Marcellus

After Hannibal had invaded Italy,[*](218 B.C.) Marcellus was sent to Sicily with a fleet. And when the disaster at Cannae came,[*](216 B.C. Cf. the Fabius Maximus, xv. f. ) and many thousands of Romans had been slain in the battle, and only a few had saved themselves by flying to Canusium, and it was expected that Hannibal would march at once against Rome, now that he had destroyed the flower of her forces,

in the first place, Marcellus sent fifteen hundred men from his ships to protect the city; then, under orders from the senate, he went to Canusium, and taking the troops that had gathered there, led them out of the fortifications to show that he would not abandon the country. Most of the leaders and influential men among the Romans had fallen in battle; and as for Fabius Maximus, who was held in the greatest esteem for his sagacity and trustworthiness, his excessive care in planning to avoid losses was censured as cowardly inactivity.

The people thought they had in him a general who sufficed for the defensive, but was inadequate for the offensive, and therefore turned their eyes upon Marcellus; and mingling and uniting his boldness and activity with the caution and forethought of Fabius, they sometimes elected both to be consuls together, and sometimes made them, by turns, consul and proconsul, and sent them into the field.

Poseidonius says that Fabius was called a shield, and Marcellus a sword.[*](Cf. the Fabius Maximus, xix. 3. ) And Hannibal himself used to say that he feared Fabius as a tutor, but Marcellus as an adversary; for by the one he was prevented from doing any harm, while by the other he was actually harmed.

To begin with, then, since Hannibal’s victory had made his soldiers very bold and careless, Marcellus set upon them as they straggled from their camp and overran the country, cut them down, and thus slowly diminished their forces; secondly, he brought aid to Neapolis and Nola. In Neapolis he merely confirmed the minds of the citizens, who were of their own choice steadfast friends of Rome; but on entering Nola, he found a state of discord, the senate being unable to regulate and manage the people, which favoured Hannibal.

For there was a man in the city of the highest birth and of illustrious valour, whose name was Bantius. This man had fought with conspicuous bravery at Cannae, and had slain many of the Carthaginians, and when he was at last found among the dead with his body full of missiles, Hannibal was struck with admiration of him, and not only let him go without a ransom, but actually added gifts, and made him his friend and guest.