41
"I do not fear lest any one should think that I say this ostentatiously for the sake of encouraging you, while in my own mind I am differently affected. I was at liberty to go with my army into Spain, my own province, whither I had already set out; where I should have had a brother as the bearer of my councils and my dangers, and Hasdrubal, instead of Hannibal, for my antagonist, and without question a less laborious war: nevertheless, as I sailed along the coast of Gaul, having landed on hearing of this enemy, and having sent forward the cavalry, I moved my camp to the Rhone. In a battle of cavalry, with which part of my forces the opportunity of engaging was afforded, I routed the enemy; and because I could not overtake by land his army of infantry, which was rapidly hurried away, as if in flight, having returned to the ships with all the speed I could, after compassing such an extent of sea and land, I have met him at the foot of the Alps. Whether do I appear, while declining the contest, to have fallen in unexpectedly with this dreaded foe, or encounter him in his track? to challenge him and drag him out to decide the contest? I am anxious to try whether the earth has suddenly, in these twenty years, sent forth a new race of Carthaginians, or whether these are the same who fought at the islands Aegates, and whom you permitted to defeat from Eryx, valued at eighteen denarii a head; and whether this Hannibal be, as he himself gives out, the rival of the expeditions of Hercules, or one left by his father the tributary and taxed subject and slave of the Roman people; who, did not his guilt at Saguntum drive him to frenzy, would certainly reflect, if not upon his conquered country, at least on his family, and his father, and the treaties written by the hand of Hamilcar; who, at the command of our consul, withdrew the garrison from Eryx; who, indignant and grieving, submitted to the harsh conditions imposed on the conquered Carthaginians; who agreed to depart from Sicily, and pay tribute to the Roman people. I would, therefore, have you fight, soldiers, not only with that spirit with which you are wont to encounter other enemies, but with a certain indignation and resentment, as if you saw your slaves suddenly taking up arms against you. We might have killed them when shut up in Eryx by hunger, the most dreadful of human tortures; we might have carried over our victorious fleet to Africa, and in a few days have destroyed Carthage without any opposition. We granted pardon to their prayers; we released them from the blockade; we made peace with them when conquered; and we afterwards considered them under our protection when they were oppressed by the African war. In return for these benefits, they come under the conduct of a furious youth to attack our country. And I wish that the contest on your side was for glory, and not for safety: it is not about the possession of Sicily and Sardinia, concerning which the dispute was formerly, but for Italy, that you must fight: nor is there another army behind, which, if we should not conquer, can resist the enemy; nor are there other Alps, during the passage of which fresh forces may be procured: here, soldiers, we must make our stand, as if we fought before the walls of Rome. Let every one consider that he defends with his arms not only his own person, but his wife and young children: nor let him only entertain domestic cares and anxieties, but at the same time let him revolve in his mind, that the senate and people of Rome now anxiously regard our efforts; and that according as our strength and valour shall be, such henceforward will be the fortune of that city and of the Roman empire."
42
Thus the consul addressed the Romans. Hannibal, thinking that his soldiers ought to be roused by deeds rather than by words, having drawn his army around for the spectacle, placed in their midst the captive mountaineers in fetters; and after Gallic arms had been thrown at their feet, he ordered the interpreter to ask, "whether any among them, on condition of being released from chains, and receiving, if victorious, armour and a horse, was willing to combat with the sword?" When they all, to a man, demanded the combat and the sword, and lots were cast into the urn for that purpose, each wished himself the person whom fortune might select for the contest. As the lot of each man came out, eager and exulting with joy amidst the congratulations of his comrades, and dancing after the national custom, he hastily snatched up the arms: but when they fought, such was the state of feeling, not only among their companions in the same circumstances, but among the spectators in general, that the fortune of those who conquered was not praised more than that of those who died bravely.
