves a lasting peace by either cruelty or kindness. Do you wish to adopt ruthless measures against a people that have surrendered and been defeated? It is open to you to wipe out the whole Latin nation and create desolation and solitude in that country which has furnished you with a splendid army of allies which you have employed in many great wars. ”

“ I may be a man whose rule might be naturally expected to prove irksome to his army. But your country - what has it deserved of you that you should make common cause with Mandonius and Indibilis for its betrayal? What have the Roman people done that you should deprive the tribunes whom they elected of their authority, and bestow it on private individuals? And not content with having such men for tribunes you, a Roman army, have transferred the fasces of your commander to men who never possessed a single slave to be at their command! ”

“ Where more generations are reckoned on one side than years on the other, can we be surprised that in such a long space of time there have been more changes of fortune than in a period of thirteen years ? Why do you not compare the fortunes of one man with another, of one commander with another? How many Roman generals could I name who have never been unfortunate in a single battle! You may run through page after page of the lists of magistrates, both consuls and Dictators, and not find one with whose valour and fortunes the Roman people have ever for a single day had cause to be dissatisfied. ”

“ You are not Capuans or Tarentines, but Romans, from Rome you sprang, from Rome you have been planted in colonies on land taken from the enemy, in order that you may augment her dominion. Whatever duties children owe to their parents, you owe to Rome, if indeed you feel a spark of affection for her or cherish any memories of your mother country. So you must begin your deliberations afresh, for what you are now so recklessly contemplating means the betrayal of the sovereignty of Rome and the surrender of victory into the hands of Hannibal. ”

“ Would it not be more becoming for every man, patrician and plebeian alike, for the consuls and tribunes, for gods and men, to come, one and all, to the rescue with their arms, to run to the Capitol and restore liberty and calm to that most venerable abode of Jupiter Optimus Maximus? O, Father Romulus, grant to thine offspring that spirit in which thou didst once win back from these same Sabines the Citadel which had been captured with gold! Bid them take the road on which thou didst lead thine army. ”

“ Now the chance is offered to you, men of Ardea, of proving your gratitude for all the kindness that Rome has shown you - you have not forgotten how great it is, nor need I bring it up against those who so well remember it - the chance of winning for your city a vast reputation for war at the expense of our common foe. Those who are coming here in loose and disorderly fashion are a race to whom nature has given bodies and minds distinguished by bulk rather than by resolution and endurance. It is for this reason that they bring into every battle a terrifying appearance rather than real force. ”

“ To whatever direction the shouts of the enemy, the cries of women and children, the crackling of the flames, and the crash of falling houses, had called their attention, thither, terrified at every incident, they turned their thoughts, faces, and eyes, as if placed by fortune to be spectators of their falling country, and as if left as protectors of no other of their effects, except their own persons: so much more to be commiserated than any others who were ever besieged, because, shut out from their country, they were besieged, beholding all their effects in the power of the enemy. ”

“ With the haughty spirit of royalty, he replied, "Fear I have none, but of the immortal gods; but I have no confidence in the faith of those whom I see about you, and least of all in the Aetolians." "That danger," said the Roman, "is equal to all in common who confer with an enemy, if no confidence subsists." "But, Titus Quinctius," replied the king, "if treachery be intended, the prizes of perfidy are not equal, namely, Philip and Phaeneas. For it will not be so difficult for the Aetolians to find another praetor, as for the Macedonians to find another king in my place."--Silence then ensued. ”

“ Why do you not prepare yourself for action? You are not, like your father, a native of Corinth or Tarquinii, nor is it a foreign crown you have to win. Your father's household gods, your father's image, the royal palace, the kingly throne within it, the very name of Tarquin, all declare you king. If you have not courage enough for this, why do you excite vain hopes in the State? Why do you allow yourself to be looked up to as a youth of kingly stock? ”

“ But if Lucius Paullus, as a private citizen, should, amid the crowd of gowned citizens, interrogate, from the lower ground, those mounting to the Capitol in a chariot, and clad in gold and purple,—‘Lucius Anicius, Cneius Octavius, whether do you esteem yourselves, or me, more deserving of a triumph?’ I am confident they would yield him the chariot, and, through shame, themselves present to him their ensigns of honour. And do ye choose, citizens, that Gentius should be led in procession, rather than Perseus; do you wish to triumph over an accessary, rather than over the principal in the war? ”

“ He has represented himself as an old man full of honours, and me as a youth not even as old as his son, as if the passion for glory did not extend beyond the span of human life and find its chief satisfaction in the memory of future generations. I am quite certain that it is the lot of all great men to compare themselves not with their contemporaries alone, but also with the illustrious of all ages. I admit, Quintus Fabius, that I am desirous not only of equalling your renown but - forgive my saying so - of surpassing it, if I can. ”

“ The expulsion of the Romans from Greece would not be a more wonderful thing than the expulsion of Hannibal from Italy. They could not see how he who had resisted his brother to the uttermost in his unlawful attempt to seize the crown could with any consistency resign it to men of alien blood. The question between peace and war can only arise so far as all are agreed that as there is nothing more disgraceful than to surrender the throne without striking a blow, so there is nothing more glorious than for a king to face all risks in defence of his sovereign dignity and majesty. ”

“ Shall this monster appear in your eyes more worthy of his high office than the men who are trying to send you out as colonists to receive as a free gift city and land, and provide a resting-place for your old age; who are fighting gallantly for your interests against such savage and insolent opponents? Now you can begin to wonder why it is that so few take up your cause. What have they to hope for from you? Is it high office? You would rather confer it on your opponents than on the champions of the Roman people. ”