that the cities were no longer found siding with the Carthaginians, as
they had done; for they feared that Hannibal would be driven out of
Italy and they themselves suffer some calamity at the hands of the
Romans since they were their kinsmen.  The majority were engaged in
trying to read the future, but a few again espoused the Roman cause,
and some sent them offerings.  And though Hiero often sent grain (and
also sent a statue of Victory), the Romans accepted it only once.  Yet
they were in such hard straits for money that the silver coinage which
was previously unalloyed and pure was now mixed with copper.

IX, 1.—­All this is what took place in Italy at that period.  Some slaves also formed a conspiracy against Rome, but were apprehended in advance.  And a spy caught in the city had his hands cut off and was released that he might tell the Carthaginians his experience with his own lips.—­In Spain in a sea-fight near the mouth of the Iber Scipio was victorious; for when the struggle proved to be too even, the sails were cut down in order that the men being placed in a desperate position might struggle more zealously.  He also ravaged the country, got possession of numerous fortresses and through his brother Publius Scipio gained control of some Spanish cities.  A Spaniard named Habelux affecting loyalty to the Carthaginians but in reality in the Roman service persuaded the Carthaginian guardian of the Spanish hostages to send them to their homes, in order that they might use their influence to bring their cities into friendly relations.  Habelux naturally took charge of them, inasmuch as he had been the one to suggest the idea, but first sent to the Scipios and held a discussion about what he desired; then, while he was secretly taking the hostages away by night, he of course got captured.  In this way it was the Romans who obtained possession of these men and acquired control of their native states by returning them to their homes.

(BOOK 15, BOISSEVAIN.)

[Sidenote:  B.C. 216 (a.u. 538)] Though in these matters they were fortunate, they encountered elsewhere a fearful disaster, than which they never suffered one more terrible either earlier or subsequently.  It was preceded by certain portents and the solemn verses of the Sibyl which had prophesied the disaster to them so many years before.  Remarkable was also the prediction of Marcius.  He also was a soothsayer and it was his rede that, inasmuch as they were Trojans of old, they should be overthrown in the Plain of Diomed.  This was in Daunian Apulia and took its name from the settlement of Diomed, which he made there in the course of his wanderings.  In that plain is also Cannae, where the present misfortune occurred, close to the Ionian Gulf and near the mouths of the Aufidus.  The Sibyl had urged them to beware of the spot, yet said it would avail them naught, even if they should keep it under strictest guard.