dust very great, and the wind blows constantly, and as it
were statedly, from the east, drew up his army in such a position that,
while the Romans were exposed to all these inconveniences, he himself,
having heaven, as it were, on his side, fought with wind, dust, and sun
in his favor. Two vast armies, in consequence, were slaughtered till the
enemy were satiated, and till Hannibal said to his soldiers, "Put up
your swords." Of the two commanders, one escaped, the other was slain;
which of them showed the greater spirit is doubtful. Paulus was ashamed
to survive; Varrodid not despair. Of the greatness of the slaughter the
following proofs may be noticed: that the Aufidus was for some time red
with blood; that a bridge was made of dead bodies, by order of Hannibal,
over the torrent of Vergellus, and that two _modii_ of rings were sent
to Carthage, and the equestrian dignity estimated by measure.

It was afterward not doubted but that Rome might have seen its last day,
and that Hannibal, within five days, might have feasted in the Capitol,
if--as they say that Adherbal, the Carthaginian, the son of Bomilcar,
observed--"he had known as well how to use his victory as how to gain
it." But at that crisis, as is generally said, either the fate of the
city that was to be empress of the world, or his own want of judgment,
and the influence of deities unfavorable to Carthage, carried him in a
different direction. When he might have taken advantage of his victory,
he chose rather to seek enjoyment from it, and, leaving Rome, to march
into Campania and to Tarentum, where both he and his army soon lost
their vigor, so that it was justly remarked that "Capua proved a Cannae
to Hannibal"; since the sunshine of Campania and the warm springs of
Baiae subdued--who could have believed it?--him who had been unconquered
by the Alps and unshaken in the field. In the mean time the Romans began
to recover and to rise, as it were, from the dead. They had no arms, but
they took them down from the temples; men were wanting, but slaves were
freed to take the oath of service; the treasury was exhausted, but the
senate willingly offered their wealth for the public service, leaving
themselves no gold but what was contained in their children's
_bullae_[57] and in their own belts and rings. The knights followed their
example, and the common people that of the knights; so that when the
wealth of private persons was brought to the public treasury--in the