Rome is saved by an accidental moment of extreme convenience!

[**The following takes place during the Second Punic War. Here, Hannibal is enacting a part of a larger plan by marching on Rome itself, hoping to dispirit the defenders and, if possible, actually take the city by storm, as it was expected to have no significant body of troops protecting it (they were fighting a siege at Capua, where Hannibal had unexpectedly left).**] >But just after [Hannibal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Mommsen_p265.jpg) had pitched his camp and was planning his attack on the city for the following day, a stroke of luck intervened to save Rome. >The consuls Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus and Publius Sulpicius Galba had already completed the enrolment of one legion, and had bound the conscripts on oath to present themselves with their arms at Rome on the very day that Hannibal had chosen for his attack; moreover they were also engaged in selecting and enrolling the recruits for a second legion. The result was that a large body of men had by coincidence been assembled at the very moment when they were needed. >The consuls then boldly led out these troops, drew them up in battle order in front of the city, and thus checked Hannibal’s intended attack. The Carthaginians had at first pressed forward eagerly with the alluring hope that they might even succeed in capturing Rome by assault; but when they saw the enemy drawn up in battle formation and soon afterwards discovered from a prisoner what had happened, they abandoned the idea of attempting a direct attack, and turned instead to ravaging the surrounding country and setting fire to the houses. In these first raids they rounded up and drove into their camp an enormous number of animals, since they were now in a territory which nobody had ever expected the enemy to enter; but later, when the consuls ventured to pitch camp less than a mile and a half from him, Hannibal withdrew. _____________________________ **Source:** Polybius, et al. “Affairs in Italy.” *The Rise of the Roman Empire*. Penguin, 2003. 390-91. Print. _____________________________ **Further Reading:** [Hannibal Barca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannibal) [Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus Maximus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnaeus_Fulvius_Centumalus_Maximus) [Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Sulpicius_Galba_Maximus) [Second Punic War / Hannibalic War / War Against Hannibal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Punic_War) ___________________________ **If you enjoy this type of content, please consider donating to my [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/HistoryLockeBox)!**