20, 21. +potest autem ... utile esse.+ Cf. ? t? p??e? ??? ?st?
?ae??? ??d? t?? p???t?? ??pte? = that which is not harmful (?ae??? = +inutile+) to the State is not harmful to the citizen.]
+Parallel Pa.s.sages.+ Polybius, i. 31-36 (he makes no mention of the emba.s.sy of Regulus); Pliny, _Ep._ vii. 2 (interesting letter on the death of Regulus); and espec. Hor. _Od._ III. v. 13-end.
"With counsel thus, ne"er else aread [_advised_], He nerved the Fathers" weak intent, And, girt by friends that mourn"d him, sped Into ill.u.s.trious banishment." --C.
C5
FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B.C.
A. _First Roman Naval Victory near Mylae, 260 B.C._
C. Duilius, primo Punico bello a Romanis dux contra Carthaginienses missus, c.u.m videret eos multum mari valere, cla.s.sem magis validam quam decoram aedificavit, et ma.n.u.s ferreas, quas corvos vocabant, inst.i.tuit.
His, quas ante pugnam hostes {5} valde deriserant, in pugna ipsa ad Liparas insulas commissa naves hostium comprehendit, easque partim cepit, partim demersit. Dux cla.s.sis Punicae Carthaginem fugit, et ex senatu quaesivit quid faceret. Omnibus ut pugnaret succlamantibus: {10} "Feci," inquit, "et victus sum." Sic poenam crucis effugit, nam hac poena dux, re male gesta, apud Poenos afficiebatur. Duilius autem victor primum triumphum maritimum Romae egit, et ad memoriam victoriae columna rostrata in foro posita est. {15}
(_Adapted_) Cf. FLORUS, I. xviii. 7-10.
[Linenotes: 4. +corvos+ = _crows_ (the ???a?e? of Polybius), boarding-bridges.
A broad movable ladder, fastened to the foremast, and held in position by a rope. When the rope was let go, the iron hook at the upper end of the ladder penetrated the deck of an enemy"s ship.
6. +ad Liparas insulas+ = Aeoliae Insulae (Lipari Islands), N.E. of Sicily. Mylae was on a promontory S.E. of these Islands.
8. +Dux+, i.e. Hannibal, the defender of Agrigentum 262 B.C.]
B. _Unique honour conferred on Duilius._
C. Duilium, qui Poenos cla.s.se primus devicerat, redeuntem a cena senem saepe videbam puer; delectabatur cereo funali et tibicine, quae sibi nullo exemplo privatus sumpserat: tantum licentiae dabat gloria. {20}
CICERO, _De Senectute_, xiii. -- 44.
[Linenotes: 18. +cereo funali+,[28] i.e. _torchlight_.
+nullo exemplo+ = _without any precedent_.
18-19. +sibi ... sumpserat.+ Cicero is wrong: more probably the honour was conferred on Duilius by a vote of the Comitia Tributa.
19. +dabat+ = _excused_; lit. _granted_, _allowed_. -- J. S. Reid.]
[Footnote 28: The +funale+ was a torch composed of twigs twisted into a rope (+funis+) and dipped in pitch or oil. --J. S. R.]
+References.+ Polybius, i. 22, for a description of the _corvi_, ???a?e?. Sir Andrew Barton (Percy"s _Reliques_). Lord Howard says:--
"Were twenty shippes, and he but one, I swear by kirke and bower and hall, He would overcome them every one If once his beames they do down fall."
C6
FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B.C.
_Carthaginian Victory off Drepana, 249 B.C._
_Rashness of Claudius._
Praedictiones vero et praesensiones rerum futurarum quid aliud declarant nisi hominibus ea ostendi, monstrari, portendi, praedici? Ex quo illa ostenta, monstra, portenta, prodigia dic.u.n.tur. Quod si ea ficta credimus licentia fabularum, Mopsum, Tiresiam, {5} Amphiaraum, Calchantem, Helenum, quos tamen augures ne ipsae quidem fabulae adscivissent, si res omnino repudiaret, ne domesticis quidem exemplis docti numen deorum conprobabimus? Nihil nos P. Claudi bello Punico primo temeritas movebit, qui {10} etiam per ioc.u.m deos irridens, c.u.m cavea literati pulli non pascerentur, mergi eos in aquam iussit, ut biberent, quoniam esse nollent? Qui risus, cla.s.se devicta, multas ipsi lacrimas, magnam populo Romano cladem attulit. Quid? Collega eius Iunius {15} eodem bello nonne tempestate cla.s.sem amisit, c.u.m auspiciis non paruisset? Itaque Claudius a populo condemnatus est, Iunius necem sibi ipse conscivit.
