The Rise of Rome (Penguin Classics)

by Plutarch

  Life of Marcellus

  [c. 270–208 BC]

  1. Marcus Claudius, who five times held the office of consul of the Roman people, was the son of Marcus, and according to Poseidonius1 was the first of his family to be given the name of Marcellus, which means warlike.2 Much of his experience was concerned with the art of war and he possessed a powerful arm and a vigorous body. By his very nature he was a ‘lover of battle’, a daring soldier who, in every conflict, proved himself ‘mighty in combat’3 – and yet, in other respects, he was modest and humane. He had enough regard for Greek culture and literature to make him honour and admire those who excelled in them, but he himself never found the leisure to master or even study these subjects to the extent that he would have wished. For if ever there were men for whom Zeus, as Homer says,

  Decreed that from youth till ripe old age must labour

  Fighting in arduous wars …4

  they were the foremost Romans of his generation. In their youth they campaigned against the Carthaginians for the possession of Sicily, in their prime they fought the Gauls for the defence of Italy itself and as veterans they found themselves matched once more against the Carthaginians, this time under Hannibal.5 In this way they never enjoyed the relief from active service which old age brings to most men, but because of their noble birth and their prowess in war they were constantly summoned to take up new commands.

  2. Marcellus was a trained and expert soldier in every branch of fighting, but it was above all in single combat that he excelled: he never declined a challenge and he killed every opponent who challenged him. In Sicily he saved the life of his brother Otacilius,6 when he was in mortal danger, by covering him with his shield and killing his attackers. For these exploits he was awarded crowns and other decorations by the commanders, although he was still only a young man, and as his reputation increased, the people elected him to the office of curule aedile,7 and the priests chose him to be an augur. This is the priesthood to which the law assigns as one of its most important functions the observation and study of signs and significations arising from the flight of birds.8

  While he was aedile he was obliged to bring a disagreeable accusation before the senate. He had a son, also named Marcus, who was just then in the flower of his youthful beauty, and who was admired by his fellow-countrymen as much for his modesty and his exemplary upbringing as for his good looks. Marcellus’ colleague, Capitolinus,9 a dissolute man whose passions were as shameless as they were uncontrolled, tried to seduce him. The boy at first repelled his advances by himself, but when they were repeated, he confided in his father. Marcellus was furious and denounced the man before the senate. Capitolinus tried by various shifts and evasions to quibble his way out of the charge, then appealed to the tribunes of the people and finally, when they rejected his plea, flatly denied the accusation. As there had been no witnesses of his behaviour, the senate decided to send for the boy. When he appeared before them and they saw how he blushed and wept, and how his feelings of shame were mingled with an unquenchable indignation, they decided that no further proof was necessary, but immediately condemned Capitolinus and fined him. Marcellus used the money from the fine to commission some silver libation bowls and dedicated these to the gods.

  3. After the First Punic War had ended in its twenty-second year, Rome once more found herself engaged in a struggle with the Gauls.10 The Insubrians were a Celtic people inhabiting the part of Italy which lies at the foot of the Alps, and although they were strong in numbers, they not only mobilized their own forces, but called in the help of the Gallic mercenaries known as the Gaesati.11

  It seemed to be a piece of miraculously good fortune for Rome that this Gallic war did not break out while the struggle with Carthage was still in progress, but that the Gauls, like a third competitor, sat on one side awaiting their turn and remained scrupulously inactive while the other two nations fought each other, and only then stripped for action when the victors were ready to receive their challenge. But even so the prospect of the war aroused the deepest fears among the Romans, partly because they would be engaging an enemy who lived so near their own frontiers and homes, and partly because of the traditional renown of the Gauls, whom the Romans seem to have feared more than any other enemy. The Romans never forgot that it was this people who had once captured their city, and afterwards they had passed a law that their priests should normally be exempt from military service, the exception being in the event of a fresh invasion by the Gauls.12 They gave further proof of their fears in their exceptional preparations for the war, for it is said that never before nor since were so many thousands of Romans called upon to bear arms at once, and also in the extraordinary sacrifices which they offered to the gods.

