Summary of Book XXVII
Gnaeus Fulvius, the proconsul, was slain with his army
by Hannibal near Herdonea. With a happier outcome a
battle was fought by Claudius Marcellus, the consul,
against the same commander near Numistro. Hannibal
thereupon withdrew by night. Marcellus pursued him
and repeatedly bore heavily on him as he retreated, until
he engaged. In the first battle Hannibal was the winner,
Marcellus in the second. Fabius Maximus the father, as
consul, recovered Tarentum by treachery. Claudius
Marcellus and Titus Quinctius Crispinus, the consuls,
having advanced from the camp to reconnoitre, were overpowered by Hannibal in an ambush. Marcellus was slain,
Crispinus escaped. The ceremony of purification was
completed by the censors. Listed in the census were
137,108 citizens, from which number it was evident how
many men the unfavourable fortune of so many battles
had carried off from the Roman people. In Spain Scipio
engaged with Hasdrubal and Hamilcar
1 near Baecula and was victorious. A boy of royal birth and remarkable
beauty, who had been captured with the rest of the spoils,
was sent away to his maternal uncle Masinissa by Scipio
with gifts. Hasdrubal, who with a fresh army had
crossed the Alps to unite with Hannibal, was slain with
56,000 men, and 5,400 were captured, under the command
of Marcus Livius, the consul, but with no smaller share
borne by Claudius Nero, the consul, who, after being
assigned to confront Hannibal, had left his camp in such a
way as to escape the enemy's notice, had set out with a
picked force and overpowered Hasdrubal. The book
contains in addition the operations successfully carried on
by Publius Scipio in Spain and by Publius Sulpicius, the
praetor, against Philip and the Achaeans.