uliar to slaves, an army of Roman citizens, of
honourable parentage and liberal education; and had thus made them
insolent and turbulent among their allies, inefficient and dastardly
among their enemies, unable to sustain, not only the charge, but the
shout of the Carthaginians. But, by Hercules, it was no wonder that
the troops did not stand their ground in the battle, when their
general was the first to fly; with him, the greater wonder was that
any had fallen at their posts, and that they were not all the
companions of Cneius Fulvius in his consternation and his flight.
Caius Flaminius, Lucius Paullus, Lucius Posthumius, Cneius and Publius
Scipio, had preferred falling in the battle to abandoning their armies
when in the power of the enemy. But Cneius Fulvius was almost the only
man who returned to Rome to report the annihilation of his army. It
was a shameful crime that the army of Cannae should be transported
into Sicily, because they fled from the field of battle, and not be
allowed to return till the enemy has quitted Italy; that the same
decree should have been lately passed with respect to the legions of
Cneius Fulvius; while Cneius Fulvius himself has no punishment
inflicted upon him for running away, in a battle brought about by his
own indiscretion; that he himself should be permitted to pass his old
age in stews and brothels, where he passed his youth, while his
troops, whose only crime was that they resembled their general, should
be sent away in a manner into banishment, and suffer an ignominious
service. So unequally," he said, "was liberty shared at Rome by the
rich and the poor, by the ennobled and the common people."

3. The accused shifted the blame from himself to his soldiers; he
said, "that in consequence of their having in the most turbulent
manner demanded battle, they were led into the field, not on the day
they desired, for it was then evening, but on the following; that they
were drawn up at a suitable time and on favourable ground; but either
the reputation or the strength of the enemy was such, that they were
unable to stand their ground. When they all fled precipitately, he
himself also was carried away with the crowd, as had happened to Varro
at the battle of Cannae, and to many other generals. How could he, by
his sole resistance, benefit the republic, unless his death would
remedy the public disasters? that he was not defeated in consequence
of a failure in his provisions; that he had n