Battle of Cannae the grandfather of Scipio Aemilianus, the patron of Polybius (one of the main sources of this history). In the spring of 216 BC Hannibal took the initiative and seized the large supply depot at Cannae, in the Apulian plain, placing himself between the Romans and their crucial source of supply. As Polybius noted, the capture of Cannae "caused great commotion in the Roman army; for it was not only the loss of the place and the stores in it that distressed them, but the fact that it commanded the surrounding district". The consuls, resolving to confront Hannibal, marched southward in
Gaius Octavius (tribune 216 BC) disastrous battle of Cannae, being one of few survivors. When the Carthaginians marched into the Roman camp, Octavius and his colleague, tribune P. Sempronius Tuditanus, managed to cut their way through the enemy and arrived safely in Canusium. He served in Sicilia (modern Sicily) under the praetor Lucius Aemilius Papus in 205 BC, but it is unknown whether he took part in some other expedition. Gaius Octavius (tribune 216 BC) Gaius Octavius (fl. 216 BC) was a Roman army officer who was active during the third century BC. He was the son of the equestrian Gaius Octavius and grandson of