ver did so: first comes Romulus, with the spoils of Acron of
Caeninum; second, Cornelius Cossus offered the spoils of Tolumnius the
Etruscan; third, Marcellus offered these spoils of Britomartus, the
king of the Gauls; after Marcellus, no man.

The god to whom they are offered is called Jupiter Feretrius,
according to some, from the trophy being carried upon a _feretrum_, or
bier, as it is called in the Greek tongue, which then was much mixed
with the Latin; but according to others, it is an attribute of Jupiter
the Thunderer, for the Romans call striking _ferire_. Others say that
the name comes from striking the enemy; for even now in battle when
they are pursuing the enemy they keep shouting, "_Feri_," that is,
"Strike," to one another. The word for ordinary spoils is _spolia_,
but for these _spolia opima_. Yet it is said that Numa Pompilius
speaks of first, second, and third degrees of _spolia opima_, ordering
the first to be offered to Jupiter Feretrius, the second to Mars, and
the third to Quirinus; and that for the first the prize is three
hundred ases, two hundred for the second, and one hundred for the
third. But the most common story runs that those spoils alone are
_spolia opima_ which are taken at a pitched battle, and first of all,
and by the general of the one side from the general of the other. But
of these things enough.

The Roman people were so overjoyed at that victory and the end of the
war that they made from the money paid to ransom captives, a golden
statue, and sent it to Apollo at Delphi as a thank-offering, and gave
a magnificent share of the booty to their allies, and even sent many
presents to Hiero the king of Syracuse, their friend and ally.

IX. When Hannibal invaded Italy, Marcellus was sent with an army to
Sicily: but when the disaster at Cannae took place, where many thousand
Romans perished, and only a few fugitives collected at Canusium, it
was expected that Hannibal would at once march to attack Rome, as he
had cut off the greater part of the army. Marcellus at once sent a
garrison of fifteen hundred men to guard the city, and afterwards, in
obedience to a senatus-consultum, went to Canusium, and taking command
of the fugitives collected there, led them out of their fortified
camp, to show that he would not deliver up the country to the enemy.
The Romans had lost many of their most capable leaders in the wars,
and Fabius Maximus, who had the greatest reputation, was blamed by
them