rsonal disgrace that
Hannibal should range through the heart of Italy and advance
unopposed to attack the walls of Rome. In the council all the rest
urged a safe rather than an ambitious policy. 'Wait for your
colleague,' they exclaimed, 'and then, joining the two armies,
carry on the war with a common spirit and purpose; meantime use
the cavalry and light-armed infantry to check the reckless
plundering of the enemy.' In a rage he flung himself out of the
council and, bidding the trumpet give at once the signal for march
and battle, he cried, 'Rather let us sit still before the walls of
Arretium, for here is our country and our home. Hannibal is to
slip away from our hands and devastate Italy and, plundering and
burning, to reach the walls of Rome, while we are not to move a
step till C. Flaminius is summoned by the Fathers from Arretium,
as Camillus of old was summoned from Veii.' Amid these angry words
he ordered the standards to be pulled up with all speed and leapt
into the saddle, but the horse suddenly fell and threw the consul
over his head. While the bystanders were alarmed by this gloomy
omen for the beginning of a campaign, a further message arrived
that, in spite of all the standard-bearer's exertions, the
standard could not be pulled up. Turning to the messenger, he
said, 'Do you also bring a dispatch from the Senate forbidding me
to fight? Go, tell them to dig out the standard if their hands are
so numbed with fear that they cannot pull it up.' Then the advance
began; the chief officers, apart from their previous disagreement,
were further alarmed by the double portent; the soldiers were
delighted with their high-spirited leader, as they thought more
about his confidence than any grounds on which it might rest.

Livy, xxii. 3. 7-14.

[Illustration: TRASIMENE]

When Flaminius took the field he found that Hannibal, despite the
melting snow that flooded the fields and made them into marshes and the
rivers into torrents, had crossed the Apennines. It had been a terrible
crossing: men, horses, and animals fell ill and died. Hannibal himself
lost an eye. But he had crossed the mountains and marched right past
Flaminius, who was not strong enough to attack him, on the road to Rome.
This was done on purpose to lure Flaminius on; for Hannibal knew that he
longed to fight before the other consul, Servilius, could join him with
his army and share the glor