Certain ships sent in advance made examination of the bays, and Appius followed as a rear guard. On the third day after their departure a south wind blew with violence and capsized a large number of ships of burden belonging to Lepidus. Nevertheless, he reached the Sicilian coast, laid siege to Plenius in Lilybaeum, and got possession of some towns by persuasion and others by force. When the wind began to blow Taurus returned to Tarentum. While Appius was doubling the promontory of Minerva, some of his ships were shattered against the rocks, others ran with violence on the shoals, and the rest were dispersed, not without injury. At the beginning of the storm, Octavian took refuge in the sheltered bay of Elea,
except one six-banked ship,which was wrecked on the promontory. The south wind was succeeded by a south-wester, which threw the bay into commotion,as it opened toward the west. It was impossible to sail out of the bay with the wind still ahead, nor could the ships be held by oars or anchors. They crashed against each other or against the rocks, and by night confusion became worse confounded.When the tempest had subsided, Octavian buried the dead, cared for the wounded, clothed those who had swum ashore and furnished them with new weapons, and repaired his whole fleet with the means at his command. Six of his heavy ships, twenty-six lighter ones, and a still larger number of liburnian galleys had been destroyed.
He was likely to consume nearly thirty days in these parts; and now the end of summer was approaching, for which reason he deemed it best to postpone the war till the following summer, but as the people were suffering from scarcity he drew his ships upon the land and made his preparations rapidly, and sent the crews of the ships he had lost to fill the empty ones in the fleet of Taurus. He sent Maecenas to Rome on account of those who were still under the spell of the memory of Pompey the Great, for the fame of that man had not yet lost its influence over them. Octavian himself visited the new colonies throughout Italy and dispelled their fear, which had been excited by the recent events.