The rebellion of the Greek cities of eastern Magna Graecia was followed by the ambush and death of the proconsul Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus. An exact chronology is difficult to establish, but Livy places Gracchus' death after the defection of Thurii, which occurred in May 212 (see Appendix C). Livy also reports that he was ambushed as he planned to return from Lucania to Beneventum; the consuls had marched from Beneventum to Capua as the crops were ripening in Campania, perhaps in early May; so they may have returned in the late spring or early summer. I will estimate some time in June, though the date is far from secure.

Some Lucanian aristocrats who were still loyal to Rome, led by a certain Flavus (Flavius, according to Appian), decided to seek the favour of the Carthaginians. They met with Mago and negotiated a treaty by which the Lucanians would live as free men under their own laws in friendship (amicitiam) with the Carthaginians; in return, the Lucanians promised to deliver Gracchus. Flavus and his party lured Gracchus into their trap by promising that they could secure the surrender of all the Lucanians who had previously sided with Hannibal. The whole episode again underscores the personal nature of politics and, at times, diplomacy during the Second Punic War. According to Livy (25.16.6, 15, 23), Flavus was a guest-friend (hospes) of Gracchus, and the proconsul so trusted the Lucanian that he met Flavus with only a token bodyguard.