The
troops at Rhegium were a body of eight thousand men, mostly deserters:
and the most worthless of those disgraced soldiers whom Marcellus
brought from Sicily, so that their loss would not cause any sorrow or
harm to Rome; while he hoped that by throwing them out as a bait to
Hannibal he might draw him away from Tarentum, as indeed he did.
Hannibal at once started with his army to attack them, and meanwhile, on
the sixth day after Fabius arrived before Tarentum, the young man having
previously concerted measures with the Bruttian and his sister, came to
him by night and told him that all was ready; knowing accurately and
having well inspected the place where the Bruttian would be ready to
open the gate and let in the besiegers. Fabius would not depend entirely
upon the chance of treachery; but though he himself went quietly to the
appointed place, the rest of the army attacked the town both by sea and
land, with great clamour and disturbance, until, when most of the
Tarentines had run to repel the assault, the Bruttian gave the word to
Fabius, and, mounting his scaling ladders, he took the place. On this
occasion Fabius seems to have acted unworthily of his reputation, for he
ordered the chief Bruttian officers to be put to the sword, that it
might not be said that he gained the place by treachery. However, he
did not obtain this glory, and gained a reputation for faithlessness and
cruelty.
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