  The Romans do not practise any barbarous or outlandish rites, and in the humane sentiments which they cherish towards their divinities they come nearer than any other people to the Greeks. Nevertheless, at the outbreak of this war they felt obliged to carry out certain oracular instructions laid down in the Sibylline Books,13 and to bury alive two Greeks – a man and a woman – and likewise two Gauls in the place known as the Cattle-market;14 and in accordance with these oracles they still to this day in the month of November perform certain ceremonies, which may not be spoken of or witnessed by either Greeks or Gauls.15

  4. The opening battles of this war brought great victories and also great disasters to the Romans, but none of these proved decisive, until the two consuls Flaminius and Furius16 led a strong army against the Insubrians. Just as they set out, however, the river which flows through Picenum17 was seen to be running with blood; it was reported that three moons had been seen at the city of Ariminum,18 and at the same time the augurs, whose duty it was to observe the flight of birds during the consular elections, insisted that the omens had been inauspicious and hostile at the moment when the victorious candidates’ names had been announced. Thereupon, the senate immediately had letters dispatched to the camp in which they summoned the consuls to return to the city as quickly as possible to lay down their office,19 and forbade them to undertake any action against the enemy so long as they remained in authority.

  When these letters were delivered, Flaminius refused to open them until he had first engaged the barbarians, routed them in battle and overrun their territory. For this reason, when he returned to Rome laden with great quantities of booty, the people would not go out to meet him. Instead, because he had not immediately complied with the order recalling him, but had disobeyed the letters and treated them with insolent contempt, the people came near to denying him the honour of a triumph, and as soon as he had celebrated it, they compelled both him and his colleague to lay down the consulship and they reduced him to the rank of private citizen.20 Such were the scruples of the Romans in referring all their affairs to the will of the gods, nor would they tolerate the smallest oversight in the observation of omens and traditional rites, even if the omission were followed by the most brilliant successes. In short, they regarded it as more important for the safety of the state that their magistrates should honour religious observances than that they should defeat their enemies.

  5. An example of their belief is the case of Tiberius Sempronius,21 a man whose reputation for courage and upright conduct was second to none in Rome, and who announced the names of Scipio Nasica and Gaius Marcius22 as his successors in the consulship. After these two men had arrived in their provinces and taken up command of their armies, Sempronius came by chance upon a book which specified the various religious ceremonials, and discovered in it an instruction of which he had never even heard before. It was this. Whenever a consul has hired a house or a tent outside the city walls for the purpose of sitting there and taking the auspices by observing the flight of birds, and he is obliged for any reason to return to the city before sure signs have appeared, he must give up the house which he originally hired and take another, and must begin all his observations afresh.23 Tiberius had apparently been unaware of this instruction and had twice used the same house b
efore proclaiming as consuls the men whose names I have mentioned. When he discovered his error he reported the matter to the senate. The senate decided that they could not treat even such a minor act of negligence lightly, but sent out letters to the consuls, who in turn immediately left their provinces, returned to Rome with all speed and resigned their appointments.

  This took place at a later date. But, at about the same time as the episode of Flaminius, there are the examples of two priests of the noblest families who were deprived of their offices: Cornelius Cethegus,24 because he failed to observe the proper procedure in presenting the entrails of a victim, and Quintus Sulpicius,25 because, while he was sacrificing, the peaked cap, which is worn by the priests who are known as flamines,26 had fallen off his head. Again, because the squeak of a shrew-mouse (which the Romans call a sorex) was heard at the moment when Minucius the dictator27 was appointing Gaius Flaminius28 as his master of the horse, the people thereupon deprived both men of their positions and put others in their places. Yet although they were so scrupulous in observing these minute details, they did not indulge in any kind of superstition, because they never permitted any change or departure from their ancient rites.

