Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/168

Rh 154 FLACCUS. cessible eminence, Flaccus proposed to with'Jraw until the next day, but the undaunted courage of his soldiers, and their indignation at his proposal, obliged him to continue his attack. Having been joined by his colleague, App. Claudius Pulcher, the enemy's camp was taken by assault. A great massacre then took place, in which upwards of 6000 Carthaginians are said to have been killed, and more than 7000 were taken prisoners, with all that the camp contained. The two consuls then returned to Beneventum, where they sold the booty, and distributed the proceeds among those who had distinguished themselves during the attack upon Hanno's camp. Hanno, who had not been in the camp at the time when it was taken, found it necessary to withdraw into the country of the Bruttians. Hereupon the two consuls marched against Capua, which was now besieged with the greatest vigour. In the next year, when Cn. Fulvius Centumalus and P. Sulpicius Galba were consuls, the imperium of Fulvius Flaccus and App. Clau- dius was prolonged : they retained their army, and were ordered not to leave Capua till it was taken. As, however, Hannibal in the meantime marched against Rome, the senate called Fulvius Flaccus back to protect the city, and for this purpose he received the same power as the actual consuls. But after Hannibal's sudden retreat, Flaccus returned to Capua, and continued the siege with the utmost exertion. The inhabitants of Capua were reduced to the last extremity, and resolved to surrender ; but before the gates were opened the most distin- guished persons put an end to their lives. The fearful catastrophe of this once flourishing town, the cruel punishment of the Campanians, the exe- cution of all the surviving senators, and the other arrangements, such as could be dictated only by the most implacable hatred and hostility, must be set down to the account of Q. Fulvius Flaccus. To- wards the end of the year he had to return to Rome, Avhere he conducted, as dictator, the con- sular elections. He himself received Capua as his province for another year, but his two legions were reduced to one. In 209 he was invested with the consulship for the fourth time, and received Lu- caniaand Bruttium as his province: the Hirpinians, Lucanians, and Volcentians submitted to him, and were mildly treated. For the year following his imperium was again prolonged, with Capua for his province and one legion at his command. In 207 he commanded two legions at Bruttium. This is the last record we have of him in history. He was a very fortunate and successful general during the latter period of the second Punic war, but his memory is branded with the cruelty with which he treated Capua after its fall. (Liv. xxiii. 21 — 34, xxiv. 9, xxv. 2, &c., 13, &c., 20, xxvi. 1, &c., 8, &c., 22, 28, xxvii. 6, &c., 11, 15, 22, 36 ; Eutrop. iii. 1, &c. ; Zonar. viii. 18, &c. ; Polyb. ii. 31 ; Oros. iv. 13, &c. ; Appian, Annib. 37, 40, &c. ; Val. Max. ii. 3, § 3, 8. § 4, iii. 2. Ext. § 1, 8, § 1, V. 2. § 1 ; Cic. de Leg. Agr. ii. 33.) 3. Cn. Fulvius M. f. Q, n. Flaccus, a son of No. 1, and a brother of No. 2, was praetor in the third consulship of his brother b. c. 212, and had Apulia for his province. In the neighbour- hood of Herdonea he was defeated by Hannibal, and was the first that took to flight with about 200 horsemen. The rest of his army was cut to pieces, for out of 22,000 men only 2000 escaped. FLACCUS. t C. Sempronius Blaesus afterwards charged him be- fore the people with having lost his army through his own want of caution and prudence. Flaccus at first endeavoured to throw the fault upon the soldiers, but further discussion and mvestigation proved that he had behaved cowardly. He then tried to obtain the assistance of his brother, who was then in the height of his glory and engaged in the siege of Capua. But nothing availed ; and, as he had to expect the severest punishment from a trial, he went to Tarquinii into voluntary exile. (Liv. xxv. 3, 21, xxvi. 2, 3.) According to Va- lerius Maximus (ii. 8, § 3, comp. viii. 4. § 3), he refused the honour of a triumph ; but this must be a mistake, at least we do not know on what occasion it could have happened. 4. C. Fulvius M. f. Q. n. Flaccus, a son of No. 1, and a brother of No. 2 and 3, served as legate under his brother Quintus during the siege of Capua. In B.C. 209 he was ordered to conduct a detachment of troops into Etruria, and bring back to Rome the legions which had been stationed there. (Liv. xxvi. 33, xxvii. 8.) 5. Q. Fulvius Q. f. M. n. Flaccus, one of the four sons of Q. Fulvius Flaccus No. 2. In B. c. 185 he was aedilis curulis designatus; and as the city praetor, C. Decimus, had just died, he offered himself as a candidate for his place, but without success, notwithstanding his great exertions, and it was not till B. c. 1 82, that he received the office of praetor, with Hispania Citerior as his province. On his arrival there, he expelled the Celtiberians, who were in possession of the town of Urbicua, which he took, and soon after he defeated the Celti- berians in a great battle, in which 23,000 of them are said to have been slain and 4000 taken pri- soners. After the reduction of the town of Con- trebia he gained a second great victory over the Celtiberians, whereupon the greater part of them submitted to the Romans. At the end of the year of his praetorship, when he was returning from his province, he was allowed to take with him to Rome those soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in the great battles he had gained, and public thanksgivings were decreed at Rome for his successful campaign. But when he set out for Italy, the Celtiberians, who probably thought that he was going to carry out some hostile scheme against them, attacked him in a narrow defile. Notwithstanding his disadvantageous position, he again gained a complete victory, the merit of which was chiefly owing to his cavalry. The Cel- tiberians, after having lost no less than 17,000 of their men, took to flight. Fulvius Flaccus vowed games in honour of Jupiter, and to build a temple to Fortuna equestris, and then returned to Italy. He celebrated his victories with a triumph in B. c. 180, and was elected consul for the year following, together with his brother, L. Manlius Acidinus Fulvianus (this name arose from his being adopted into the family of Manlius Acidinus). The games in honour of Jupiter were sanctioned by the senate and celebrated. He carried on a war against the Ligurians, who were defeated, and whose camp was taken. On his return to Rome, he celebrated a second triumph on the same day on which the year before he had triumphed over the Celtiberians. In B. c. 174 he was made censor, with A. Postumius Albinus. In his censorship, his own brother, Cn. Fulvius Flaccus, was ejected from the senate, and Q. Fulvius Flaccus now set about building the