Kitap 25
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Gracchus, impressed by the apparent sincerity of the man's language and the proposal he made, and carried away by his smooth and plausible address, started from camp with his lictors and a troop of cavalry under the guidance of his guest-friend. He rode straight into the snare; suddenly enemies showed themselves on all sides, and to take away all doubt as to his being betrayed Flavus joined them. Missiles were hurled from every quarter upon Gracchus and his cavalry. He sprung from his horse, and ordered the rest to do the same, and called upon them to make the one thing which Fortune had left them glorious by their courage. "For what is left," he cried, "to a little band surrounded by an enormous host in a valley shut in by forest and mountain, except death? The one question is, are you going to offer yourselves like cattle to be butchered without striking a blow, or are you going to turn all your thoughts from passively awaiting the end and make a fierce and furious onslaught, doing and daring, until you fall, covered with your enemies blood, amidst the heaped-up bodies and arms of your dying foes? Make, every one of you, for the Lucanian traitor and renegade! The man who sends him beforehand as a victim to the gods below will find in his own death a glorious honour and unspeakable consolation." Whilst saying this he wound his paludamentum round his left arm-for they had not even brought their shields with them-and charged the enemy. There was more fighting than might have been expected from the number of the combatants. The Romans were most exposed to the darts, and as they were hurled from the higher ground all round they were pierced by them. Gracchus was now left without any defence and the Carthaginians tried to take him alive, but catching sight of his Lucanian guest-friend amongst the enemy, he made such a furious onslaught on their serried ranks that it became impossible to save his life without incurring heavy loss. Mago sent his dead body to Hannibal and ordered it and the captured fasces to be placed before the general's tribunal. If this is the true story, Gracchus perished in Lucania at the place called the "Old Fields."