  6. To return to our narrative. When Flaminius and his colleague Furius had resigned their offices, Marcellus was chosen as consul by the so-called interreges,29 and after taking up the office he nominated Gnaeus Cornelius as his colleague.30 Now we read that, although the Gauls put forward a number of conciliatory proposals and although the senate was in favour of concluding peace, Marcellus stirred up the people’s indignation so as to persuade them to continue the war.31 In spite of this it appears that a peace was made, and that the Gaesati broke it when they crossed the Alps and stirred up the Insubrians.32 The Gaesati mustered 30,000 men, while the Insubrians’ numbers were even larger, and since they were now full of confidence in their strength, they immediately marched against Acerrae,33 a town which was situated to the north of the River Po. Having arrived in this region, their king Britomartus34 detached a force of 10,000 Gaesati and proceeded to ravage the country in the neighbourhood of the Po.

  When this news reached Marcellus, he left his colleague at Acerrae in command of all the heavy-infantry and a third of the cavalry. Then, taking with him the rest of the cavalry and 600 of the most agile of his light infantry, he marched day and night without a halt until he came up with the 10,000 Gaesati near Clastidium,35 a Gallic village which had submitted to Roman rule not long before. There was no time for him to rest or refresh his troops, since his arrival was quickly discovered by the barbarians. They felt nothing but contempt for his tiny force of infantry, and, since they were Gauls, had no great opinion of the Roman cavalry. The Gauls are particularly formidable at fighting on horseback, and in fact they have the reputation of excelling in this arm above any other, while on this occasion they also greatly outnumbered Marcellus. Headed by their king and shouting blood-curdling threats at the tops of their voices, they immediately launched a furious charge, expecting to sweep the Romans away.

  But Marcellus was determined to prevent them from outflanking and encircling his small force; as he led his cavalry forward he made them fan out, and so extended his wings into a thin line until he was almost in contact with the enemy. Then, just as he was turning to launch a charge, his horse, startled by the enemy’s ferocious shouts, suddenly wheeled about and carried him to the rear. Marcellus was alarmed that this sight might be taken as a bad omen and create confusion among the Romans, so he at once reined his horse to the left and forced the animal to face the enemy. At the same time he went through the movements of praying to the sun, as if it was for this purpose that he had wheeled around his horse, for the Romans always turn in this way when they offer worship to the gods.36 Then just before he closed with the enemy, he is said to have vowed that he would consecrate to Jupiter Feretrius37 the finest suit of armour to be found among the Gauls.

  7. It was now that the king of the Gauls first saw Marcellus. He guessed from his badges of rank that this was the Roman commander, and, riding far out in front of his men, he made directly for him, shouting out a challenge and brandishing his lance. He stood out among the rest of the Gauls, not only for his size but for his complete suit of armour, which was embossed with gold and silver and decorated with brilliant colours and elaborate designs, so that it glittered like lightning. As Marcellus glanced along the enemy’s ranks, he thought that this was the finest armour of all, and concluded that it must be the offering which he had vowed to the god. So he charged the Gaul and pierced his breastplate with his lance; the impetus of his horse hurled his opponent to the ground still living, and a second and a third blow immediately dispatched him. Thereupon, Marcellus leapt from his horse and, laying his hands on the dead man’s armour, he gazed up to heaven and cried aloud: ‘Jupiter Feretrius, you who judge the great deeds of generals and captains in war and on the battlefield, I call upon you to witness that I, a Roman general and a consul, have killed with my own hand a general and a king, that I am the third Roman commander to do this,38 and that I dedicate to you the first and the finest of the spoils. I pray that you will grant us no less good fortune as we fight out the rest of the war.’

