23.44
Herennius Bassus briefly replied that the
friendship between Rome and Nola had now lasted many years, and up to
that day neither party had had any reason to regret it. If they had wished to
change their allegiance when the change came in their fortunes, it was too
late to do so now. If they had thought of surrendering to Hannibal would
they have asked for a Roman garrison? They were in perfect accord with
those who had come to protect them, and they would continue to be so to
the last. This interview destroyed any expectations Hannibal might have
formed of securing Nola by treachery. He therefore drew his lines completely
round the town so that a simultaneous attack might be made on all sides.
When Marcellus saw that he was close up to the ramparts, he drew up his
men inside one of the gates and then burst out in a fierce tumultuous charge.
A few were overthrown and killed in the first shock, but as men ran up into
the fighting line and the two sides became more equalised, the contest was
beginning to be a severe one, and few battles would have been more
memorable had not a very heavy storm of rain and wind separated the
combatants. They retired for that day after only a brief encounter but in a
state of great exasperation, the Romans to the city, the Carthaginians to their
camp. Of the latter not more than thirty fell in the first attack; the Romans
lost fifty. The rain fell without any intermission all through the night and
continued till the third hour of the following day, so, though both sides were
eager for battle, they remained that day within their lines. The following day
Hannibal sent part of his force on a plundering expedition in the Nolan
territory. No sooner was Marcellus aware of it than he formed his line of
battle, nor did Hannibal decline the challenge. There was about a mile
between his camp and the city, and within that space -it is all level ground
round Nola -the armies met. The battle shout raised on both sides brought
back the nearest amongst the cohorts who had been sent off to plunder; the
Nolans, too, on the other side, took their place in the Roman line. Marcellus
addressed a few words of encouragement and thanks to them, and told them
to take their station amongst the reserve and help to carry the wounded from
the field, they were to keep out of the fighting unless they received the signal
from him.
