to recite his vows, and thence, attended by the lictors, proceed to his province in the garb of a general; but that he had set off, like some camp boy, without his insignia, without the lictors, in secrecy and stealth, just as if he had been quitting his country to go into banishment; as if forsooth he would enter his office more consistently with the dignity of the consul at Ariminum than Rome, and assume the robe of office in a public inn better than before his own household gods.”—­it was unanimously resolved that he, should be recalled and brought back, and be constrained to perform in person every duty to gods and men before he went to the army and the province.  Quintus Terentius and Marcus Antistius having set out on this embassy, (for it was decreed that ambassadors should be sent,) prevailed with him in no degree more than the letter sent by the senate in his former consulship.  A few days after he entered on his office, and as he was sacrificing a calf, after being struck, having broken away from the hands of the ministers, sprinkled several of the bystanders with its blood.  Flight and disorder ensued, to a still greater degree at a distance among those who were ignorant what was the cause of the alarm.  This circumstance was regarded by most persons as an omen of great terror.  Having then received two legions from Sempronius, the consul of the former year, and two from Caius Atilius, the praetor, the army began to be led into Etruria, through the passes of the Apennines.

BOOK XXII.

Hannibal, after an uninterrupted march of four days and three nights, arrives in Etruria, through the marshes, in which he lost an eye.  Caius Flaminius, the consul, an inconsiderate man, having gone forth in opposition to the omens, dug up the standards which could not otherwise be raised, and been thrown from his horse immediately after he had mounted, is insnared by Hannibal, and cut off by his army near the Thrasimene lake.  Three thousand who had escaped are placed in chains by Hannibal, in violation of pledges given.  Distress occasioned in Rome by the intelligence.  The Sibylline books consulted, and a sacred spring decreed.  Fabius Maximus sent as dictator against Hannibal, whom he frustrates by caution and delay.  Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse, a rash and impetuous man, inveighs against the caution of Fabius, and obtains an equality of command with him.  The army is divided between them, and Minucius engaging Hannibal in an unfavourable position, is reduced to the extremity of danger, and is rescued by the dictator, and places himself under his authority.  Hannibal, after ravaging Campania, is shut up by Fabius in a valley near the town of Casilinum, but escapes by night, putting to flight the Romans on guard by oxen with lighted faggots attached to their horns.  Hannibal attempts to excite a suspicion of the fidelity of Fabius by sparing his farm while ravaging with