A fleet was even fitted out and manned, just as in the first Punic war, by means of a voluntary loan among the rich (544).

They spent the moneys belonging to minors; and at length, in the year of the conquest of Tarentum, they laid hands on the last long-spared reserve fund (164,000 pounds).

The state nevertheless was unable to meet its most necessary payments; the pay of the soldiers fell dangerously into arrear, particularly in the more remote districts.

But the embarrassment of the state was not the worst part of the material distress.

Everywhere the fields lay fallow: even where the war did not make havoc, there was a want of hands for the hoe and the sickle.