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Hanno was sent back into Bruttium with the force he had brought, and Hannibal went into winter quarters in Apulia and encamped in the neighbourhood of Arpi. As soon as Q. Fabius heard that Hannibal had left for Apulia, he had a quantity of corn from Nola and Neapolis conveyed into the camp above Suessula, and after strengthening its defences and leaving a force sufficient to hold the position through the winter months, he moved his own camp nearer to Capua and laid waste its territory with fire and sword. The Campanians had no confidence whatever in their strength, but they were at last compelled to come out of their gates into the open and form an entrenched camp in front of the city. They had 6000 men under arms, the infantry were absolutely useless, but the mounted men were more efficient, so they kept harassing the enemy by cavalry skirmishes. There were several Campanian nobles serving as troopers, amongst them Cerrinus Vibellius, surnamed Taurea. He was a citizen of Capua and by far the finest soldier in the Campanian horse, so much so indeed that when he was serving with the Romans there was only one Roman horseman that enjoyed an equal reputation, and that was Claudius Asellus. Taurea had for a long time been riding up to the enemy's squadrons to see if he could find this man, and at last when there was a moment's silence he asked where Claudius Asellus was. "He has often," he said, "argued with me about our respective merits, let him settle the matter with the sword, and if he is vanquished yield me the spolia opima, or if he is the victor take them from me."
