of his ambassadors, yet he would not in their case do any thing unworthy of the maxims of the Roman people or his own principles; after saying which, he dismissed the ambassadors and prepared for war.  When Hannibal was now drawing near land, one of the sailors, who was ordered to climb the mast to see what part of the country they were making, said the prow pointed toward a demolished sepulchre, when Hannibal, recognising the inauspicious omen, ordered the pilot to steer by that place, and putting in his fleet at Leptis, landed his forces there.

26.  Such were the transactions in Africa this year.  Those which followed extended themselves into that year in which Marcus Servilius Geminus, who was then master of the horse and Tiberius Claudius Nero were consuls.  However, at the close of the former year, deputies from the allied states in Greece having arrived with complaints that their lands had been devastated by the king’s garrisons, and that their ambassadors, who had gone into Macedonia to demand restitution had not been admitted into the presence of Philip; and having also brought information that four thousand men were said to have been conveyed over into Africa, under the conduct of Sopater, to assist the Carthaginians, and that a considerable quantity of money had been sent with them; the senate resolved that ambassadors should be sent to the king to inform him that the fathers considered that these acts were contrary to the treaty.  The persons sent were Caius Terentius Varro, Caius Mamilius, and Marcus Aurelius.  Three quinqueremes were assigned to them.  This year was rendered remarkable by a most extensive fire, by which the buildings on the Publician hill were burned to the ground, and by the greatness of the floods.  But still provisions were cheap, not only because, as it was a time of peace, supplies could be obtained from every part of Italy, but also because Marcus Valerius Falto and Marcus Fabius Buteo, the curule aediles, distributed to the people, so much for each street, at the rate of four asses a bushel, a great quantity of corn which had been sent out of Spain.  The same year died Quintus Fabius Maximus at an advanced age, if, indeed, it be true that he was augur sixty-two years, which some historians relate.  He was a man unquestionably worthy of the high surname which he bore, even had it begun with him.  He surpassed the honours of his father, and equalled those of his grandfather.  His grandfather, Rullus, was distinguished by a greater number of victories and more important battles; but one antagonist like Hannibal is sufficient to counterbalance them all.  He was esteemed rather cautious than spirited; and though it may be questioned whether he was naturally dilatory, or whether he adopted that kind of conduct because it was peculiarly suited to the war which he was carrying on, yet nothing can be more clear that he was that one man who by his delay retrieved our affairs, as Ennius says.  Quintus Fabius Maximus, his son, was consecrated augur in