and send the rest to Rome, that they might not be
a burthen to their allies nor an expense to the republic.
Tiberius Gracchus also, having led his legions from
Cumae to Luceria in Apulia, sent Marcus Valerius,
the praetor, thence to Brundusium with the troops
which he had commanded at Luceria, with orders to
protect the coast of the Sallentine territory, and
make provisions with regard to Philip and the Macedonian
war. At the close of the summer, the events of
which I have described, letters arrived from Publius
and Cneius Scipio, stating the magnitude and success
of their operations in Spain, but that the army was
in want of money, clothing, and corn, and that then
crews were in want of every thing. With regard
to the pay, they said, that if the treasury was low,
they would adopt some plan by which they might procure
it from the Spaniards, but that the other supplies
must certainly be sent from Rome, for otherwise neither
the army could be kept together nor the province preserved.
When the letters were read, all to a man admitted
that the statement was correct, and the request reasonable,
but it occurred to their minds, what great forces
they were maintaining by land and sea, and how large
a fleet must soon be equipped if a war with Macedon
should break out, that Sicily and Sardinia, which before
the war had wielded a revenue, were scarcely able to
maintain the troops which protected those provinces,
that the expenses were supplied by a tax, that both
the number of the persons who contributed this tax
was diminished by the great havoc made in their armies
at the Trasimenus and Cannae, and the few who survived,
if they were oppressed with multiplied impositions,
would perish by a calamity of a different kind.
That, therefore, if the republic could not subsist
by credit, it could not stand by its own resources.
It was resolved, therefore, that Fulvius, the praetor,
should present himself to the public assembly of the
people, point out the necessities of the state, and
exhort those persons who had increased their patrimonies
by farming the public revenues, to furnish temporary
loans for the service of that state, from which they
had derived their wealth, and contract to supply what
was necessary for the army in Spain, on the condition
of being paid the first when there was money in the
treasury. These things the praetor laid before
the assembly, and fixed a day on which he would let
on contract the furnishing the army in Spain with
clothes and corn, and with such other things as were
necessary for the crews.
49. When the day arrived, three companies, of nineteen persons, came forward to enter into the contract; but they made two requests: one was, that they should be exempt from military service while employed in that revenue business; the second was, that the state should bear all losses of the goods they shipped, which might arise either from the attacks of the enemy or from storms. Having obtained both their requests, they entered into the contract, and the affairs of