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He therefore sent to his colleague at Nola, "That another army was requisite, which might be opposed to the Campanians, while the siege of Casilinum was going on; that either he should come himself, leaving a force sufficient for the protection of Nola, or if the state of Nola required him to stay there, in consequence of its not being yet secure against the attempts of Hannibal, that he should summon Tiberius Gracchus, the proconsul, from Beneventum."
Quintus Fabius, the consul, was encamped before Casilinum, which was occupied by a garrison of two thousand Campanians and seven hundred of the soldiers of Hannibal.
They even dug up every kind of herb and root from the lowest mounds of their wall; and when the enemy had ploughed over all the ground producing herbage which was without the wall, they threw in turnip seed, so that Hannibal exclaimed, Must I sit here at Casilinum even till these spring up? and he, who up to that time had not lent an ear to any terms, then at length allowed himself to be treated with respecting the ransom of the free persons.
In Campania indeed, Nuceria, Acerrae, and, after an obstinate siege prolonged into the following year , Casilinum also, the key of the Volturnus, were conquered by Hannibal, and the severest punishments were inflicted on the senates of these towns which had adhered to Rome.
Desirous to refresh his horse in some good pasture-grounds, and to draw off his army, he ordered his guides to conduct him to the district of Casinum. They, mistaking his bad pronunciation, led him and his army to the town of Casilinum, on the frontier of Campania which the river Lothronus, called by the Romans Vulturnus, divides in two parts.
But in the latter proposition such an addition has no place; because whether the people of Casilinum choose to surrender, or prefer enduring hunger and perishing in that manner, still it is necessary that Casilinum must come into the power of Hannibal. What then can be effected by this division of necessity?
It is for the life of the Republic: I to the camp near Casilinum; you to Tarracina. They will march by the Appian or by the Latin Way, if they strike for Rome. If not, the plan may not be fatal." Decius yielded to the decision of his companion, and, with hasty fingers, they unlaced each other's corselets and hurried out of the camp, each to run his race with what strength remained.
Hannibal appeared in good time to protect its capital, which he prevented from being invested; but he was unable either to wrest any of the Campanian towns held by the Romans from their strong Roman garrisons, or to prevent in addition to a number of less important country towns Casilinum, which secured his passage over the Volturnus, from being taken by the two consular armies after an obstinate defence.
Hannibal, after receiving the submission of several other towns and capturing Casilinum, went into winter quarters at Capua.
For we say in very different senses: "It is necessary for the people of Casilinum to surrender themselves to Hannibal;" and, "It is necessary that Casilinum should come into the power of Hannibal." In the one case, that is, in the first case, there is this addition to the proposition: "Unless they prefer perishing by hunger." For if they prefer that, then it is not necessary for them to surrender.
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