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16 - Stories from the History of Rome by Emily Beesly · Stories from the History of Rome

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen of Stories from the History of Rome by
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  Speaker 1: Emily Beasley. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Melissa Jane Melissa Jane Audio at gmail dot com.
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  Speaker 1: The two Fabie the sam Knights had lost many battles
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  Speaker 1: in the wars with Rome, and the Romans began to
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  Speaker 1: hope that soon they might be able quite to conquer
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  Speaker 1: this brave people who had fought for so many years
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  Speaker 1: against them. Quintus Fabius was now consul. He was the
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  Speaker 1: son of Fabius Maximus, a brave old man who had
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  Speaker 1: been many times consul and had won many victories for Rome.
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  Speaker 1: Quintus Fabius was young and brave, and thought that as
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  Speaker 1: the sam Knights had been so often beaten, it would
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  Speaker 1: be easy for him to beat them again, and he
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  Speaker 1: hoped that he might have the joy and glory of
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  Speaker 1: at last.
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  Speaker 2: Finishing the war.
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  Speaker 1: So he raised an army and marched to attack them.
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  Speaker 1: The Samnights, however, were a very brave people, and they
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  Speaker 1: did not much fear Fabius, knowing that he was young
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  Speaker 1: and had not had much practice as a general. They
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  Speaker 1: too got an army together and set out towards Rome.
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  Speaker 1: I said that Quintus Fabius was a brave man, like
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  Speaker 1: the rest of his family, who had been called the
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  Speaker 1: brave Fabian race, but he forgot that he ought to
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  Speaker 1: be watchful and careful as well as brave. As he
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  Speaker 1: marched through Campagna, he came in sight of a party
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  Speaker 1: of soldiers sent out by the sam Knight general in
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  Speaker 1: front of his army to see if.
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  Speaker 2: The way was clear for the rest.
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  Speaker 1: When this small body of troops saw the Romans coming
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  Speaker 1: towards them, they retreated to their fellow countrymen. Fabius thoughts
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  Speaker 1: they were running away from him, and at once ordered
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  Speaker 1: his soldiers to follow them as fast as possible. Meantime,
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  Speaker 1: the same night, general, hearing that the Romans were coming,
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  Speaker 1: had placed his soldiers in order of battle and was
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  Speaker 1: ready for the attack. The Romans came up tired before
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  Speaker 1: the battle began because they had marched so fast, Their
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  Speaker 1: ranks were in disorder, and they looked as if they
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  Speaker 1: were coming to plunder and not to fight. It is
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  Speaker 1: not hard to guess what happened.
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  Speaker 2: The sam Knights easily resisted the charge of.
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  Speaker 1: The Romans, drove them back, killed three thousand of them
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  Speaker 1: and wounded many more. And if it had not grown
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  Speaker 1: too dark for the battle to go on, the whole
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  Speaker 1: army would have been destroyed.
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  Speaker 2: Fabius did his best to get.
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  Speaker 1: His men together again, and made them dig ditches and
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  Speaker 1: make mounds round their camp to defend themselves as well
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  Speaker 1: as they could.
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  Speaker 2: In the darkness and hurry.
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  Speaker 1: But they had lost all their baggage in the flight,
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  Speaker 1: and here there was no food for the hungry, no
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  Speaker 1: comforts for the wounded, hardly even rest for the tired,
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  Speaker 1: for they feared that the conquering sam Nights would follow
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  Speaker 1: and attack them again. They waited for the coming of
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  Speaker 1: the daylight in this miserable state, thinking that surely that
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  Speaker 1: night would be their last.
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  Speaker 3: For how they said, gen men tired with want of sleep,
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  Speaker 3: weak with their wounds, and out of heart with the
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  Speaker 3: shame of being beaten. How can such men do battle
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  Speaker 3: against an enemy who conquered us when we were full
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  Speaker 3: of open courage. Fortunately happened that the sam Knight general
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  Speaker 3: heard that the other consul was marching against him with
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  Speaker 3: another army.
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  Speaker 1: This was not true, but the sam Knight believed it, and,
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  Speaker 1: thinking it best to be contented with the victory he
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  Speaker 1: had already won, he led his army away and so
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  Speaker 1: Fabius and his troops were saved. The people of Rome
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  Speaker 1: were very angry when they heard that Fabius had been defeated,
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  Speaker 1: and they thought the disgrace was worse even than the
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  Speaker 1: loss of men.
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  Speaker 2: They had hoped that the war was nearly.
