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) 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 the quaestor Gnaeus Octavius Rufus, also the father of Velitrae's magistrate Gaius Octavius, grandfather of praetor Gaius Octavius and great-grandfather of Roman emperor Augustus (reigning 27 BC - 14 AD). When Marcus Antonius tried to show his contempt against Augustus, he said that Octavius was a freedman and rope-maker from Thurii. During the Second Punic War, Octavius served as military tribune and participated in the