27.3
At
Capua, in the meantime, Flaccus was occupied with the sale of the property
of the principal citizens and the farming of the revenues from that part of the
territory which had become Roman domain-land; the impost being paid in
corn. As though there was never to be wanting some reason or other for
treating the Capuans with severity, disclosures were made of a fresh crime
which had been hatched in secret. Fulvius had moved his men out of the
houses in Capua, partly through fear lest his army should demoralised by the
attractions of the city, as Hannibal's had been, and partly that there might be
houses to go with the land which was being let. The troops were ordered to
construct military huts just outside the walls and gates. Most of these they
made of wattle or planking; some used plaited osiers and covered them with
straw, as though deliberately designing them to feed a conflagration. One
hundred and seventy Capuans with the brothers Blossius at their head
formed a plot to set fire to all these huts simultaneously in the night. Some
slaves belonging to the Blossian household betrayed the secret. On receiving
the information the proconsul at once ordered the gates to be shut and the
troops to arm. All those involved in the crime were arrested, examined under
torture, found guilty, and summarily executed. The informers received their
freedom and 10,000 ases each. The people of Nuceria and Acerrae having
complained that they had nowhere to live, as Acerrae was partly destroyed
by fire and Nuceria completely demolished, Fulvius sent them to Rome to
appear before the senate. Permission was given to the Acerrans to rebuild
those houses which had been burnt, and as the people of Nuceria had
expressed their desire to settle at Atella, the Atellans were ordered to
remove to Calatia. In spite of the many important incidents, some
favourable, some unfavourable, which were occupying the public attention,
the citadel of Tarentum was not lost sight of. M. Ogulnius and P. Aquilius
were appointed commissioners for the purchase of corn in Etruria, and a
force of 1000 men drawn from the home army, with an equal number from
the allied contingents, conveyed it to Tarentum.