assigned. Of the eighty ships which he had with him, some taken from
Italy and others captured at Carthage, Scipio was ordered to send
fifty to Sardinia, in consequence of a report that great naval
preparations were making at Carthage that year; and that the intention
of the Carthaginians was to blockade the whole coasts of Italy,
Sicily, and Sardinia with two hundred ships. In Sicily also the
following distribution was made: to Sextus Caesar the troops of Cannae
were assigned; Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who was also continued in
command, was to have the fleet of seventy ships which was at Sicily,
adding to it the thirty ships which the preceding year were stationed
at Tarentum. With this fleet of a hundred ships he was ordered to pass
over into Africa, if he thought proper, and collect booty. Publius
Sulpicius was also continued in command for a year, to hold the
province of Macedonia and Greece, with the same fleet. No alteration
was made with regard to the two legions which were at Rome. Permission
was given to the consuls to enlist as many troops as were necessary
to complete the numbers. This year the Roman empire was defended by
twenty-one legions. Publius Licinius Varus, the city praetor, was also
commissioned to repair the thirty old men of war which lay at Ostia,
and to man twenty new ones with full complements, in order that he
might defend the sea-coast in the neighbourhood hood of Rome with a
fleet of fifty ships. Caius Calpurnius was ordered not to move his
army from Arretium till his successor had arrived. Both he and Tubulus
were ordered to be particularly careful, lest any new plots should be
formed in that quarter.

23. The praetors set out for their provinces. The consul were detained
by religious affairs; for receiving intelligence of several prodigies,
they could not easily obtain a favourable appearance from the victims.
It was reported from Campania, that two temples, those of Fortune