[Linenotes: 1-10. +intueri; contemplari ...+ = _There they are looking one on another_. . . . By a string of infinitives the picture of a series of actions is put before the reader without the actions being thought of singly. --Lee Warner. 2. +obnoxia+ = _at the mercy of_ ...--Rawlins. 6. +per sociorum urbes+, e.g. _Capua_. 11. +fatalis ignominiae+ = _destined for their disgrace_. 12. +experiundo+ = _by experience_; +praeceperant+ = _they had anticipated_. 16. +seminudi+ = _with only their tunics on_. 17. +gradu+ = _in rank_. 18. +traducti+, ‘always used in this sense of _disgraceful_ exhibition or parade.’ --Stephenson. 22-23. +ipsa lux ... fuit+ = _the very light was to them as they gazed on so hideous a line of march more gloomy than any form of death_.]
+The Caudine Forks.+ Other writers state that the Romans were entrapped only after a severe defeat.
‘By the side of those names (the Allia and Cannae) there was yet a third in the list of evil days--the name of the Caudine Pass.’ --Ihne. Cf. p. 82, B. [[Selection D23 B]]
+Historic Parallels.+ Livy’s account of Trasimene. The Kyber Pass, 1842. The Capitulation of Metz, 1870.
At vero T. Veturius et Sp. Postumius, cum iterum consules assent, quia, cum male pugnatum apud Caudium esset, legionibus nostris sub iugum missis pacem cum Samnitibus fecerant, dediti sunt eis; iniussu enim populi senatusque fecerant. Eodemque { 5} tempore Ti. Numicius, Q. Maelius, qui tum tribuni plebis erant, quod eorum auctoritate pax erat facta, dediti sunt, ut pax Samnitium repudiaretur. Atque huius deditionis ipse Postumius, qui dedebatur, suasor et auctor fuit. Quod idem multis annis post { 10} C. Mancinus, qui ut Numantinis, quibuscum sine senatus auctoritate foedus fecerat, dederetur, rogationem suasit eam, quam L. Furius, Sex. Atilius ex senatus consulto ferebant: qua accepta est hostibus deditus. Honestius hic quam Q. Pompeius, quo, { 15} cum in eadem causa esset, deprecante accepta lex non est. Hic ea, quae videbatur utilitas, plus valuit quam honestas, apud superiores utilitatis species falsa ab honestatis auctoritate superata est.
[Linenotes: 4. +pacem ... fecerant+, i.e. _a military convention_, by which Rome and Samnium were to acknowledge each other as free peoples with equal rights and privileges, and Rome was to give up her conquests and colonies on Samnite territory. 5. +iniussu ... senatusque.+ ‘The Senate considered it in the light of a _sponsio_, a convention made on personal responsibility, rather than a _pactio_ or _foedus_, a public treaty.’ --Holden. 6. +tribuni plebis+, prob. only tribunes-elect (= _designati_), for the tribunes could not leave Rome even for one night. 11. +C. Mancinus+ commanded against Numantia in Spain, 137 B.C. 15. +Q. Pompeius+ commanded against Numantia, 140 B.C. 16. +cum in eadem causa esset+ = _though he was in the same case_, as Mancinus, i.e. had made a degrading peace with the Numantines. --H. 15-17. +quo ... deprecante ... non est+ = _through his begging to be let off, the law_ (i.e. for delivering him up to the enemy) _was not passed_. 17. +Hic+ = _in this case_, i.e. that of Pompeius. 18. +apud superiores+, i.e. Veturius, Postumius, and Mancinus. 18-19. +utilitatis species falsa+ = _the false semblance of expediency_.]