Fabius

Fabius is in the hills, and Hannibal is scared. Then he thinks how to fool Fabius. He takes oxen and ties sticks and dry reeds to their horns. After dark he lights the sticks and reeds and his men drive the oxen on
before them. The oxen look like an army marching at first, but then the torches burn down their horns to the quick, making the oxen run crazily so they look like a confused army! Then the men guarding the passes for Fabius's army  leave, and Hannibal's army marches through. Fabius soon discovered this and attacked Hannibal in the rear. However, he waited until morning before attacking.
Then Hannibal sent some nimble troops to attack the Romans in their rear, and they killed many. Fabius retreated, and Hannibal went and destroyed much Roman land, but left the land of Fabius untouched, placing guards around it! This angered the people, and made them even madder, thinking that Fabius was in league with Hannibal, which was just what Hannibal wanted.

Now the prisoner exchange rate was man for man, or 250 drachmas for 1 man after all of the prisoners on one side had been exchanged. All of Fabius's prisoners were exchanged, but 240 Romans were still prisoner. So Fabius told his son to go and sell enough land to pay the ransoms. That was 60,000 thousand drachmas! Fabius paid for it all, and he would take back no money. I think this shows that he was willing to sacrifice for the good of the country.

more next week
Bell