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The interval between the return of Lelius and the embarkation for Africa is occupied, apart from material preparation, by two episodes of significance. The first is Scipio's apparent "sideshow" at Locri; the second, the political imbroglio which for a time threatened his ruin and that of his plans. Both deserve study for the light they shed on his character as a commander and a man.
Locri lay on the underpart of the toe of Italy (near modern Gerace), and was in Hannibal's possession. After his brother Hasdrubal's defeat at the Metaurus, Hannibal had fallen back on Bruttium, the southernmost province of Italy, and here he held at bay the consular armies, who dared not advance to seek out the scarred but indomitable lion in his mountain fastnesses.