Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 30
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

38. After his envoys had returned to Scipio the quaestors were ordered from entries in the public accounts to make a declaration of what public property had been on the ships, and owners were to do the same for private property. [2] In place of that sum total twenty-five thousand pounds of silver were exacted in immediate payment.¹ And an armistice for three months was granted the Carthaginians. [3] In addition they were not to send envoys during the period of the armistice to any other place than to Rome, and in case any envoys should come to Carthage they were not to let them go until they informed the Roman commander who they were and [p. 511]for what purpose they had come. [4] With the Carthaginian² envoys Lucius Veturius Philo and Marcus Marcius Ralla and Lucius Scipio, brother of the general-in-command, were sent to Rome.³ [5] About that time supplies from Sicily and Sardinia lowered the price of grain so much that the merchant would leave his grain to the mariners to cover the freight.

[6] At Rome upon the first news of the Carthaginians' renewed hostilities there had been alarm, and Tiberius Claudius had been ordered to take his fleet promptly to Sicily and then to cross to Africa, and the other consul, Marcus Servilius, to remain near the city until it should be known what was the state of affairs in Africa. [7] Everything in the assembling and launching of his fleet had been carried on without spirit by Tiberius Claudius, the consul, because the senate had voted that authority over the terms on which peace should be granted belonged to Scipio rather than to the consul.⁴ [8] Reports of prodigies also at the very time when there were rumours of fresh hostilities had inspired alarm. At Cumae the sun was partially eclipsed and it rained stones, and in the district of Velitrae⁵ the ground settled in huge cavities and trees were swallowed in the depths. [9] At Aricia the forum and shops round it, at Frusino⁶ the city wall at a number of places and a gate were struck by lightning; and on the Palatine there was a shower of stones. That portent was atoned for by nine days of rites according to ancestral custom,⁷ [p. 513]the rest by full-grown victims. [10] Meanwhile the⁸ unusual height of rivers was also interpreted as a portent. For the Tiber so far overflowed that, as the Circus was flooded, preparations for the Games of Apollo were made outside the Porta Collina, near the Temple of Venus of Eryx.⁹ [11] On the very day of the games, however, after a sudden clearing the procession, already on its way to Porta Collina, was recalled and directed into the Circus when word was received that the water had retired from it. [12] Restoration of its normal scene to the customary spectacle also added to the delight of the people and to the throngs who attended the games.