25.20
The
consuls now resumed the siege of Capua in earnest, and everything
necessary for the task was brought together and got into readiness. Corn
was stored at Casilinum; at the mouth of the Vulturnus, where the town of
Vulturnum now stands, a fort was constructed and a garrison was placed in
it and in Puteoli also, which Fabius had previously fortified, so that they
might command both the river and the adjacent sea. The corn which had
lately been sent from Sardinia as well as that which M. Junius had purchased
in Etruria was conveyed from Ostia into these two maritime fortresses, that
the army might have a supply throughout the winter. Meantime the disaster
which had overtaken Centenius in Lucania was aggravated by another which
resulted from the death of Gracchus. The volunteer slaves who had done
excellent service when he was alive to lead them, looked upon his death as
discharging them from further military duties and accordingly disbanded
themselves. Hannibal was anxious not to neglect Capua or desert friends
who were in such a critical position, but after his easy victory through the
foolhardiness of one Roman general he was watching for an opportunity of
crushing another. Envoys from Apulia had informed him that Cn. Fulvius,
who was attacking some of their cities which had seceded to him, had at first
conducted his operations with care and prudence, but afterwards, intoxicated
with success and loaded with plunder, he and his men had given themselves
up to such idleness and self-indulgence that all military discipline had
disappeared. Hannibal knew by repeated experience, and especially within
the last few days, what state an army gets into under an incompetent
commander and he at once moved into Apulia.
