At the close of the delegate's speech, Q. Fabius enquired whether they had laid their complaints before Scipio. They stated in reply that they had sent a deputation to him, but he was fully occupied with his preparations for war and had either sailed or was going to sail in a very few days for Africa. [2] They had had proof of the high favour in which Pleminius stood with his commander-in-chief, for after investigating the circumstances which led to the dispute between him and the military tribunes Scipio had thrown the tribunes into chains and allowed his subordinate to retain his command though he was equally or even more guilty. [3] They were then ordered to withdraw, and in the discussion which followed both Pleminius and Scipio were very severely handled by the leaders of the House, especially by Quintus Fabius. [4] He declared that Scipio was born to destroy all military discipline. It was the same in Spain; more men had been lost there in mutiny than in battle. His conduct was that of some foreign tyrant, first indulging the licence of the soldiers and then punishing them. [5] Fabius closed his attack with the following drastic resolution: "I move that Pleminius be brought to Rome to plead his cause in chains, and if the charges which the Locrians have brought against him are substantiated, that he be put to death in prison and his property confiscated. [6] With regard to Publius Scipio, as he has left his province without orders, I move that he be recalled, and that it be referred to the tribunes of the plebs to bring in a bill before the Assembly to relieve him of his command. As to the Locrians, I move that they be brought back into the House, and that we assure them in reply to their complaint that the senate and the people alike disapprove of what has been done, and that we recognise them as good and trusty allies and friends. [7] And, further, that their wives and children and all that has been taken away from them be restored, and that all the money abstracted from Proserpine's treasury be collected, and double the amount put back. [8] The question of expiation must be referred to the pontifical college, who must decide what expiatory rites are to be observed, what deities are to be propitiated and what victims are to be sacrificed in cases where sacred treasures have been violated. [9] The soldiers at Locri must be transferred to Sicily and four Latin cohorts sent to garrison the place." Owing to the heated debate between Scipio's supporters and opponents the votes could not be collected that day. [10] Not only had he to bear the odium of Pleminius' criminal brutality towards the Locrians, but the Roman commander was even taunted with his style of dress as being un-Roman and even unsoldierly. [11] It was asserted that he walked about the gymnasium in a Greek mantle and Greek slippers and spent his time amongst rhetoricians and athletes and that the whole [12??] of his staff were enjoying the attractions of Syracuse and living a life of similar self-indulgence and effeminacy. [13] They had completely lost sight of Hannibal and the Carthaginians; the entire army was demoralised and out of hand; like the one formerly at Sucro or the one now at Locri, they were more dreaded by their allies than by the enemy.
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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