(note: The island where Lilbaeum is I think is Scilly correct me if i'm wrong)
Manius Corpulentus shared control of Sicilly with the Scipii but found himself soon at odds with them . The Roman factions controlled 2 of the three cities on the island when Manius arrived. Together with his Scipii allies Manius layed siege to the third city and captured it for Rome. A dispute broke out between the Julii and the Scipii for control of the city. Flavius Julius decided that the city was not worth war with the Scipii and forced Manius to hand over control of the city. Manius was furious but he could do nothing besides pray for wisdom.
Legend says that the following night after Manius was forced to give up the city he had conquered to the Scipii Victoria, Roman goddess of victory (also known as Nike in Greek myth) visited Manius and told him that he would bring about the end of the Greek city states if he went east by sea to Sparta. Victoria told him that he would be favored by the gods if he followed her instruction. Frustrated by the changing political tides in Scilly and restrictions on his rule in Lilbaeum, Manius raised an army and traveled east some say on the advice of the goddess Victoria.
Manius arrived in Sparta in the spring of 230BC and immediatly started fighting the Spartans and thier Greek allies. The Greek armies outnumbered the Roman invasion force and in 230BC Manius was forced into a number of stategic withdrawals. Manius waited for his oppertunity and the following year it would present itself. The Brutii would attack the Greek city of Athens and although the attack was unsuccessful it forced the Greeks to split the large allied force into two armies, one sent to defend the greek city of Athens and the other to defend Sparta. Manius's army, taking advantage of the decreased number of defenders, layed seige to Sparta and quickly destroyed the defending force. For the next two years Manius would use Sparta as his base of operations to raise more troops and bring in troops from abroad.
Manius then turned his attention to conquering the rest of the Greek city states. Manius won some great victories during his campaign to take Corinth and this caused him to become over-confident nearly resulting in his defeat during the siege of Athens. His force had fought so many battles that his numbers had dwindled to just over five-hundred men. The Greek allies sent a relief army to Athens three times larger than Manius's army and forced Manius into one of histories greatest battles(my totalwar history anyway). Manius's small force managed to overcome the much larger Greek army by using a combination of siege weapon, archer and cavalry tactics but the cost in terms of dead or wounded soldiers crippled Manius's army. Manius was now desperate. His force was no longer strong enough to take Athens and another greek army blocked the fastest approach to Sparta. Manius's great victory seemed to have ensured his eventual defeat. [This message has been edited by Gunhappy2 (edited 10-07-2004 @ 08:00 PM).]