Book 27
8
Before the consuls left for their provinces they raised two legions in the City to supply the necessary drafts for the armies. The old City army was made over by the consul Fulvius to his brother Caius for service in Etruria, the legions which were in Etruria being sent to Rome. The consul Fabius ordered his son Quintus to take to M. Valerius, the proconsul in Sicily, the remains, so far as they had been got together, of the army of Fulvius. They amounted to 4344 men. He was at the same time to receive from the proconsul two legions and thirty quinqueremes. The withdrawal of these legions from the island did not weaken the occupying force in either numbers or efficiency, for besides the two old legions which had now been brought up to full strength, the proconsul had a large body of Numidian deserters, mounted and unmounted, and he also enlisted those Sicilians who had served with Epicydes and the Carthaginians, and were seasoned soldiers. By strengthening each of the Roman legions with these foreign auxiliaries he gave them the appearance of two complete armies. One of these he placed under L. Cincius, for the protection of that part of the island which had constituted the kingdom of Hiero; the other he retained under his own command for the defence of the rest of Sicily. He also broke up his fleet of seventy ships so as to make it available for the defence of the entire coast-line of the island. Escorted by Muttines' cavalry he made a tour of the island in order to inspect the land and note which parts were cultivated and which were uncultivated, and commend or rebuke the owners accordingly. Owing to his care and attention there was so large a yield of corn that he was able to send some to Rome, and also accumulate a store at Catina to furnish supplies for the army which was to pass the summer at Tarentum.
