slight hopes of holding out, were
frequently invited by the enemy, in conferences, to pass over to them,
now, on the contrary, were the persons to invite and solicit the enemy
to come over to them; and now, as the soldiers who were at Metapontum
had been brought to assist in guarding the citadel of Tarentum, the
garrison was sufficiently powerful. In consequence of this measure,
the Metapontines, being freed from the fears which had influenced
them, immediately revolted to Hannibal. The people of Thurium,
situated on the same coast, did the same. They were influenced not
more by the defection of the Metapontines and Tarentines, with whom
they were connected, being sprung from the same country, Achaia, than
by resentment towards the Romans, in consequence of the recent
execution of the hostages. The friends and relations of these hostages
sent a letter and a message to Hanno and Mago, who were not far off
among the Bruttii, to the effect, that if they brought their troops up
to the walls, they would deliver the city into their hands. Marcus
Atinius was in command at Thurium, with a small garrison, who they
thought might easily be induced to engage rashly in a battle, not from
any confidence which he reposed in his troops, of which he had very
few, but in the youth of Thurium, whom he had purposely formed into
centuries, and armed against emergencies of this kind. The generals,
after dividing their forces between them, entered the territory of
Thurium; and Hanno, with a body of infantry, proceeded towards the
city in hostile array. Hanno staid behind with the cavalry, under the
cover of some hills, conveniently placed for the concealment of an
ambush. Atinius, having by his scouts discovered only the body of
infantry, led his troops into the field, ignorant both of the domestic
treachery and of the stratagem of the enemy. The engagement with the
infantry was particularly dull, a few Romans in the first rank
engaging while the Thurians rather waited than helped on the issue.
The Carthaginian line retreated, on purpose that they might draw the
incautious enemy to the back of the hill, where their cavalry were
lying in ambush; and when they had come there, the cavalry rising up
on a sudden with a shout, immediately put to flight the almost
undisciplined rabble of the Thurians, not firmly attached to the side
on which they fought. The Romans, notwithstanding they were surrounded
and hard pressed on one side by the infantry, on