History of Rome

​Fabius, no less intent upon his own men than upon the enemy, first of all showed a mind unconquered by them. Although he knew full well that his delay was disreputable not only in his own camp but now also in Rome, yet remaining obstinate in the same course of his counsels, he dragged out the remainder of the summer, ​so that Hannibal, disappointed of his hope of the battle he had sought with the greatest effort, was now looking around for a place for winter quarters, because that region was of present supply, not permanent, its orchards, vineyards, and all planted areas being filled with fruits more pleasant than necessary. These things were reported to Fabius by scouts.

​Since he knew well enough that the enemy would return through the same narrow passes by which he had entered the Falernian territory, ​he occupied Mount Callicula and Casilinum with moderate garrisons, which city, divided by the Vulturnus river, separates the Falernian from the Campanian territory; he himself led his army back along the same ridges, having sent Lucius Hostilius Mancinus with four hundred allied cavalry to reconnoiter.

​He, having set out from the crowd of young men who often listened to the master of horse haranguing fiercely, proceeded at first in the manner of a scout, so that he might watch the enemy from a safe place; but when he saw the Numidians wandering everywhere through the villages and even killed a few on occasion, ​his mind was immediately seized by the desire for battle, and the instructions of the dictator slipped his memory, who had ordered him to retreat before he came into the sight of the enemy, having advanced only as far as he safely could.

​The Numidians, appearing now here now there and fleeing, drew him on, with the exhaustion of both horses and men, almost to their very camp.

​Then Carthalo, in whose hands was the supreme command of the cavalry, having charged with spurred horses, put the enemy to flight before he came within weapon-cast, and followed them in their flight for nearly five miles in a continuous pursuit.

​Mancinus, after he saw that the enemy would not stop pursuing and that there was no hope of escape, encouraged his men and returned to the battle, though unequal in every part of his strength.

​And so he himself and the elite of the cavalry, having been surrounded, were slain; the rest fled in a headlong run first to Cales, and thence through almost pathless tracks to the dictator.

​On that day, by chance, Minucius had joined Fabius, having been sent to secure with a garrison the pass which, narrowed into tight gorges above Tarracina, overlooks the sea, so that the Carthaginian might not be able to reach the Roman territory from Sinuessa by the Appian Way.

​Having united their armies, the dictator and the master of horse moved their camp down to the road along which Hannibal was about to lead his troops. The enemy were two miles distant from there.