10.
in this confusion Fulvius Flaccus entered Rome with his army by the Porta Capena,
1 and hastened through the centre of the city by way of the Carinae
2 to the Esquiline. then going out he pitched his camp between Porta Esquilina and Porta Collina.
[
2]
the plebeian aediles brought supplies thither; the
[p. 37]consuls and the senate came to the camp; there they
3 deliberated on the most important matters of state. it was decided that the consuls should pitch their camps near the gates, Collina and Esquilina;
4 that Gaius Calpurnius, the city praetor, should be in command of the Capitol and the Citadel, and that the senate in full numbers should be kept in the Forum, in case there might be need of deliberation in such an
[
3]
emergency. meanwhile Hannibal moved his camp to the river Anio, three miles from the city. there he established a permanent camp and himself with two thousand horsemen advanced toward Porta Collina as far as the Temple of Hercules,
5 and riding up surveyed the walls and situation of the city from the nearest possible
[
4]
point. that he should do so with such freedom and so at his leisure seemed to Flaccus a shame. accordingly he sent his horsemen against him and ordered that the cavalry of the enemy be driven away and back into their own
[
5]
camp. after the engagement had begun, the consuls ordered the Numidian deserters, of whom there were at that time on the Aventine about twelve hundred, to pass through the centre of the city across
[
6??]
the Esquiline, thinking that none were better suited to do battle in the valleys and around buildings in gardens, among tombs and along roads hemmed in on every side. when some men on the Citadel and the Capitol saw them riding down the Clivus Publicius,
6 they shouted that the Aventine had been
[
7]
captured. that caused so much confusion and flight that, if there had not been a Carthaginian camp outside the city, the whole panic —stricken multitude would have poured out. as it was they fled to their homes and into buildings, and as their own people
[p. 39]roamed the streets, they would hurl stones and
7 javelins at them, as though they were
[
8]
enemies. nor could the uproar be checked and their mistake revealed, since the roads were clogged by the crowd of rustics and the cattle that sudden alarm had driven into the city. the cavalry battle was successful and the enemy driven
[
9]
away. and because in many places disturbances which arose without reason had to be checked, it was decreed that all who had been dictators, consuls or censors should have full military power until the enemy should have retired from the
[
10]
walls. and in fact during the rest of the day and the following night many disturbances were provoked without reason and were checked.