im.--The new encampments.--Dissensions
between the consuls.--Flight of the inhabitants.--Maneuvers.--The
battle of Cannae.--Another stratagem.--Defeat of the Romans.--AEmilius
wounded.--Death of AEmilius.--Escape of Varro.--Condition of the
battle-field.--The wounded and dying.--The Roman and Carthaginian
soldier.--Immense plunder.

The battle of Cannae was the last great battle fought by Hannibal in
Italy. This conflict has been greatly celebrated in history, not only
for its magnitude, and the terrible desperation with which it was
fought, but also on account of the strong dramatic interest which the
circumstances attending it are fitted to excite. This interest is
perhaps, however, quite as much due to the peculiar skill of the
ancient historian who narrates the story, as to the events themselves
which he records.

It was about a year after the close of the dictatorship of Fabius that
this battle was fought. That interval had been spent by the Roman
consuls who were in office during that time in various military
operations, which did not, however, lead to any decisive results. In
the mean time, there were great uneasiness, discontent, and
dissatisfaction at Rome. To have such a dangerous and terrible foe, at
the head of forty thousand men, infesting the vicinage of their city,
ravaging the territories of their friends and allies, and threatening
continually to attack the city itself, was a continual source of
anxiety and vexation. It mortified the Roman pride, too, to find that
the greatest armies they could raise, and the ablest generals they
could choose and commission, proved wholly unable to cope with the
foe. The most sagacious of them, in fact, had felt it necessary to
decline the contest with him altogether.

This state of things produced a great deal of ill humor in the city.
Party spirit ran very high; tumultuous assemblies were held; disputes
and contentions prevailed, and mutual criminations and recriminations
without end. There were two great parties formed: that of the middling
classes on one side, and the aristocracy on the other. The former were
called the Plebeians, the latter the Patricians. The division between
these two classes was very great and very strongly marked. There was,
in consequence of it, infinite difficulty in the election of consuls.
At last the consuls were chosen, one from each party. The name of the
patrician was Paulus AEmilius. The name of the plebeian was Varro. They
were