... in 249, should be seen as a response not merely to a military disaster but to a perceived rupture in the peace with the gods (pax deorum) caused by violations of the auspices and other religious rules. When in 215 M. Claudius Marcellus in his second consulship was found vitio...

...Polybius' work has an overall narrative patterning in which Roman order and virtue deteriorates after the time of Cannae (216 BC) even as Roman power expands. Polybius does, however, include examples of questionable Roman conduct from the third century BC, such as M. Claudius Marcellus and C...