History of Rome

THE FATE OF CAPUA

I. Military Dispositions /or Iht Year. — The new consulsj Co, Fulvius Centimalus and P. Sulpicius Galba, entered upon office on the 15th of Marchj and at once convened a meeting of the senate in the Capitol to discuss questions of State, the conduct of the war and the distribution of the provinces and the armies. The retiring consuls — Q. Fulvius and Appius Claudius — retained their commands and were instructed to prosecute the siege of Capua unremittingly until they had effected its capture. The recovery of this city was the main concern of the Romans now. What detennined them was not only the bitter resentment which its defection had evoked, a feeling which was never more justified in the case of any city, but also the certainty they felt that, as in its revolt it had drawn many communities with it, owing to its greatness and strength, so its recapture would create amongst these communities a feehng of respect for the power whose sovereignty they had formerly acknowledged. The praetors of the past year, M. Junius in Etruria and P. Sonl^onios in Gaul, had their commands extended and were each to retwn the two legions they had, M. Marcellus was to act as proconsul and finish the war in Sicily with the army which he had. If he needed reinforcements he was to take them from the troops which P. Cornelius was commanding in Sicily, but none were to be selected from those who had been forbidden by the senate to take a furlough or return home before the end of the war. The province of Sicily was assi^ed to C, Sulpicius, and he was to take over the two legions which were with P. Comehus; any reinforcements he needed were to be supplied from the army of Cn. Fulvius which had been so disgracefully routed uid cut up the previous year in Apuha. The soldiers who had so disgraced themselves were placed under the same conditions with regard to length of service as the survives of Cannae. As an additional brand of ignominy the men of both these annies were forbidden to winter in towns or to construct winter quarters for themselves within ten miles of any town. The two l^ons which Q. Mudus had commanded in Sardinia were given to L. Cornelius, and any additional force he might require was to be mised by the consuls. T. Otacilius and M. Valerius were ordered to cruise off the coasts of Sicily and Greece respectively with the fleets and soldiers they had previously commanded. The former had a hundred ships with two legions on board; the latter, fifty ships and one legion.