Herennius Bassus briefly replied that the friendship between Rome and Nola had now lasted many years, and up to that day neither party had had any reason to regret it. If they had wished to change their allegiance when the change came in their fortunes, it was too late to do so now. If they had thought of surrenderlng to Hannibal would they have asked for a Roman garrison? They were in perfect accord with those who had come to protect them, and they would continue to be so to the last. This interview destroyed any expectations Hannibal might have formed of securing Nola by treachery. He therefore drew his lines completely round the town so that a simultaneous attack might be made on all sides. When Marcellus saw that he was close up to the ramparts, he drew up his men inside one of the gates and then burst out in a fierce tumultuous charge. A few were overthrown and killed in the first shock, but as men ran up into the fighting line and the two sides became more equalised, the contest was beginning to be a severe one, and few battles would have been more memorable had not a very heavy storm of rain and wind separated the combatants. They retired for that day after only a brief encounter but in a state of great exasperation, the Romans to the city, the Carthaginians to their camp. Of the latter not more than thirty fell in the first attack; the Romans lost fifty. The rain fell without any intermission all through the night and continued till the third hour of the follo\ving day, so, though both sides were eager for battle, they remained that day within their lines. The following da y Hannibal sent part of his force on a plundering expedition in the Nolan territory. No sooner was Marcellus aware of it than he formed his line of battle, nor did Hannibal decline the challenge. There was about a mile between his camp and the city, and within that space-it is all level ground round Nola-the armies met. The battle shout raised on both sides brought back the nearest amongst the cohorts who had been sent off to plunder; the Nolans, too, on the other side, took their place in the Roman line. Marcellus addressed a few words of encouragement and thanks to them, and told them to take their station amongst the reserve and help to carry the wounded from the field, they were to keep out of the fighting unless they received the signal from him.