the only operation of the war which remained. Unable to form any plan
in misfortunes, not only very great, but unknown and undefined, and
while the loud lamentations of the women were resounding, and nothing
was as yet made known, the living and the dead alike being lamented in
almost every house; such being the state of things, Quintus Fabius
gave it as his opinion, "That light horsemen should be sent out on the
Latin and Appian ways, who, questioning those they met, as some would
certainly be dispersed in all directions from the flight, might bring
back word what was the fate of the consuls and their armies; and if
the gods, pitying the empire, had left any remnant of the Roman name
where these forces were; whither Hannibal had repaired after the
battle, what he was meditating; what he was doing, or about to do.
That these points should be searched out and ascertained by active
youths. That it should be the business of the fathers, since there was
a deficiency of magistrates, to do away with the tumult and
trepidation in the city; to keep the women from coming into public,
and compel each to abide within her own threshold; to put a stop to
the lamentations of families; to obtain silence in the city; to take
care that the bearers of every kind of intelligence should be brought
before the praetors; that each person should await at home the bearer
of tidings respecting his own fortune: moreover, that they should post
guards at the gates, to prevent any person from quitting the city; and
oblige men to place their sole hopes of safety in the preservation of
the walls and the city. That when the tumult had subsided the fathers
should be called again to the senate-house, and deliberate on the
defence of the city."

56. When all had signified their approbation of this opinion, and
after the crowd had been removed by the magistrates from the forum,
and the senators had proceeded in different directions to allay the
tumult; then at length a letter is brought from the consul Terentius,
stating, "That Lucius Aemilius, the consul, and his army were slain;
that he himself was at Canusium, collecting, as it were after a
shipwreck, the remains of this great disaster; that he had nearly ten
thousand irregular and unorganized troops. That the Carthaginian was
sitting still at Cannae, bargaining about the price of the captives
and the other booty, neither with the spirit of a conqueror nor in the
style of a great general." Then also t