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Matho is not nearly so great a fool as to wait for such a thing to happen.
Late Spring, 273 BC
Third Battle of Messana
The most important part(second half) of the official battle reports have been lost. (In other words, something screwed up with FRAPS). None of the surviving renderings are really worth your time.
Matho attacked Mus, and his army of more than 31,000 well outnumbered the approximately 20,000 combined that the Romans put on the field. It is the largest field army the Republic has yet faced. Mus positioned his legion on a wooded hill to the southwest, getting him closer to Laevinus and his reinforcements. They still arrived about 45 minutes too late, but fortunately there were no elite troops in the Carthaginian army: it's strength lay almost soley in it's size as Matho is not among the more skilled of their generals.
Once Laevinus arrived, the Romans ceased to give way before Matho's attackers, and for a couple hours it was decidedly unclear who would be the victors. It seemed most likely the force of sheer numbers would carry the day for the Carthaginians until Matho himself grew impatient and was personally cut down by a spearman attempting to press his advantadge. His men, disheartened, did not give up the fight immediately, but it didn't take long for them to decide it was better to run than die here.
After three major battles in a season's time, both consuls remain with the relatively smashed remnants of their armies. It is not entirely fair, but Mus has been given the lion's share of the credit and is now clearly considered to be the better of the two generals. At the second battle he had the fresher troops as Laevinus had to march a longer distance and thus attacked first, and it was his men who took the brunt of Matho's assault first without breaking. History is, after all, not entirely impartial in the way it remembers significant events ...
The survivors of all three battles on the side of Cathargo are in Messana or it's immediate vicinity.
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