Exiguum campi ante castra erat; inde in collem aperta undique et conspecta ferebat via. Numidis speculator, nequaquam in spem tantae rei positus, sed si quos vagos pabuli aut lignorum causa longius a castris progressos possent excipere, signum dat, ut {5} pariter ab suis quisque latebris exorerentur. Non ante apparuere, quibus obviis ab iugo ipso consurgendum erat, quam circumiere, qui ab tergo intercluderent viam. Tum undique omnes exorti et clamore sublato impetum fecere. Cum in ea valle {10} consules essent, ut neque evadere possent in iugum occupatum ab hoste nec receptum ab tergo circumventi haberent, extrahi tamen diutius certamen potuisset, ni coepta ab Etruscis fuga pavorem ceteris {15} iniecisset. Non tamen omisere pugnam deserti ab Etruscis Fregellani, donec integri consules hortando ipsique ex parte pugnando rem sustinebant; sed postquam vulneratos ambo consules, Marcellum etiam transfixum lancea prolabentem ex equo moribundum {20} videre, tum et ipsi--perpauci autem supererant--cum Crispino consule duobus iaculis ieto et Marcello adolescente saucio et ipso effugerunt. LIVY, xxvii. 27. +Context+. Marcellus was Consul for a fifth time in 208 B.C. After the attempt to retake Locri (S.E. of Bruttium) was frustrated by Hannibal, Marcellus and his colleague Crispinus faced H. near Venusia in Apulia. Hannibal hoped to bring on a decisive action, but Marcellus adopted Fabian tactics, and himself headed a cavalry reconnaissance to explore the country between the Roman and the Carthaginian camps. [Linenotes: 2-3. +Numidis speculator+. A wooded hill lay between the two camps: H. had posted here in ambush some Numidian horsemen. 4-5. +si quos possent excipere+ = _on the chance of their being able to intercept_. --Stephenson. 6-8. +Non ante ... circumiere+ = _those who were to spring on the enemy_ (lit. _those to whom it was necessary to rise in a mass confronting the enemy_ +obviis+) _from the hill itself did not show themselves until a detachment had made their way round_ (+circumiere+).--S. 10. +valle+ = _a hollow_, i.e. a depression on the Roman side of the hill. 16. +Fregellani+. Fregellae, a town of the Volsci, on the Via Latina between Rome and Campania, colonised 328 B.C. 17. +ipsique ex parte pugnando+ = _taking their share in fighting_. --S.] +Character of Marcellus+. ‘He was a brave soldier, a firm intrepid patriot, and an unflinching enemy of the enemies of Rome, but as a general no match for Hannibal.’ --Ihne. C33 SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B.C. _Character of Scipio Africanus Maior._