4. ¶Gaius Claudius lost some of the triremes and with difficulty reached safety. Neither he nor the Romans in the City, however, were prevented from renewing attempts by sea through the fact that they had been worsted when first making a trial of it, although this is the ordinary course that people pursue who fail in the first undertaking and think that they can never again succeed, viewing the past in the light of an omen. On the contrary, they applied themselves to the watery element with an even greater zeal, and chiefly because they were ambitious and did not wish to appear to have been diverted from their purpose by the disaster. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras 8, 8, sq.) 5. ¶Hanno, who was in no wise disposed to make light of the war in case it were bound to occur, was particularly anxious to throw the responsibility for breaking the truce upon the other man, for fear it might be thought that he himself was taking the initiative. Accordingly, he sent back to him the ships and the captives, while he urged him to accept peace and exhorted him besides not to meddle with the sea. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras, 8, 9.) 6. ¶When he would accept nothing, he launched at him an arrogant and reprehensible threat. For he declared that he would never allow the Romans even to wash their hands in the sea: yet he lost not only the sea but also Messana not much later. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras, 8, 9.) 7. ¶Claudius, finding the Mamertines gathered at the harbor, called an assembly of their number and made the statement: "I have no need of arms but will leave it with you to decide everything." By this means he persuaded them to send for Hanno. As the latter refused to come down, he chid him soundly, inveighing against him and declaring that if he had even the slightest justification, he would certainly hold a conference with him and not persist in occupying the city by force. (Mai, p.180. Zonaras, 8, 9.) 8. ¶The consul Claudius exhorted the soldiers beforehand to be of good cheer and not to be cast down over the defeat of the tribune. He instructed them that in the first place victories fall to the lot of the better equipped, and that secondly their valor far surpassed the skill of their opponents. They would acquire, he said, the knowledge of seafaring in a short time, whereas the Carthaginians would never have bravery equal to theirs. Knowledge was something that could be obtained in a brief space by men who gave their minds to it and could be mastered by practice; but bravery, in case it were absent from a man's nature, could never be furnished by instruction. (Mai, p. 181.) 9. ¶ The Libyans, rejoicing in the idea that they had conquered not through the nature of their position, but by their own valor, sallied out. But Claudius made them so fearful that they would not even peep out of the camp. (Mai, p. 181. Zonaras, 8, 9.)