History of Rome, Book 22

Book 22 continues Livy's narrative of the Second Punic War through 217 and 216 BC, the two worst years Rome ever faced. Together with Book 21 it forms the classic account of Hannibal's invasion of Italy.

Hannibal marches through the flooded marshes of Etruria, losing an eye to infection, and lures the consul Flaminius into an ambush on the shore of Lake Trasimene, where the Romans fight blind in the morning fog and Flaminius is killed. At Rome a praetor announces simply that 'we have been defeated in a great battle'. Quintus Fabius Maximus is made dictator and adopts his policy of shadowing Hannibal without giving battle, which earned him the name Cunctator, 'the Delayer'. Hannibal escapes a trap by driving oxen with burning torches on their horns over the hills by night; Fabius' impatient master of horse, Minucius, is given equal command, falls into an ambush and is rescued by Fabius. In 216 the consuls Aemilius Paulus and Terentius Varro quarrel over strategy and fight at Cannae, where Hannibal's line envelops the Roman infantry and Paulus dies. Maharbal tells Hannibal that he knows how to win a victory but not how to use one; the young Scipio stops nobles from abandoning Italy; Rome mourns, refuses to ransom the captives and watches its allies defect.

Livy's set pieces here, the fog at Trasimene and the slaughter at Cannae, are among the finest in Latin prose. The Latin is demanding but the story carries the reader.