Military Measures.-After the various obligations to- \vards the gods had thus been discharged, the Dictator referred u t lic s na e the question of the policy to be adopted with regard to the war, with what legions and ho\v rDany the senators thought he ought to meet their victorious enemy. They decreed that he should take over the army from Cneius Servilius,. and further that he should enrol from amongst the citizens and the allies as many cavalry and infantry as he cohsidered requisite; all else was left to his discretion to take such steps as he thought desirable in the interests of the republic. Fabius said that he would add two legions to the arn1Y which Servilius commanded; these were raised by the l\laster of the Horse and he fixed a day for their assembling at Tibur. 1\. proclamation was also issued that those ,vho were living in to,vns and strongholds that were not sufficiently fortified should remove into places of safety, and that all the population settled in the districts through which Hannibal ,vas likely to march should abandon their farms, after first burning their houses and destroying their produce, so that he might not have any supplies to fall back upon. He then marched along the Flaminian road to meet the consul. As soon as he caught sight of the arn1Y in the neighbourhood of Ocriculum near the Tiber, and the consul riding forward with some cavalry to meet him, he sent an officer to tell him that he \vas to come to the Dictator \vithout his lictors. He did so,. and the way they met produced a profound sense of the majesty of the dictatorship amongst both citizens and allies, who had almost by this time forgotten that greatest of all offices. Shortly afterwards a despatch was handed in from the City stating that some transports which ,vere carrying supplies for the army in Spain had been captured by the Carthaginian fleet near the port of Cosa. The consul \vas thereupon ordered to man the ships which \vere lying off Ron1e or at Ostia with fun complements of seamen and soldiers, and sail in pursuit of the hostile fleet and protect the coast of Italy. A large force was raised in Rome, even freedmen \v ho had children and were of the military age had been s\vorn in. Out of these city troops, an under thirty-five years of age were placed on board the ships, the rest were left to garrison the City.