head, scooped out the interior
and after gilding it used it for a bowl in their sacred
ceremonials.--Portents occurred at this time. A cow brought forth a
horse and fire shone out at sea. The consuls Gracchus and Fabius
encamped and kept watch of Hannibal while he stayed in Capua, to see
what he did. They spent their time in sending scouts in every
direction, defending the allies, trying to win back the revolted and
injuring their adversaries' interests. Hannibal, so long as he
obtained a barely sufficient supply of food at the cost of
encountering dangers, led a temperate life, as did his army; but after
they had taken Capua and wintered there in idleness with ample
provisions, they began to lose their physical strength by not laboring
and their intellectual force by tranquillity, and in changing their
ancestral habits they learned an accomplishment new to them,--that of
being defeated in battle.--When the work of war finally became
pressing, Hannibal transferred his quarters to the mountains and gave
the army exercise. But they could not get strong in a short space of
time. He was encouraged by the arrival of reinforcements from home,
especially in the matter of elephants. He now set out against Nola
intending to capture it or else to draw Marcellus, who was ravaging
Samnium, away from that region. As he could accomplish nothing, he
withdrew from the city and laid waste the country, until he suffered a
decisive defeat in battle,--an event which grieved him. Many Spaniards
and even many Libyans now forsook him and deserted to the Romans,--a
new experience for him. Consequently, despairing of his own and the
soldiers' prospects he abandoned that entire region and retired to
Capua. Afterward he left there also to take up a different position.

[Sidenote: B.C. 217 (_a.u._ 537)] The Scipios had crossed the river
Iber and were ravaging the country; they had secured control of
various cities and when Hasdrubal for this reason hastened to oppose
them, they had conquered him in battle. The Carthaginians learning
this thought that Hasdrubal needed more assistance than did Hannibal,
and fearing that the Scipios might attempt to cross into Libya also
they sent only a small body of troops to Hannibal, but despatched the
largest detachment with Mago to Spain with the utmost speed; and they
bade him after the reduction of Spain to remain to guard their
interests there, whereas Hasdrubal was to be sent with a body of
troops against