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Cornelius Nepos · Hannibal §5.1-5.4

Escape from Fabius and Defeat of Roman Generals

Passage 5 of 13 · Latin

Summary

After the Battle of Cannae, Hannibal breaks through the blockade of the dictator Fabius Maximus by a clever stratagem. He goes on to defeat Roman generals such as Minucius, Gracchus, and Marcellus, remaining undefeated while in Italy.

§5.1Hac pugna pugnata Romam profectus nullo resistente in propinquis urbi montibus moratus est.
After this battle had been fought, he set out for Rome and, with no one resisting, stayed in the mountains close to the city.
cum aliquot ibi dies castra habuisset et Capuam reverteretur, Q. Fabius Maximus, dictator Romanus, in agro Falerno ei se obiecit.
When he had kept his camp there for several days and was returning to Capua, Quintus Fabius Maximus, the Roman dictator, threw himself in his path in the Falernian territory.
§5.2hic clausus locorum angustiis noctu sine ullo detrimento exercitus se expedivit Fabioque, callidissimo imperatori, dedit verba.
Although blockaded here by the narrowness of the terrain, he extricated himself by night without any loss to his army, and deceived Fabius, that most crafty general.
namque obducta nocte sarmenta in cornibus iuvencorum deligata incendit eiusque generis multitudinem magnam dispalatam immisit.
For when night had fallen, he set fire to brushwood tied to the horns of young bulls, and drove a great multitude of that kind, scattered in all directions.
quo repentino visu obiecto tantum terrorem iniecit exercitui Romanorum, ut egredi extra vallum nemo sit ausus.
By presenting this sudden sight, he struck such terror into the army of the Romans that no one dared to step outside the rampart.
§5.3hanc post rem gestam non ita multis diebus M. Minucium Rufum, magistrum equitum pari ac dictatorem imperio, dolo productum in proelium fugavit.
Not so many days after this achievement, he lured Marcus Minucius Rufus, the master of the horse with power equal to that of the dictator, into battle by a stratagem and put him to flight.
Ti. Sempronium Gracchum, iterum consulem, in Lucanis absens in insidias inductum sustulit.
In his absence, he drew Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, consul for the second time, into an ambush in the territory of the Lucanians and cut him off.
M. Claudium Marcellum, quinquiens consulem, apud Venusiam pari modo interfecit.
In like manner, he killed Marcus Claudius Marcellus, consul for the fifth time, near Venusia.
§5.4longum est omnia enumerare proelia.
It would be tedious to enumerate all his battles.
quare hoc unum satis erit dictum, ex quo intellegi possit, quantus ille fuerit: quamdiu in Italia fuit, nemo ei in acie restitit, nemo adversus eum post Cannensem pugnam in campo castra posuit.
Therefore, it will be enough to state this one thing, from which it can be understood how great a man he was: as long as he was in Italy, no one resisted him in battle, and no one, after the battle of Cannae, pitched camp against him in the open field.

Notes

  1. §5.2dedit verba — The idiom "verba dare" (with dative) means "to deceive" or "to cheat", rather than "to give words". Here it refers to deceiving Fabius.
  2. §5.3pari ac dictatorem imperio — imperio is an ablative of quality modifying magistrum equitum (master of the horse). Although one would expect a genitive dictatoris ("equal to the dictator's power"), dictatorem is attracted into the accusative case of the compared term magistrum equitum.
  3. §5.3absens — The adjective/participle absens (absent) agrees with the subject of the main clause (Hannibal). It indicates that although Hannibal himself was not present at the scene of the action, he caused Gracchus to be drawn into an ambush and killed through his subordinates or plans.
  4. §5.4longum est — Although it expresses a conditional meaning ("it would be tedious/long [if I were to...]"), Latin regularly uses the indicative present in expressions denoting difficulty, capability, or quantity, such as longum est or difficile est.

Cite this passage

Cornelius Nepos, Hannibal §5.1-5.4. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0588.abo023.humanitext-lat2:5.1-5.4

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