It has been stated above that the consul, Q. Fabius, was encamped near Casilinum, which was held by a garrison of 2000 Campanians and 700 of Hannibal's troops. [2] Statius Metius had been sent by Gnaevius Magius of Atella, who was the "medixtuticus" for that year, to take command, and he had armed the populace and the slaves indiscriminately in order to attack the Roman camp while the consul was engaged in the assault on the town. [3] Fabius was perfectly aware of all that was going on, and he sent word to his colleague at Nola that a second army would be needed to hold the Campanians while he was delivering the assault, and either [4??] he should come himself and leave a sufficient force at Nola, or, if there was still danger to be apprehended from Hannibal and Nola required his presence, he should recall Tiberius Gracchus from Beneventum. [5] On receipt of this message Marcellus left 2000 men to protect Nola and came with the rest of his army to Casilinum. His arrival put an end to any movement on the part of the Campanians, and Casilinum was now besieged by both consuls. [6] Many of the Roman soldiers were wounded by rashly venturing too near the walls, and the operations were by no means successful. Fabius thought that the enterprise, which was of small importance though quite as difficult as more important ones, ought to be abandoned, and that they ought to go where more serious business awaited them. [7] Marcellus urged that while there were many things which a great general ought not to undertake, still, when he had undertaken them, he ought not to let them drop, as in either case it had great influence on public opinion. He succeeded in preventing the siege from being abandoned. [8] Now the assault commenced in earnest, and when the vineae and siege works and artillery of every kind were brought against the walls, the Campanians begged Fabius to be allowed to depart under safe conduct to Capua. [9] After a few had got outside the town Marcellus occupied the gate through which they were leaving, and an indiscriminate slaughter began, first amongst those near the gate and then, after the troops burst in, in the city itself. About fifty of the Campanians had already passed out and they fled to Fabius, under whose protection they reached Capua. [10] During these parleys, and the delay occasioned by those who appealed for protection, the besiegers found their opportunity and Casilinum was taken. The Campanians and those of Hannibal's troops who were made prisoners were sent to Rome and shut up in prison; [11] the mass of the townsfolk were distributed amongst the neighbouring communities to be kept in custody.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.