Appointment of a dictator (early July 217)

(1) Before there was a definite plan, another defeat is suddenly announced; four thousand horsemen and the propraetor Caius Centenius, sent to his colleague by the consul Servilius, were, in Umbria, the region towards which they had headed on the news of the battle of Trasimene, surrounded by Hannibal. (2) This news affected the people in various ways:some, their hearts occupied with greater affliction, found light, in comparison with the preceding losses, that of the horsemen; (3) the others did not judge the events in themselves:as a weakened body feels an impression, however slight, more than a healthy body a stronger impression, (4) it was then necessary, they thought , the State being sick and weakened, to judge any misfortune that befell it not by its importance, but by the exhaustion of the State, unable to bear anything that might aggravate it. (5) So a remedy was resorted to, which for a long time had neither been demanded nor used, at the appointment of a dictator. But as the consul, who alone seemed able to appoint a dictator, was absent; that through Italy, occupied by the Punic armies, it was not easy to send a messenger or a letter, [and that the dictator could not be named by the people], (6) thing that one had never done so far, the people appointed a dictator, Quintus Fabius Maximus, with Marcus Minicius Rufus as master of the cavalry; (7) and the senate instructed them to fortify the ramparts and the towers of Rome, to dispose of the posts where they saw fit, to cut the bridges:it was necessary to fight for the city and the Penates, since there was no been able to defend Italy