History of Rome

​About the same time, when the scarcity in the citadel of Tarentum was scarcely tolerable, the Roman garrison that was there and M. Livius, the prefect of the garrison and the citadel, placed all their hope in the provisions sent from Sicily, ​for which, so that they might safely sail past the coast of Italy, a fleet of about twenty ships was stationed at Regium.

​D. Quinctius, born of an obscure family but famous for his military glory due to many brave deeds, was in command of the fleet and the provisions.

​At first he had five ships, the largest of which were two triremes, delivered to him by Marcellus; afterwards, as he frequently conducted affairs with energy, three quinqueremes were added;

​finally, by demanding from the allies—both the Regians and from Velia and Paestum—the ships due by treaty, he himself made up a fleet of twenty ships, as was said before.

​Democrates, with an equal number of Tarentine ships, met this fleet which had set out from Regium, at Sapriportes, about fifteen miles from the city.

​The Roman happened to be coming under sail, unprovided for the future contest; but near Croton and Sybaris he had reinforced the ships with rowers, and had a fleet excellently equipped and armed in proportion to the size of the ships.

​And then by chance, about the same time, all the force of the wind fell and the enemy was in sight, so that there was enough time to set the rigging in order and to get the rowers and soldiers ready for the impending contest.

​Seldom at other times did regular fleets clash with such great spirit, since indeed they were fighting for the hazard of a greater matter than the fleets themselves:

​the Tarentines, that having recovered their city from the Romans after nearly a hundred years they might also free the citadel, with the hope that they would also cut off the enemy from provisions if they deprived them of the possession of the sea in a naval battle;

​the Romans, that by retaining possession of the citadel they might show that Tarentum had been lost not by force and valor, but by betrayal and stealth.

​Therefore, when the signal was given on both sides and they had clashed with their prows, neither backing their ships nor allowing the enemy to be separated from them, each, having thrown an iron hand onto whatever ship he had reached, joined the fight at close quarters in such a way that the business was carried on not only with missiles but also with swords, almost foot to foot.

​The prows remained joined together, and the sterns were swung around by the rowing of the other ship. The ships were packed so close together that scarcely any missile fell uselessly into the sea; they pressed on at the bows as if in a land battle, and the ships were open to the combatants to cross over.

​Yet the battle of two ships, which had been the first of the lines to clash with each other, was remarkable among the rest.

​In the Roman ship was Quinctius himself, and in the Tarentine was Nico, whose surname was Percon, a man hateful and hostile to the Romans not only from public but also from private hatred, because he belonged to that faction which had betrayed Tarentum to Hannibal.

​This man, while Quinctius was fighting and at the same time encouraging his men, pierced him off his guard with a spear, and he fell headlong with his arms before the prow.

​The victorious Tarentine, having quickly boarded the ship thrown into confusion by the loss of its leader, when he had driven back the enemy and the prow was now in the hands of the Tarentines, while the Romans in a disorderly mass were defending the stern, suddenly another trireme of the enemy appeared from the stern.

​Thus the Roman ship, surrounded in the middle, was captured. From this, terror was struck into the rest when they saw the flagship captured; and fleeing in all directions, some were sunk in the deep, others driven by oars to the land soon became booty to the Thurians and Metapontines.

​Of the merchant vessels which were following with the provisions, very few came into the power of the enemy; the others, shifting their sails obliquely hither and thither to the shifting winds, were carried out into the deep.

​The operations at Tarentum during those days were by no means carried on with equal fortune. For when about four thousand men who had gone out to forage were wandering here and there in the fields, Livius, ​who was in command of the citadel and the Roman garrison, intent upon all opportunities for action, sent out C. Persius, ​an energetic man, with two thousand five hundred armed men from the citadel, who, having attacked those scattered and wandering through the fields, when he had slain many far and wide for a long time, drove the few survivors out of many, as they rushed in trembling flight, into the city through the half-open gates; nor was it far from the city being captured by the same charge.

​Thus the situation at Tarentum was balanced, the Romans being victorious on land, the Tarentines by sea. The hope of grain, which had been before their eyes, frustrated both sides equally.