211 BC
The march on Rome
Hannibal then marches on Rome, hoping to draw the besiegers away from Capua and beat them in the open. Livy has him take the Via Latina, camp on the Anio about 4.5 km from the city and ride up to the Colline Gate with 2,000 horsemen.
The besiegers stay at Capua, though Livy reports that Fulvius Flaccus brings a picked force to defend Rome. Without siege equipment or supplies, Hannibal cannot assault the walls, and he turns back south.
Capua surrenders soon after. Rome abolishes its magistrates and council, takes their civic rights from the surviving citizens and makes its land Roman state property. The fall of Capua is the first great success of the Roman strategy of besieging the cities that had joined Hannibal.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book 9, 5 to 9.
- Livy, History of Rome, book 26, 7 to 16.
- Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of Carthage (2006).
Prev: Hannibal attacks the linesNext: Syracuse changes sides