He then, however,
said: "There was a rumour in the army that you were intimate with one of
the chiefs of the garrison. Who is he? for if he is as they say, a man
of courage and distinction--war, which throws everything into confusion,
will care little what countryman he may be. Nothing is disgraceful which
we cannot avoid; but it is a blessing, at a time when justice has no
power, that we should yield to a not disagreeable necessity." Upon this
the lady sent for her Bruttian admirer and introduced him to her
brother. He, by encouraging the stranger in his passion, and assuring
him that he would induce his sister to look favourably on it, had no
difficulty in inducing the man, who was a mercenary soldier, to break
his faith in expectation of the great rewards which he was promised by
Fabius. This is the account given of the transaction by most writers,
though some say that the lady by whose means the Bruttian was seduced
from his allegiance was not a Tarentine, but a Bruttian by race, who was
on intimate terms with Fabius; and that as soon as she discovered that a
fellow-countryman and acquaintance of hers was in command of the
Bruttian garrison, told Fabius of it, and by interviews which she had
with the officer outside the walls gradually won him over to the Roman
interests.
XXII. While these negotiations were in progress, Fabius, wishing to
contrive something to draw Hannibal away, sent orders to the troops at
Rhegium to ravage the Bruttian country and take Caulonia by storm.
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