[Born about B.C. 268. Died in Apulia, B.C. 208. Aged about 60.]
A Roman of high fame. At his hands Hannibal received the first check
that he experienced in Italy. He subsequently besieged Syracuse, but was
forced to convert the siege into a blockade in consequence of the genius
displayed in the defence of the city by the great Archimedes, who
rendered of no avail every engine brought against Syracuse, and inspired
dread by his own instruments of war. At length Marcellus triumphed, the
city was given over to pillage, and its defender perished, whilst
pondering over a geometrical problem, by the hand of a common soldier.
He again turned his victorious arms against Hannibal, winning fresh
laurels and new honours from the state. It was whilst fighting against
the Carthaginian hero that he fell, slain by a spear of the enemy.
Hannibal sympathized with his fall, and paid honour to his remains. A
plain, stern, unlettered soldier, brave to recklessness, rude and
unpolished in manners, unyielding in temper.
[This Bust bears the name of Marcellus in the Capitoline Museum. It
may be the nephew of Augustus when a child.]