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Yeah, I totally cried over the Cannae bit in Livy's The War with Hannibal. Lucius Aemilius Paullus standing bravely to the end! Publius Cornelius Scipio with that mad look in his eyes standing over the other patricians with a bared sword! Titus Manlius Torquatus refusing to ransom the Roman prisoners from Hannibal!
This is the bit about Paullus. Paullus was made consul rather against his will; he was a patrician that the other patrician senators put up in the vague hope that he would be able to keep Gaius Terrentius Varro, the other consul, who was elected by the popular vote, in line. Varro was aggressive, wanted to go out and fight the Carthaginians, who were tramping all over Italian ground, and Paullus was a follower of Fabius Maximus's strategy, which basically boiled down to, "Our soldiers aren't as well-trained as Hannibal's, and he's a better general than any we have, so we shouldn't meet him in a straight-up fight." When you have two consuls with the same army, they switch off command day by day, and the Battle of Cannae occurred on Varro's day. It went poorly (as in ~50,000 casualties).
I don't know if this scene is apocryphal or not, but if it's not true, it should be -- he is such a good Roman. Just rereading about it chokes me up.
*Excerpt from this translation, by Aubrey de Selincourt.
This is the bit about Paullus. Paullus was made consul rather against his will; he was a patrician that the other patrician senators put up in the vague hope that he would be able to keep Gaius Terrentius Varro, the other consul, who was elected by the popular vote, in line. Varro was aggressive, wanted to go out and fight the Carthaginians, who were tramping all over Italian ground, and Paullus was a follower of Fabius Maximus's strategy, which basically boiled down to, "Our soldiers aren't as well-trained as Hannibal's, and he's a better general than any we have, so we shouldn't meet him in a straight-up fight." When you have two consuls with the same army, they switch off command day by day, and the Battle of Cannae occurred on Varro's day. It went poorly (as in ~50,000 casualties).
The whole force was now broken and dispersed. Those who could, recovered their horses, hoping to escape. Lentulus, the military tribune, as he rode by saw the consul Paullus sitting on a stone and bleeding profusely. 'Lucius Aemilius,' he said, 'you only, in the sight of heaven, are guiltless of this days' disaster; take my horse, while you still have some strength left, and I am here to lift you up and protect you. Do not add to the darkness of our calamity by a consul's death. Without that, we have cause enough for tears.' 'God bless your courage,' Paullus answered, 'but you have little time to escape; do not waste it in useless pity -- get you gone, and tell the Senate to look to Rome and fortify it with a strong defences before the victorious enemy can come. And take a perosnal message too: tell Quintus Fabius that while I lived I did not forget his counsel, and that I remember it still in the hour of death. As for me, let me die here amongst my dead soldiers: I would not a second time stand trial after my consulship, nor would I accuse my colleague, to protect myself by incriminating another.' The two men were still speaking when a crowd of fugitives swept by. The Numidians were close on their heels. Paullus fell under a shower of spears, his killers not even knowing whom they killed. In the confusion Lentulus's horse bolted, and carried him off.
I don't know if this scene is apocryphal or not, but if it's not true, it should be -- he is such a good Roman. Just rereading about it chokes me up.
*Excerpt from this translation, by Aubrey de Selincourt.