  As he ended his prayer, the Roman cavalry charged and found themselves engaging not only the Gallic horsemen but also their supporting infantry, who attacked them at the same time. But in the end they won a victory which was as unparalleled as it was unexpected. Never before nor since, so we are told, had so few mounted troops overcome such a large combined force of cavalry and infantry. The Gauls lost the greater part of their army, and their weapons and baggage were captured, after which Marcellus returned to join his colleague, who was holding out with difficulty against another Gallic army in the neighbourhood of their largest and most populous city. This was Mediolanum,39 which the Cisalpine Gauls regard as the capital of their country, and they defended it with such spirit that Cornelius found his army had become the besieged rather than the besiegers. However, when Marcellus arrived and the Gaesati learned that their king had been defeated and killed, they retired to their own territory. Mediolanum was captured and the Gauls surrendered the rest of their cities of their own accord and offered their submission to the Romans. They were granted peace on equitable terms.

  8. The senate decreed that only Marcellus should be granted a triumph. His procession produced a superb spectacle such as has seldom been seen in Rome, both for the splendour and riches of the spoils of war and for the gigantic size of the prisoners. But the most unusual and impressive sight of all was that of the general himself, when he appeared to carry the barbarian king’s armour as an offering to the god. He had cut the tall, straight trunk of a young oak tree, trimmed it into the shape of a trophy, and upon this he had fastened and hung the spoils, with each part of the armour arranged in its proper position. When the procession began to move, he took up the tree himself, mounted his four-horse chariot and in this way an image of victory, the finest and most glorious ever seen in his day, was borne in state through the city. His troops followed, clad in their most brilliant armour, and as they marched they sang odes composed for the occasion and paeans of victory in honour of the god and their general. In this way Marcellus traversed the city until he reached the temple of Jupiter Feretrius, where he dismounted and dedicated his offering.

  He was the third, and, up to our day, the last Roman to achieve this feat. The first was Romulus, who offered up the spoils of Acron of Caenina;40 the second was Cornelius Cossus with the spoils of Tolumnius41 the Etruscan; after them Marcellus with the spoils of Britomartus, king of the Gauls; and since Marcellus there has been no one. The god to whom the spoils were dedicated is called Jupiter Feretrius. Some people say that this surname is derived from pheretron, referring to the car in which the trophy was carried. The word is Greek, like many others which had at that time been absorbed into Latin.42 Others say that the epithet refers to Jupiter as the wielder of the thunderbolt, since ferire is the Latin word which means to strik
e. Another explanation is that the word is derived from a blow given to the enemy, because even down to the present day, when the Romans are pursuing their enemies, they encourage one another by shouting the word feri, meaning strike! The word for spoils in general is spolia, but these particular spoils are known as spolia opima.43 It has been pointed out, however, that Numa Pompilius in his commentaries44 mentions three categories of opima. He lays it down that those of the first degree are to be consecrated to Jupiter Feretrius, those of the second to Mars, and those of the third to Quirinus, and also that the reward for the first is to be 300 asses,45 for the second 200, and for the third 100. However, the most generally accepted account is that the only spoils which rank as opima are those which are captured in a pitched battle before the fighting begins, when the general kills the opposing commander with his own hand. So much then for this subject.

  The Roman people were so overjoyed at this victory and at the ending of the war that they sent the Pythian Apollo at Delphi a golden bowl as a thank-offering.46 They also presented a generous share of the spoils to the allied cities, and sent many gifts to Hiero47 the ruler of Syracuse, who was their friend and ally.

  9. After Hannibal had invaded Italy,48 Marcellus was sent to Sicily in command of a fleet.49 Then came the disastrous defeat at Cannae,50 in which thousands of Romans were killed and only a few saved their lives by fleeing to Canusium.51 Everyone expected that Hannibal would immediately march on the capital, now that he had destroyed the flower of the Roman army. At this point Marcellus dispatched 1,500 men from his fleet to help to defend Rome, and then, under orders from the senate, he went to Canusium, collected the soldiers who had taken refuge there and made a sortie from their fortified camp to show Hannibal that he had no intention of abandoning the surrounding countryside.