XXVII. However Scipio, after no long time, defeated
Hannibal in a pitched battle and crushed the pride
of Carthage under foot. He gave the Romans the
enjoyment of a success beyond their hopes, and truly
“Restored the city,
shaken by the storm.”
Fabius Maximus did not survive till the end of the
war, nor did he live to hear of Hannibal’s defeat,
or see the glorious and lasting prosperity of his
country, for about the time when Hannibal left Italy
he fell sick and died.
The Thebans, we are told, buried Epameinondas at the
public expense, because he died so poor that they
say nothing was found in his house except an iron
spit. Fabius was not honoured by the Romans with
a funeral at the public expense, yet every citizen
contributed the smallest Roman coin towards the expenses,
not that he needed the money, but because they buried
him as the father of the people, so that in his death
he received the honourable respect which he had deserved
in his life.
I. Such is the story of these men’s lives.
As they both gave many proofs of ability in war and
politics, let us first turn our attention to their
warlike exploits. And here we must notice that
Perikles found the Athenian people at the height of
their power and prosperity, so that from the flourishing
condition of the State it could scarcely meet with
any great disaster, whereas Fabius performed his great
services to Rome when it was in the last extremity
of danger, and did not merely, like Perikles, confirm
the prosperity of his country, but greatly improved
it, having found it in a lamentable condition.
Moreover, the successes of Kimon, the victories of
Myronides and Leokrates, and the many achievements
of Tolmides rather gave Perikles when in chief command
an occasion for public rejoicing and festivity, than
any opportunity for either conquests abroad or defensive
wars at home. Fabius, on the other hand, had
before his eyes the spectacle of many defeats and routs
of Roman armies, of many consuls and generals fallen
in battle, of lakes, plains and forests filled with
the bodies of the slain, and of rivers running with
blood. Yet with his mature and unbending intellect
he undertook to extricate Rome from these dangers,
and as it were by his own strength alone supported
the State, so that it was not utterly overwhelmed
by these terrible disasters. Nevertheless it would
appear not to be so hard a task to manage a State
in adversity, when it is humble and is compelled by
its misfortunes to obey wise counsellors, as it is
to check and bridle a people excited and arrogant with
good fortune, which was especially the case with Perikles
and the Athenians. On the other hand, considering
the terrible nature of the blows which had fallen
on the Romans, Fabius must have been a great and strong-minded
man not to be disconcerted by them, but still to be
able to carry out the policy upon which he had determined.
