tected his own farm with the legions
of the Republic; and, finally, proposing, as a most moderate measure,
that Minucius, the victor, should be given equal command over the army
with Fabius the laggard."

"Unprecedented impudence!" murmured Sergius, "and what said the
dictator?"

"He did not trouble to go near the Comitia, and even in the Senate they
did not like to hear his praises of Hannibal and his troops, or listen
favourably when he spoke doubtfully concerning the magnitude of
Minucius' victory and claimed that, even were it all true, the
master-of-the-horse should be called to account for his
insubordination. So, after he had lauded prudence and supported his
own policy, and after Marcus Atilius Regulus was elected consul, the
dictator departed for the army, in the night, and left them to do as
they pleased."

"They passed the law?" asked Sergius, bitterly.

"It hung in doubt for some time," went on Agathocles; "for, though many
favoured, few were disposed to advance such a measure, until Caius
Terentius Varro, who was praetor last year--"

"The butcher's son," commented Sergius. "You know, my Agathocles, how
demagogues and tyrants crushed out the life of your Hellas. We have
yet to see the same ruin fall upon Rome, and from the same cause:
first, an ungovernable rabble, stirred up by the ignorant and vicious,
and then a king, and then a foreign conqueror. Flaminius lost one
army, Minucius will doubtless lose another, while Metilius and Varro
are well able to lose whatever may remain. Pah! Why did you not let
me finish my journey to Acheron? This is no city for men whose fathers
were able to teach them about war and honour. He whose tongue is most
ready to lie about the noble and the rich is counted on to wield the
sword best against an enemy. Well,--speak on; and what happened next?"

"As you say," continued the physician, "the measure was passed; but
when Minucius desired that he and the dictator should command on
alternate days, Fabius would only consent to a division of the army."

"Gods!" exclaimed Sergius. "Two legions apiece! That must have been
rare sport for Hannibal."

"Truly, yes; but it resulted well, for, to shorten the tale, the
Carthaginian trapped Minucius through his rashness, and was about to
cut him to pieces, when the dictator, who had foreseen all this, came
up and saved what was left; whereupon the master-of-the-horse marched
to the general's camp, and, saluting him as '