The Rhegians had asked the Romans for a garrison, and Decius was the leader of it. But the majority of these guards, as a result of the abundance of supplies and the generally easy habits — for they were under far less rigid discipline than they had known at home — and at the instigation of Decius, formed the desire to kill the foremost Rhegians and occupy the city. It seemed as if they might be quite free to accomplish whatever they pleased, now that the Romans were busied with the Tarentines and with Pyrrhus. They were the more easily persuaded owing to the fact that they saw Messana in the possession of the Mamertines. The latter, who were Campanians and had been appointed to garrison the place by Agathocles, the lord of Sicily, had slaughtered the inhabitants and occupied the city. The conspirators did not, however, make their attempt openly, since they were decidedly inferior in numbers. Instead, Decius forged letters purporting to have been written to Pyrrhus by some citizens with a view to the betrayal of the Romans; he even assembled the soldiers and read these to them, stating that they had been intercepted, and by addressing them in words appropriate to the occasion he exasperated them still further. The effect was enhanced by the announcement of a man, who had been assigned to the rôle, that a portion of Pyrrhus' fleet had anchored off the coast, having come for a conference with the traitors. Others, who had been instructed, magnified the matter, and shouted out that they must anticipate the Rhegians before they met with some harm, and that the traitors, ignorant of what was being done, would find it difficult to resist them. So some rushed into their lodging-places, and others broke into the houses and slaughtered great numbers; but a few had been invited to dinner by Decius and were slain there.
11 Decius, the commander of the garrison, after slaying the Rhegians, ratified friendship with the Mamertines, thinking that the similar nature of their outrages would render them most trustworthy allies. He was well aware that a great many men find the ties resulting from some common transgression stronger to unite them than the obligations of lawful association or the bonds of kinship.
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When the Romans had thus secured control of Tarentum, they turned their attention to Rhegium, whose inhabitants, after taking Croton by treachery, had razed the city to the ground and had slain the Romans who were there. They averted the danger that threatened them from the side of the Mamertines in possession of Messana, whom the people of Rhegium were expecting to secure as allies, by coming to an agreement with them; but in the siege of Rhegium they suffered hardships because of the scarcity of food, among other reasons, until Hiero by sending them grain and soldiers from Sicily strengthened their hands and aided them in capturing the city. The place was restored to the survivors among the original inhabitants, while those who had plotted against it were punished.
ROMANI: wierd thiings ingame
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