Kitap 24
2
Thus the Carthaginians marched back from the straits amidst the protests of the Bruttians, who complained that the cities which they had marked for themselves for plunder had been left unmolested. They determined to act on their own account, and after enrolling and arming 15,000 of their own fighting men they proceeded to attack Croto, a Greek city situated on the coast. They imagined that they would gain an immense accession of strength if they possessed a seaport with a strongly fortified harbour. What troubled them was that they could not quite venture to summon the Carthaginians to their aid lest they should be thought not to have acted as allies ought to act, and again, if the Carthaginian should for the second time be the advocate of peace rather than of war, they were afraid that they would fight in vain against the freedom of Croto as they had against that of Locri. It seemed the best course to send to Hannibal and obtain from him an assurance that on its capture Croto should pass to the Bruttians. Hannibal told them that it was a matter for those on the spot to arrange and referred them to Hanno, for neither he nor Hanno wanted that famous and wealthy city to be plundered, and they hoped that when the Bruttians attacked it and it was seen that the Carthaginians neither assisted nor approved of the attack, the defenders would come over to Hannibal all the sooner.
