horities to bring stores
of provisions and refreshment of every kind to the roadside, and to have
relays of carriages ready for the conveyance of the wearied soldiers.
Such were the precautions which he took for accelerating his march; and
when he had advanced some little distance from his camp, he briefly
informed his soldiers of the real object of their expedition. He told
them that never was there a design more seemingly audacious and more
really safe. He said he was leading them to a certain victory, for his
colleague had an army large enough to balance the enemy already, so that
_their_ swords would decisively turn the scale. The very rumor that a
fresh consul and a fresh army had come up, when heard on the
battle-field--and he would take care that they should not be heard of
before they were seen and felt--would settle the business. They would
have all the credit of the victory and of having dealt the final
decisive blow. He appealed to the enthusiastic reception which they
already met with on their line of march as a proof and an omen of their
good fortune. And, indeed, their whole path was amid the vows and
prayers and praises of their countrymen. The entire population of the
districts through which they passed flocked to the roadside to see and
bless the deliverers of their country. Food, drink, and refreshments of
every kind were eagerly pressed on their acceptance. Each peasant
thought a favor was conferred on him if one of Nero's chosen band would
accept aught at his hands. The soldiers caught the full spirit of their
leader. Night and day they marched forward, taking their hurried meals
in the ranks, and resting by relay in the wagons which the zeal of the
country people provided, and which followed in the rear of the column.

Meanwhile, at Rome, the news of Nero's expedition had caused the
greatest excitement and alarm. All men felt the full audacity of the
enterprise, but hesitated what epithet to apply to it. It was evident
that Nero's conduct would be judged of by the event, that most unfair
criterion, as the Roman historian truly terms it. People reasoned on the
perilous state in which Nero had left the rest of his army, without a
general, and deprived of the core of its strength, in the vicinity of
the terrible Hannibal. They speculated on how long it would take
Hannibal to pursue and overtake Nero himself, and his expeditionary
force. They talked over the former disasters of the war, and the fall of