The envoys came to Hannibal and negotiated a peace with him on the following terms: No Carthaginian commander or magistrate was to have any jurisdiction over the citizens of Capua nor was any Campanian citizen to be obliged to serve in any military or other capacity against his will; [2] Capua was to retain its own magistrates and its own laws; and the Carthaginian was to allow them to choose three hundred Romans out of his prisoners of war whom they were to exchange for the Campanian troopers who were serving in Sicily. [3] These were the terms agreed upon, but the Campanians went far beyond the stipulations in their criminal excesses. The populace seized officers in command of our allies and other Roman citizens, some whilst occupied with their military duties, others whilst engaged in their private business, and ordered them to be shut up in the baths on the presence of keeping them in safe custody; unable to breathe owing to the heat and fumes they died in great agony. [4] Decius Magius was a man who, if his fellow-citizens had been rational, would have gained very great authority with them. He did his best to prevent these crimes and to stop the envoys from going to Hannibal. [5] When he heard that troops were being sent by Hannibal to garrison the city, he protested most earnestly against their being admitted and referred, as warning examples, to the tyranny of Pyrrhus and the wretched servitude into which the Tarentines fell. [6] After they were admitted he urged that they should be expelled, or what was better, if the Capuans wished to clear themselves by a deed which would be remembered from their guilt in revolting from ancient allies and blood-relations, let them put the Carthaginian garrison to death and be once more friends with Rome. [7] When this was reported to Hannibal-for there was no secrecy about Magius' action-he sent to summon him to his camp. Magius sent a spirited refusal; Hannibal, he said, had no legal authority over a citizen of Capua. The Carthaginian, furious at the rebuff, ordered the man to be thrown into chains and brought to him. [8] Fearing, however, on second thoughts, that the use of force might create a tumult and feelings once aroused might lead to a sudden outbreak, he sent a message to Marius Blossius, the chief magistrate of Capua, that he would be there on the morrow, and started with a small escort for the city. [9] Marius called the people together and gave public notice that they should assemble in a body with their wives and children and go to meet Hannibal. The whole population turned out, not because they were ordered, but because the mob were enthusiastic in favour of Hannibal, and were eager to see a commander famous for so many victories. [10] Decius Magius did not go to meet him, nor did he shut himself up at home, as this might have implied a consciousness of guilt; he strolled leisurely about the Forum with his son and a few of his clients, whilst the whole city was in a state of wild excitement at seeing and welcoming Hannibal. [11] When he had entered the city Hannibal asked that the senate should be convened at once. The leading Campanians, however, implored him not to transact any serious business then, but to give himself up to the joyous celebration of a day which had been made such a happy one by his arrival. [12] Though he was naturally impulsive in his anger, he would not begin with a refusal, and spent most of the day in viewing the city.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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