Summer and autumn 217 BC
Hannibal hemmed in
The Ager Falernus lies north of the Volturnus, and the Romans hold the river’s bridges, so of the eight roads out of the plain only three are open to Hannibal’s army. Fabius reinforces the garrisons of Casilinum and Cales, posts Minucius to the north to watch the Via Latina and the Via Appia, and camps with the main army near Mount Massicus. A detachment of 4,000 men holds the pass beside Mount Callicula in the east, by which Hannibal had come in.
The Falernian plain near Cancello ed Arnone, with Mount Massicus, the Mons Massicus of the ancient writers, behindWikimedia Commons, Joel Bellviure, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Ager Falernus and Monte Massico, 2024.jpg)
Fabius waits for the Carthaginians to run short of supplies. When Lucius Hostilius Mancinus, sent out with 400 horsemen to scout, engages the Numidians, Carthalo’s cavalry kills him and destroys his whole force. In autumn Hannibal moves east towards the Callicula pass. Fabius camps with his army on a hill above it, and Minucius joins him there.
Sources
- Polybius, Histories, book 3, 92.
- Livy, History of Rome, book 22, 15 to 16.
- Adrian Goldsworthy, The Fall of Carthage (2006).
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