27.43
After
Hasdrubal had raised the siege of Placentia, he sent off four Gaulish and two
Numidian troopers with despatches to Hannibal. They had passed through
the midst of the enemy, and almost traversed the length of Italy, and were
following Hannibal's retreat to Metapontum when they missed the road and
were brought to Tarentum. Here they were caught by a Roman foraging
party dispersed amongst the fields, and conducted to the propraetor Q.
Claudius. At first they tried to mislead him by evasive answers, but the fear
of torture compelled them to confess the truth, and they informed him that
they were the bearers of despatches from Hasdrubal to Hannibal. They and
the despatches, with seals intact, were handed over to L. Verginius, one of
the military tribunes. He was furnished with an escort of two troops of
Samnite cavalry, and ordered to conduct the six troopers to the consul
Claudius Nero. After the despatches had been translated to him, and the
prisoners had been examined, the consul saw that the regulation which
confined each consul to the province and the army and the enemy which had
been designated for him by the senate would not in the present instance be
beneficial to the republic. He would have to venture upon a startling
innovation, and though at the outset it might create as much alarm among his
own countrymen as amongst the enemy, it would, when carried through,
turn their great fear into great rejoicing. Hasdrubal's despatches he sent on to
the senate together with one from himself explaining his project. As
Hasdrubal had written to say that he would meet his brother in Umbria, he
advised the senators to recall the Roman legion from Capua, raise troops in
Rome, and with this City force oppose the enemy at Narnia. This was what
he wrote to the senate. But he also sent couriers into the districts through
which he intended to march -Larinum, Marrucina, Frentanum and Praetutia
-to warn the inhabitants to collect all the supplies from the towns and the
country districts and have them in readiness on the line of march to feed the
troops. They were also to bring their horses and other draught animals so
that there might be an ample supply of vehicles for the men who fell out
through fatigue. Out of the whole of his army he selected a force of 6000
infantry and 1000 cavalry, the flower of the Roman and allied contingents,
and gave out that he intended to seize the nearest city in Lucania with its
Carthaginian garrison, so that all should be ready to march. Starting by night,
he turned off in the direction of Picenum. Leaving Q. Catius, his second in
command, in charge of the camp he marched as rapidly as he could to join
his colleague.
