Scipio Africanus by B.h. Liddell Hart

and attacked the Carthaginians in flank and rear. The shock of the surprise dislocated and disorganised the Carthaginians, and, his plan upset, Hannibal fell back on his own camp. Realising that the Romans, because of their grip on the town, were masters of the situation, he withdrew during the night, sending word to his garrison in the citadel to make their way out as best they could and rejoin him.
    For Scipio this“ side-show” was a very real asset. Apart from the personal prestige he gained from his success in this first encounter with the dreaded Hannibal, scoring a trick even off the
master of ruses, he had helped the Roman campaign in Italy by curtailing Hannibal’s remaining foothold in that country—and without any diminution of his own force. But, beyond these personal and indirect gains, his success had an important bearing on his own future plan of operations. For he had“ blooded” his troops against Hannibal, and by this successful enterprise given them a moral tonic, which would be of immense value in the crucial days to come. It is unfortunate that for this episode, as for Lælius’s reconnaissance in Africa, we have no Polybius to reveal to us the motives and calculations which inspired Scipio’s moves. The loss of Polybius’s books on this period must be replaced by deduction from the facts, and from the knowledge already gained of Scipio’s mind. To those who have followed his constant and far-sighted exploitation of the moral element during his Spanish campaigns, there can be little doubt that he seized on the Locri expedition as a heavensent chance not only to test and sharpen his weapon for the day of trial, but to dispel in his troops the impression of Hannibalic invincibility.
    The second episode arose out of the subsequent administration of recaptured Locri. When Scipio had sent the original force to seize the town, he had instructed Quintus Pleminius, the propraetor at Rhegium, to assist the tribunes, and
when the place was captured Pleminius, by virtue of his seniority, assumed the command until Scipio arrived. After the repulse of Hannibal’s relieving force, Scipio returned to Sicily, and Pleminius was naturally left in chief command of the town and its defence, though the detachment from Sicily remained under the direct command of the tribunes.
    How Pleminius abused his trust is one of the most sordid pages in Roman history. The wretched inhabitants suffered worse from his tyranny and lust than ever they had from the Carthaginians—an ill-requital of their aid to the Romans in regaining the town. The example of their leader infected the troops, and their greed for loot not only harassed the townspeople but inevitably led to disorder among themselves. It would seem that the tribunes strove to check this growing license, and to uphold the true standards of military discipline. One of Pleminius’s men, running away with a silver cup that he had stolen from a house and pursued by its owners, met the tribunes in his flight. They stopped him and had the cup taken away, whereat his comrades showered abuse on the tribunes, and the disturbance soon ended in a free fight between the soldiers of the tribunes and those of Pleminius. The latter were worsted and invoked the aid of their commander, inciting him by
tales of the reproaches cast upon his behaviour and control. Pleminius thereupon ordered the tribunes to be brought before him, stripped, and beaten. During the short delay while the rods were being brought and themselves stripped, the tribunes called upon their men for aid. The latter, hastily gathering from all quarters, were so inflamed at the sight that, breaking loose from the habits of discipline, they vented their rage on Pleminius. Cutting him off from his party, they mutilated his nose and ears, and left him almost lifeless.
    When word of the disturbance reached Scipio, he sailed immediately for Locri and held a court of inquiry. Of the