27.26
Hannibal had already fought two battles
with Marcellus during the past year, in one he had been victorious, the other
he lost. After this experience he felt that if he had to meet him again there
was as much ground for fear as for hope, and he was therefore far from
feeling himself equal to the two consuls together. He decided to employ his
old tactics and looked out for a position suitable for an ambuscade. Both
sides, however, confined themselves to skirmishes, with varying success, and
the consuls thought that as the summer was being spun out in this way there
was no reason why the siege of Locri should not be resumed. So they sent
written instructions to L. Cincius to take his fleet from Sicily to Locri, and as
the walls of that city were open to a land attack also, they ordered a portion
of the army which was garrisoning Tarentum to be marched there. These
plans were disclosed to Hannibal by some people from Thurium, and he sent
a force to block the road from Tarentum. 3000 cavalry and 2000 infantry
were concealed under a hill above Petelia. The Romans, marching on
without reconnoitring, fell into the trap, and 2000 were killed and 1500
taken prisoners. The rest fled through the fields and woods back to
Tarentum. Between the Carthaginian camp and that of the Romans there was
a wooded hill which neither side had taken possession of, for the Romans did
not know what that side of it was like which fronted the enemy, and
Hannibal regarded it as better adapted for an ambuscade than for a camp. He
accordingly sent a force of Numidians during the night to conceal themselves
in the wood, and there they remained the following day without stirring from
their position, so that neither they nor their arms were visible. It was being
everywhere remarked in the Roman camp that the hill ought to be seized and
strengthened with defences, for if Hannibal seized it they would have the
enemy, so to speak, over their heads. The idea impressed Marcellus, and he
said to his colleague: "Why do we not go with a few horsemen and examine
the place? When we have seen it for ourselves we shall know better what to
do." Crispinus assented, and they started with 220 mounted men, 40 of
whom were from Fregellae, the rest were Etruscans. They were
accompanied by two military tribunes, M. Marcellus, a son of the consul, and
A. Manlius, and also by two prefects of allies, L. Arrenius and Manius
Aulius. Some writers assert that whilst Marcellus was sacrificing on that day,
the liver of the first victim was found to have no head; in the second all the
usual parts were present, but the head appeared abnormally large. The
haruspex was seriously alarmed at finding after misshaped and stunted parts
such an excess of growth.
