ful enthusiasm. My friend Ennius well said of him,—
"One man by slow delays restored our fortunes,
Preferring not the people's praise to safety,
And thus his after-glory shines the more."
How much vigilance, how much wisdom, did he show in the retaking of Tarentum! In my hearing, indeed, when Salinator, who, after the town was taken, had retreated to the citadel, boastfully said, "You recovered Tarentum, Quintus Fabius, by my aid," he replied, laughing, "Very true, for, if you had not lost it, I should never have recovered it."[1] Nor had he more eminence as a soldier than he won as a civilian, when, in his second consulate, unsupported by his colleague, Carvilius, he resisted to the utmost of his ability Caius Flaminius, tribune of the people, in his division in equal portions, to the plebeians, of conquered territory in Picenum and Gaul; and when, holding the office of augur, he dared to say that whatever was done for the well-being of the republic was done under the most favorable auspices, but that whatever measures were passed to the injury of the republic were passed under
- ↑ The retaking of Tarentum was the fatal stroke on Hannibal as to the possession of Southern Italy. But in this anecdote, Cicero, or some early transcriber, made a mistake as to the name of the unsuccessful commander. Marcus Livius Salinator was a distinguished general; but it was Marcus Livius Macatus that lost the town of Tarentum, and then did good service from the citadel toward its retaking. It is strange, but true, that Cicero was not well versed in the history of the Punic wars.
