of the Roman strength. For Hannibal, owing to the smallness of his army
and the necessity of maintaining it in a hostile country, had to be
continually on the march and could not undertake siege operations, for
which he also lacked engines of war. Thus the Romans, avoiding pitched
battles, were able to attempt the systematic reduction of the towns which
had yielded to Hannibal and to hamper seriously the provisioning of his
forces. At the same time they still held command of the sea, kept up their
offensive in Spain, and held their ground against Carthaginian attacks in
Sicily and Sardinia.

*Rome recovers Syracuse and Capua: 212-11 B. C.* In 213 the Romans were
able to invest Syracuse. The Syracusans with the aid of engines of war
designed by the physicist Archimedes resisted desperately, but Marcellus,
the Roman general, pressed the siege vigorously, and treachery caused the
city to fall (212 B. C.). Syracuse was sacked, its art treasures carried
off to Rome, and for the future it was subject and tributary to Rome. And
in Italy, although Hannibal defeated and killed the consul Tiberius
Sempronius Gracchus, and was able to occupy the cities of Tarentum
(although not its citadel), Heraclea and Thurii, he could not prevent the
Romans from laying siege to Capua (212 B. C.). The next year he thought to
force them to raise the blockade by a sudden incursion into Latium, where
he appeared before the walls of Rome. But Rome was garrisoned, the army
besieging Capua was not recalled, and Hannibal's march was in vain. Capua
was starved into submission, its nobility put to the sword, its territory
confiscated, and its municipal organization dissolved.

*Operations against Philip V. of Macedon.* Upon concluding his alliance
with Hannibal, Philip of Macedon hastened to attack the Roman possessions
in Illyria. Here he met with some successes, but failed to take Corcyra or
Apollonia which were saved by the Roman fleet. Furthermore, Rome's command
of the sea prevented his lending any effective aid to his ally in Italy.
Before long the Romans were able to induce the Aetolians to make an
alliance with them and attack Macedonia. Thereupon other enemies of
Philip, among them Sparta and King Attalus of Pergamon, joined in the war
on the side of Rome. The Achaean Confederacy, however, supported Philip.
The coalition against the latter was so strong that he had to cease his
attacks upon Roman territory and Rome could be content with supporti