Strabo Geography 5.4.10

[10] In the interior is the metropolis, Capua, being, as the etymon of the name signifies, the head; for in regard to it all the other cities appear small, excepting Teanum-Sidicinum, ¹ which is a very considerable place. This city lies on the Via Appia, as also the others which lead from hence to Brundusium, [viz.] Callateria, ² Caudium, ³ and Beneventum. ⁴ On the side of Rome is Casilinum, ⁵ situated on the river Vulturnus. ⁶ Here 540 men of Praeneste sustained against Hannibal in the height of his power so desperate a siege, that by reason of the famine, a rat ⁷ was sold for two hundred drachmae, the seller dying [of hunger], but the purchaser being saved. Hannibal observing some of them sowing turnip-seed near to the wall, admired, as well he might, the patient courage of these men, who hoped to hold out in the mean while, until these turnips should be ready for food. However, we are assured that they all survived, with the exception of a few who perished either by famine or in war.