go to Tarentum to that army which Titus Quinctius, the consul, had
commanded, and that Lucius Manlius might go as ambassador across the
sea, and observe what was going on there; and at the same time, as
the games at Olympia, which were attended by the greatest concourse
of persons of any solemnity in Greece, were about to take place that
summer, that if he could without danger from the enemy, he might go to
that assembly, in order that any Sicilians who might be there, having
been driven away by the war, or any Tarentine citizens banished by
Hannibal, might return to their homes, and be informed that the Roman
people would restore to them every thing which they had possessed
before the war. As a year of the most dangerous character seemed to
threaten them, and there were no consuls to direct the government, all
men fixed their attention on the consuls elect, wishing them to
draw lots for their provinces, as soon as possible, and determine
beforehand what province and what enemy each should have. The senate
also took measures, at the instance of Quintus Fabius Maximus, to
effect a reconciliation between them. For the enmity between them was
notorious; and in the case of Livius his misfortunes rendered it more
inveterate and acrimonious, as he considered that in that situation
he had been treated with contempt. He was, therefore, the more
inexorable, and said, "that there was no need of a reconciliation, for
that they would use greater diligence and activity in every thing they
did for fear lest they should give their colleague, who was an enemy,
an opportunity of advancing himself at their expense." However, the
authority of the senate prevailed; and, laying aside their private
differences, they conducted the affairs of the state in friendship
and unanimity. Their provinces were not districts bordering upon
each other, as in former years, but quite separate, in the remotest
confines of Italy. To one was decreed Bruttium and Lucania, to act
against Hannibal; to the other Gaul, to act against Hasdrubal, who, it