ctedly attacked the enemy while
scattered and disordered, and for the most part encumbered with booty,
caused great terror, slaughter, and flight, even as far as the camp
and outposts of the enemy; whence being repulsed by the numbers that
poured out, they again renewed the fight with the assistance of their
own party. Then pursuing and retreating in doubtful battle, though
they left it at last equal, yet the fame of the victory was more with
the Romans than the enemy.

53. But to no one did it appear more important and just than to the
consul himself. He was transported with joy "that he had conquered
with that part of the forces with which the other consul had been
defeated; that the spirits of the soldiers were restored and revived;
that there was no one, except his colleague, who would wish an
engagement delayed; and that he, suffering more from disease of mind
than body, shuddered, through recollection of his wound, at arms and
battle. But others ought not to sink into decrepitude together with a
sick man. For why should there be any longer protraction or waste of
time? What third consul, what other army did they wait for? The camp
of the Carthaginians was in Italy, and almost in sight of the city. It
was not Sicily and Sardinia, which had been taken from them when
vanquished, nor Spain on this side of the Iberus, that was their
object, but that the Romans should be driven from the land of their
fathers, and the soil in which they were born. How deeply," he
continued, "would our fathers groan, who were wont to wage war around
the walls of Carthage, if they should see us their offspring, two
consuls and two consular armies, trembling within our camps in the
heart of Italy, while a Carthaginian had made himself master of all
the country between the Alps and the Apennine!" Such discourses did he
hold while sitting beside his sick colleague, and also at the
head-quarters, almost in the manner of an harangue. The approaching
period of the elections also stimulated him, lest the war should be
protracted till the new consuls were chosen, and the opportunity of
turning all the glory to himself, while his colleague lay sick. He
orders the soldiers, therefore, Cornelius in vain attempting to
dissuade him, to get ready for an immediate engagement. Hannibal, as
he saw what conduct would be best for the enemy, had scarce at first
any hope that the consuls would do any thing rashly or imprudently,
but when he discovered that th