Doug
CLAPP The
Life of a Rumor: Livy Book 22.12-39
Livy
has the dictator Q. Fabius Maximus warn the
consul-designate for 216, L. Aemilius Paulus, to beware
his demagogic colleague C. Terentius Varro (22.39.1-22).
Fabius specifically exhorts Aemilius to endure the slander
found in rumors (Resistes
autem adversus famam
rumoresque hominum
22.39.18), those reports that should be of uncertain
origin and uncertain truthfulness.
A close analysis of the life of these rumors as portrayed in
the preceding narrative, however, suggests little if any
uncertainty in origin or truthfulness.
By tracing the birth, growth, and death of a rumor in
Livyís Book 22.14-39, this paper will demonstrate
that Livy critiques rumor as an illegitimate mode of
discourse rather than as an inaccurate source of
information. Rumor,
as will be seen, hijacks legitimate modes of political
discourse such as contiones and dispatches from
the front and subverts them to disseminate faulty ideas
marred by flawed judgment.
What
the dictator Fabius calls famam rumoresque came to
life in the grumblings of his magister equitum M.
Minucius Rufus. As
soon as Fabius took command of the troops and unveiled
his strategy of cunctatio, Minucius complained of
his timidity to a few men, then to a crowd (22.12.1-12).
Finally, his griping burst into an extended diatribe in
oratio recta (22.14.4-15).
Here lies the origin of the rumors, though they are not yet
labeled as such, and they do little more at a factual
level than claim that Fabius refuses to engage Hannibal.
Nonetheless, the rumors soon have dire consequences, first on
the battlefield, then at home.
L. Hostilius Mancinus, who had heard and believed the tirade
of Minucius, ignored the orders of Fabius and led his
cavalry unit to its death in a foolhardy charge
(22.15.4-10). Later,
at Rome,
the tribune M. Metilius took up the substance of
Minuciusí remarks and made the unprecedented
demand that the magister equitum receive power
equal to that of the dictator (22.25.2-11).
This
bold move marks a second stage in the rumorís
growth. With Fabius
absent in Rome,
Minucius contravened his superiorís command and
attacked Hannibal
(22.24.1-14). The
narrow victory became a resounding success in the letters
Minucius sent back to Rome.
Once again, Livy pinpoints the source of the rumor and makes
explicit that the rumor errs in judgment rather than in
fact.
The
narrative has consistently encouraged the reader to
admire the judgment and the strategy of Fabius and,
conversely, to disapprove of Minucius and his temerity.
Livy depicts Fabius as a victim, stoic in the face of ignorant
assaults on his character (22.15.1; 22.25.12).
And, just as he advised Aemilius, Fabius persevered.
The long-suffering Fabius was able to see the rumors die after
he rescued Minucius, who foolishly exercised his newly
increased imperium, from a trap set by Hannibal
(22.28.1-29.6). Minucius
realized his error and returned his legions to the
dictator (22.30.3-5). Thus
was the political order restored and the
havoc wrought by rumor brought to an end.