XXVII.  However Scipio, after no long time, defeated Hannibal in a pitched battle and crushed the pride of Carthage under foot.  He gave the Romans the enjoyment of a success beyond their hopes, and truly

    “Restored the city, shaken by the storm.”

Fabius Maximus did not survive till the end of the war, nor did he live to hear of Hannibal’s defeat, or see the glorious and lasting prosperity of his country, for about the time when Hannibal left Italy he fell sick and died.

The Thebans, we are told, buried Epameinondas at the public expense, because he died so poor that they say nothing was found in his house except an iron spit.  Fabius was not honoured by the Romans with a funeral at the public expense, yet every citizen contributed the smallest Roman coin towards the expenses, not that he needed the money, but because they buried him as the father of the people, so that in his death he received the honourable respect which he had deserved in his life.

COMPARISON OF PERIKLES AND FABIUS MAXIMUS.

I. Such is the story of these men’s lives.  As they both gave many proofs of ability in war and politics, let us first turn our attention to their warlike exploits.  And here we must notice that Perikles found the Athenian people at the height of their power and prosperity, so that from the flourishing condition of the State it could scarcely meet with any great disaster, whereas Fabius performed his great services to Rome when it was in the last extremity of danger, and did not merely, like Perikles, confirm the prosperity of his country, but greatly improved it, having found it in a lamentable condition.  Moreover, the successes of Kimon, the victories of Myronides and Leokrates, and the many achievements of Tolmides rather gave Perikles when in chief command an occasion for public rejoicing and festivity, than any opportunity for either conquests abroad or defensive wars at home.  Fabius, on the other hand, had before his eyes the spectacle of many defeats and routs of Roman armies, of many consuls and generals fallen in battle, of lakes, plains and forests filled with the bodies of the slain, and of rivers running with blood.  Yet with his mature and unbending intellect he undertook to extricate Rome from these dangers, and as it were by his own strength alone supported the State, so that it was not utterly overwhelmed by these terrible disasters.  Nevertheless it would appear not to be so hard a task to manage a State in adversity, when it is humble and is compelled by its misfortunes to obey wise counsellors, as it is to check and bridle a people excited and arrogant with good fortune, which was especially the case with Perikles and the Athenians.  On the other hand, considering the terrible nature of the blows which had fallen on the Romans, Fabius must have been a great and strong-minded man not to be disconcerted by them, but still to be able to carry out the policy upon which he had determined.