CICERO, _De Nat. Deorum_, II. 3. 7-8.
[Linenotes: 3. +ostenta ... dic.u.n.tur+ = _are called in Latin_ "_ostenta_,"
"_monstra_," etc. --Walford.
4. +prodigium+ for _prodicium_ = _pro_ + v_dic-_ de??- = _point out_.
5. +Mopsum+, etc. = _all those stories about Mopsus_, _etc._, in apposition to +ea+: poetical construction.
+Mopsum+, the prophet who accompanied the Argonauts.
+Tiresiam+, the blind prophet of Thebes.
6. +Amphiaraum+, the seer of Argos. One of the Seven against Thebes.
+Helenus+, son of Priam. A seer of the _Iliad_ and the _Aeneid_.
10. +P. Claudi temeritas.+ P. Cl. Pulcher (son of Appius Claudius, the blind Censor) defeated by Adherbal off Drepana (N.W. corner of Sicily, between Eryx and Lilybaeum).
15. +Iunius.+ L. J. Pullus, consul 249 B.C. His fleet was destroyed by a storm off Pachynus (C. Pa.s.saro) the same year.]
+Parallel Pa.s.sage.+ Florus ii. 2 says that "Claudius was overthrown, not by the enemy, but by the G.o.ds themselves, whose auspices he had despised."
+The Defeat off Drepana.+ "The reason of the defeat lay in the superiority of the Carthaginian admiral and seamen, and the inexperience of Claudius and of his crews, consisting mainly of landsmen who knew nothing of the sea. This disaster and the destruction of the fleet of Junius crowned the series of misfortunes which befell the Romans in the year 249 B.C., the most dismal time of the whole war." --Ihne.
C7
FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B.C.
_Victory of Lutatius off the Aegates Insulae, 241 B.C._
_Peace with Carthage._
A. Interim Carthaginienses cla.s.se apud insulas Aegates a C. Lutatio, consule Romanorum, superati statuerunt belli facere finem, eamque rem arbitrio permiserunt Hamilcaris. Ille, etsi flagrabat bellandi cupiditate, tamen paci serviendum putavit, quod {5} patriam, exhaustam sumptibus, diutius calamitates belli ferre non posse intellegebat, sed ita, ut statim mente agitaret, si paulum modo res essent refectae, bellum renovare Romanosque armis persequi, donic.u.m aut virtute vicissent aut victi ma.n.u.s dedissent. {10}
CORN. NEPOS, _Hamilcar_, i.
[Linenotes: 1. +apud insulas Aegates+, the Goat Islands, off the W. Coast of Sicily, between Drepana and Lilybaeum (Marsala).
3. +statuerunt belli facere finem.+ This victory led to the close of the First Punic War.
5. +paci serviendum+ = _to devote himself to (obtaining) peace_.
9. +donic.u.m+ (= _donec_), lit. "_at the time of day when ----_"
10. +virtute vicissent+ = _they (the Romans) should have conquered by (superior) prowess_.]
B.
Hic dum stagnosi spectat templumque domosque Literni ductor, varia splendentia cernit Pictura belli patribus monumenta prioris 655 Exhausti: nam porticibus signata manebant, Quis inerat longus rerum et spectabilis ordo.
Addiderant geminas medio consurgere fluctu Aegates: lacerae circ.u.m fragmenta videres 685 Cla.s.sis et effusos fluitare in gurgite Poenos.
Possessor pelagi p.r.o.naque Lutatius aura Captivas puppes ad litora victor agebat.
SILIUS ITALICUS, vi. 653-657, 684-688.
[Linenotes: 653-654. +stagnosi Literni.+ Town and River on the coast of Campania, N. of c.u.mae. The River flows through a marsh = Literna palus.