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  Speaker 1: At an end, and now because of the consul's rashness
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  Speaker 1: and carelessness, things were as bad as ever. The Senate
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  Speaker 1: commanded that the consul should come to Rome to answer
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  Speaker 1: for what he had done. But when he came before them,
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  Speaker 1: the rage of the people was so great that they
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  Speaker 1: would hardly let him speak to defend himself. They felt
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  Speaker 1: that he ought to have been wiser, since he was
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  Speaker 1: the son of so brave and successful a general, and
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  Speaker 1: that he had disgraced the name of Rome and the
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  Speaker 1: name of Fabius by his rashness. The elder Fabius feared
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  Speaker 1: that his son would be disgraced and turned out of
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  Speaker 1: his place as consul, and he came forward before the
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  Speaker 1: Senate to defend him. I cannot excuse his fault, said
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  Speaker 1: the old man, But I pray you that you will
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  Speaker 1: not so shame me, who have done some service to Rome,
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  Speaker 1: and yet more that you will not disgrace the family
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  Speaker 1: of Fabius, which almost from the building of Rome till
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  Speaker 1: now has given so many brave men to serve their country.
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  Speaker 1: And yet I would not have you pardon myself because
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  Speaker 1: of the great deeds of his ancestors.
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  Speaker 2: But I feel sure that he will.
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  Speaker 1: Yet do good work for Rome, because he has learned
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  Speaker 1: to love his country better than even his family. You
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  Speaker 1: have seen the worst that can happen from his rashness,
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  Speaker 1: But the good is yet to come, which you may
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  Speaker 1: expect from a man of so brave a temper, and
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  Speaker 1: who has been bred up by myself a master as
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  Speaker 1: you know, able to teach him what a warrior should be.
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  Speaker 1: Many men have learned by misfortunes to be more.
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  Speaker 2: Careful, and so may he.
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  Speaker 1: If you will let him try again, what has been
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  Speaker 1: done wrong shall be amended. I will answer for my
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  Speaker 1: son to the people. I will go with him to
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  Speaker 1: battle as his lieutenant, and share his fortune whatever it
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  Speaker 1: may be. I am old, but I have courage enough
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  Speaker 1: and strength enough still.
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  Speaker 2: To bear the toils of war.
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  Speaker 1: If I were good for nothing else, yet I could
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  Speaker 1: cheer our own men and terrify the enemy by reminding
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  Speaker 1: them of my old battles. And besides, I can advise
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  Speaker 1: and direct the young consul. Did I not know my
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  Speaker 1: son's temper and feel sure that he will be ready
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  Speaker 1: to follow good advice. I should be sorry to risk
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  Speaker 1: the fame I have won in so many years of
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  Speaker 1: toil and danger, just now when my life is near
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  Speaker 1: its end. The people felt that what Fabius Maximus said
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  Speaker 1: was quite true, and they agreed to what he asked.
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  Speaker 1: Everything was soon got ready to begin the war again,
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  Speaker 1: and the consul and his father led the army away
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  Speaker 1: from Rome. The consul was willing to do all that
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  Speaker 1: his father advised, and the soldiers were eager to show
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  Speaker 1: that they could do.
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  Speaker 2: Better than in their last fight.
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  Speaker 1: They trusted too and the brave old Fabius, remembering how
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  Speaker 1: often their fathers, led by him, had beaten the sam Knights,
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  Speaker 1: and they wished with all their hearts for battle. The
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  Speaker 1: armies met. The fight began, and at first the Romans
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  Speaker 1: got the worst of it.
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  Speaker 2: The sam Knight general, with a number of his bravest.
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  Speaker 1: Troops, surrounded the consul, But when Fabius Maximus saw his
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  Speaker 1: son's danger, he rode at full speed into the midst
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  Speaker 1: of the sam Knights to rescue him. The Roman horse
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  Speaker 1: soldiers saw him and feeling how shameful it would be
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  Speaker 1: if such an old man should dare to do more
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  Speaker 1: than they, who were both young and strong, they followed
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  Speaker 1: him and charged the enemy so fiercely.
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  Speaker 2: That the can Unsul was saved and the battle won.
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  Speaker 1: The sam Knight general, who was a brave man and
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  Speaker 1: a good soldier, did his best to keep his men
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  Speaker 1: firm and to stop those who fled, but in trying
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  Speaker 1: to do so, he lost the chance of escaping himself,
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  Speaker 1: and was taken prisoner by the Romans with a great
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  Speaker 1: many of his soldiers, and many more were slain. The
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  Speaker 1: sam Knight camp was also taken in a great deal
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  Speaker 1: of rich plunder, and the two Fabye went home in triumph.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter fifteen.