§26.2.1principio eius anni cum de litteris L. Marcii referretur, res gestae magnificae senatui visae; titulus. honoris, quod imperio non populi iussu, non ex auctoritate patrum dato “propraetor senatui” scripserat, magnam partem hominum offendebat: §26.2.2rem mali exempli esse, imperatores legi ab exercitibus et sollemne auspicandorum comitiorum in castra et provincias procul ab legibus magistratibusque ad militarem temeritatem transferri. §26.2.3et cum quidam referendum ad senatum censerent, melius visum differri eam consultationem, donec proficiscerentur equites, qui ab Marcio litteras attulerant. §26.2.4rescribi de frumento et vestimentis exercitus placuit eam utramque rem curae fore senatui; adscribi autem “propraetori L. Marcio” non placuit, ne id ipsum, quod consultationi reliquerant, pro praeiudicato ferret. §26.2.5dimissis equitibus de nulla re prius consules rettulerunt, omniumque in unum sententiae congruebant, agendum cum tribunis plebis esse, primo quoque tempore ad plebem ferrent, quem cum imperio mitti placeret in Hispaniam ad eum exercitum, cui Cn. Scipio imperator praefuisset. §26.2.6ea res cum tribunis acta promulgataque est.
At the beginning of that year, when the matter of Lucius Marcius's letter was referred to the senate, his achievements seemed splendid to them; but his title of honor, because he had written "the propraetor to the senate," though command had been given to him neither by the order of the people nor by the authority of the fathers, offended a great part of the men. For they thought that it was a matter of bad precedent for generals to be chosen by armies, and for the solemn rite of holding assemblies with auspices to be transferred to military rashness in camps and provinces, far from the laws and magistrates. And although some thought that the matter should be referred to the senate, it seemed better that this consultation should be postponed until the horsemen who had brought the letter from Marcius had departed. It was resolved that a reply should be written concerning the grain and clothing of the army, and that both of these matters would be a care to the senate; however, it was not resolved that "to the propraetor Lucius Marcius" should be added to the address, lest the reply itself should convey as already decided that very matter which they had left for consultation. Once the horsemen had been dismissed, the consuls brought forward no business before this, and the opinions of all agreed on one point: that they must treat with the tribunes of the plebs, so that they might propose to the plebs at the very first opportunity whom it pleased them should be sent with command to Spain to that army which the general Gnaeus Scipio had commanded. This matter was transacted with the tribunes and published.
sed aliud certamen occupaverat animos. §26.2.7C. Sempronius Blaesus die dicta Cn. Fulvium ob exercitum in Apulia amissum in contionibus vexabat, multos imperatores temeritate atque inscitia exercitum in locum praecipitem perduxisse dictitans, §26.2.8neminem praeter Cn. Fulvium ante conrupisse omnibus vitiis legiones suas, quam proderet.
But another struggle had occupied their minds. Gaius Sempronius Blaesus, having appointed a day for trial, harassed Gnaeus Fulvius in public assemblies on account of the army lost in Apulia, repeatedly asserting that many generals through rashness and ignorance had led their armies into precarious places, but that no one before Gnaeus Fulvius had corrupted his own legions with every vice before he betrayed them.
itaque vere dici posse prius eos perisse, quam viderent hostem, nec ab Hannibale, sed ab imperatore suo victos esse. §26.2.9neminem, cum suffragium ineat, satis cernere, cui imperium, cui exercitum permittat.
And so, it could truly be said that they had perished before they saw the enemy, and had been conquered not by Hannibal, but by their own general. No one, when he enters to cast his vote, sufficiently perceives to whom he is entrusting command and to whom the army.
quid interfuisse inter Ti. Sempronium et Cn. Fulvium? §26.2.10Ti. Sempronium, cum ei servorum exercitus datus esset, brevi effecisse disciplina atque imperio, ut nemo eorum generis ac sanguinis sui memor in acie esset, praesidio sociis, hostibus terrori essent; Cumas, Beneventum aliasque urbes eos velut e faucibus Hannibalis ereptas populo Romano restituisse: §26.2.11Cn. Fulvium Quiritium Romanorum exercitum, honeste genitos, liberaliter educatos servilibus vitiis imbuisse.
What difference had there been between Tiberius Sempronius and Gnaeus Fulvius? Tiberius Sempronius, when an army of slaves had been given to him, had in a short time brought it about by discipline and command that no one of them was mindful of his descent and blood in the battle-line, and that they were a protection to the allies and a terror to the enemy; and they restored to the Roman people Cumae, Beneventum, and other cities snatched as if from the jaws of Hannibal. But Gnaeus Fulvius had imbued an army of Roman citizens, honorably born and liberally educated, with slavish vices.
ergo effecisse, ut feroces et inquieti inter socios, ignavi et inbelles inter hostes essent nec impetum modo Poenorum, sed ne clamorem quidem sustinere possent. §26.2.12nec hercule mirum esse cessisse milites in acie, cum primus omnium imperator fugeret; §26.2.13magis mirari se aliquos stantis cecidisse, et non omnes comites Cn. Fulvi fuisse pavoris ac fugae.
Therefore, he had brought it about that they were fierce and restless among the allies, cowardly and unwarlike among the enemy, and could not withstand not only the attack of the Carthaginians, but not even their shout. Nor, by Hercules, was it any wonder that the soldiers had given way in the battle-line, since the general was the first of all to flee; he wondered rather that some had fallen standing, and that all had not been Gnaeus Fulvius's companions of fear and flight.
C. Flaminium, L. Paulum, L. Postumium, Cn. ac P. Scipiones cadere in acie maluisse quam deserere circumventos exercitus: §26.2.14Cn. Fuluium prope unum nuntium deleti exercitus Romam redisse.
Gaius Flaminius, Lucius Paulus, Lucius Postumius, and Gnaeus and Publius Scipio had preferred to fall in battle rather than desert their surrounded armies; Gnaeus Fulvius had returned to Rome almost as the sole messenger of the destroyed army.
facinus indignum esse Cannensem exercitum, quod ex acie fugerit, in Siciliam deportatum, ne prius inde dimittatur, quam hostis ex Italia decesserit, et hoc idem in Cn. Fulvi legionibus nuper decretum: §26.2.15Cn. Fulvio fugam ex proelio ipsius temeritate commisso impunitam esse, et eum in ganea lustrisque, ubi iuuentam egerit, §26.2.16senectutem acturum, milites, qui nihil aliud peccaverint, quam quod imperatoris similes fuerint, relegatos prope in exilium ignominiosam pati militiam; adeo imparem libertatem Romae diti ac pauperi, honorato atque inhonorato esse.
It was a scandalous thing that the army of Cannae, because it had fled from the battle-line, had been transported to Sicily, not to be discharged from there before the enemy should depart from Italy, and that this same measure had recently been decreed for the legions of Gnaeus Fulvius; while for Gnaeus Fulvius himself, his flight from a battle committed by his own rashness went unpunished, and he, in eating-houses and brothels where he spent his youth, would spend his old age, while the soldiers, who had sinned in nothing else than that they had been like their general, banished almost into exile, suffered a shameful military service; so unequal was liberty in Rome for the rich and the poor, the honored and the unhonored.