were sent round to
all the gates to prevent any one going out of the city. Then those who
had arrived the day before, having been summoned to an assembly, ran
in crowds into the forum to the tribunal of the general, with the
presumptuous purpose of intimidating him by their shouts. At the same
time that the general mounted the tribunal, the armed troops, which
had been brought back from the gates, spread themselves around the
rear of the unarmed assembly. Then all their insolence subsided; and,
as they afterwards confessed, nothing terrified them so much as the
unexpected vigour and hue of the general, whom they had supposed they
should see in a sickly state, and his countenance, which was such as
they declared that they did not remember to have ever seen it even in
battle. He sat silent for a short time till he was informed that the
instigators of the mutiny were brought into the forum, and that every
thing was now in readiness.

27. Then, a herald having obtained silence, he thus began: "I imagined
that language would never fail me in which to address my army; not
that I have ever accustomed myself to speaking rather than action,
but because, having been kept in a camp almost from my boyhood, I had
become familiar with the dispositions of soldiers. But I am at a loss
both for sentiments and expressions with which to address you, whom I
know not even by what name I ought to call. Can I call you countrymen,
who have revolted from your country? or soldiers, who have rejected
the command and authority of your general, and violated the solemn
obligation of your oath? Can I call you enemies? I recognise the
persons, faces, dress, and mien of fellow countrymen; but I perceive
the actions, expressions, intentions, and feelings of enemies. For
what have you wished and hoped for, but what the Ilergetians and
Lacetanians did. Yet they followed Mandonius and Indibilis, men of
royal rank, who were the leaders of their mad project; you conferred
the auspices and command upon the Umbrian, Atrius, and the Calenian,
Albius. Deny, soldiers, that you were all concerned in this measure,
or that you approved of it when taken. I shall willingly believe, when
you disclaim it, that it was the folly and madness of a few. For the
acts which have been committed are of such a nature, that, if the
whole army participated in them, they could not be expiated without
atonements of tremendous magnitude. Upon these points, like wounds, I
touch with