43
When he had dismissed the soldiers, thus affected after viewing several pairs of combatants, having then summoned an assembly, he is said to have addressed them in these terms: "If, soldiers, you shall by and by, in judging of your own fortune, preserve the same feelings which you experienced a little before in the example of the fate of others, we have already conquered; for neither was that merely a spectacle, but as it were a certain representation of your condition. And I know not whether fortune has not thrown around you still stronger chains and more urgent necessities than around your captives. On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing a single ship even for escape. The river Po around you, the Po larger and more impetuous than the Rhone, the Alps behind, scarcely passed by you when fresh and vigorous, hem you in. Here, soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting, holds out to you, if victorious, rewards, than which men are not wont to desire greater, even from the immortal gods. If we were only about to recover by our valour Sicily and Sardinia, wrested from our fathers, the recompence would be sufficiently ample; but whatever, acquired and amassed by so many triumphs, the Romans possess, all, with its masters themselves, will become yours. To gain this rich reward, hasten, then, and seize your arms with the favour of the gods. Long enough in pursuing cattle among the desert mountains of Lusitania [19] and Celtiberia, you have seen no emolument from so many toils and dangers: it is time to make rich and profitable campaigns, and to gain the great reward of your labours, after having accomplished such a length of journey over so many mountains and rivers, and so many nations in arms. Here fortune has granted you the termination of your labours; here she will bestow a reward worthy of the service you have undergone. Nor, in proportion as the war is great in name, ought you to consider that the victory will be difficult. A despised enemy has often maintained a sanguinary contest, and renowned states and kings been conquered by a very slight effort. For, setting aside only the splendour of the Roman name, what remains in which they can be compared to you? To pass over in silence your service for twenty years, distinguished by such valour and success you have made your way to this place from the pillars of Hercules, [20] from the ocean, and the remotest limits of the world advancing victorious through so many of the fiercest nations of Gaul and Spain: you will fight with a raw army, which this very summer was beaten, conquered, and surrounded by the Gauls, as yet unknown to its general, and ignorant of him. Shall I compare myself, almost born, and certainly bred in the tent of my father, that most illustrious commander, myself the subjugator of Spain and Gaul, the conqueror too not only of the Alpine nations, but what is much more, of the Alps themselves, with this six months' general, the deserter of his army? To whom, if any one, having taken away their standards, should show to-day the Carthaginians and Romans, I am sure that he would not know of which army he was consul. I do not regard it, soldiers, as of small account, that there is not a man among you before whose eyes I have not often achieved some military exploit; and to whom, in like manner, I the spectator and witness of his valour, could not recount his own gallant deeds, particularized by time and place. With soldiers who have a thousand times received my praises and gifts, I, who was the pupil of you all before I became your commander, will march out in battle-array against those who are unknown to and ignorant of each other."
44
"On whatever side I turn my eyes I see nothing but what is full of courage and energy; a veteran infantry; calvary, both those with and those without the bridle, composed of the most gallant nations, you our most faithful and valiant allies, you Carthaginians, who are about to fight as well for the sake of your country as from the justest resentment. We are the assailants in the war, and descend into Italy with hostile standards, about to engage so much more boldly and bravely than the foe, as the confidence and courage of the assailant are greater than those of him who is defensive. Besides suffering, injury and indignity inflame and excite our minds: they first demanded me your leader for punishment, and then all of you who had laid siege to Saguntum; and had we been given up they would have visited us with the severest tortures. That most cruel and haughty nation considers every thing its own, and at its own disposal; it thinks it right that it should regulate with whom we are to have war, with whom peace: it circumscribes and shuts us up by the boundaries of mountains and rivers, which we must not pass; and then does not adhere to those boundaries which it appointed. Pass not the Iberus; have nothing to do with the Saguntines. Saguntum is on the Iberus; you must not move a step in any direction. Is it a small thing that you take away my most ancient provinces Sicily and Sardinia? will you take Spain also? and should I withdraw thence, you will cross over into Africa--will cross, did I say? they have sent the two consuls of this year one to Africa, the other to Spain: there is nothing left to us in any quarter, except what we can assert to ourselves by arms. Those may be cowards and dastards who have something to look back upon; whom, flying through safe and unmolested roads, their own lands and their own country will receive: there is a necessity for you to be brave; and since all between victory and death is broken off from you by inevitable despair, either to conquer, or, if fortune should waver, to meet death rather in battle than flight. If this be well fixed and determined in the minds of you all, I will repeat, you have already conquered: no stronger incentive to victory has been given to man by the immortal gods."
45
When the minds of the soldiers on both sides had been animated to the contest by these exhortations, the Romans throw a bridge over the Ticinus, and, for the sake of defending the bridge, erect a fort on it. The Carthaginian, while the Romans were engaged in this work, sends Maharbal with a squadron of five hundred Numidian horse, to lay waste the territories of the allies of the Roman people. He orders that the Gauls should be spared as much as possible, and the minds of their chiefs be instigated to a revolt. When the bridge was finished, the Roman army being led across into the territory of the Insubrians, took up its station five miles from Victumviae. At this place Hannibal lay encamped; and having quickly recalled Maharbal and the cavalry, when he perceived that a battle was approaching, thinking that in exhorting the soldiers enough could never be spoken or addressed by way of admonition, he announces to them, when summoned to an assembly, stated rewards, in expectation of which they might fight. He promised, "that he would give them land in Italy, Africa, Spain, where each man might choose, exempt from all burdens to the person who received it, and to his children: if any one preferred money to land, he would satisfy him in silver; if any of the allies wished to become citizens of Carthage, he would grant them permission; if others chose rather to return home, he would lend his endeavours that they should not wish the situation of any one of their countrymen exchanged for their own." To the slaves also who followed their masters he promised freedom, and that he would give two slaves in place of each of them to their masters. And that they might know that these promises were certain, holding in his left hand a lamb, and in his right a flint, having prayed to Jupiter and the other gods, that, if he was false to his word, they would thus slay him as he slew the lamb; after the prayer he broke the skull of the sheep with the stone. Then in truth all, receiving as it were the gods as sureties, each for the fulfilment of his own hopes, and thinking that the only delay in obtaining the object of their wishes arose from their not yet being engaged, with one mind and one voice demanded the battle.
46
By no means so great an alacrity prevailed among the Romans, who, in addition to other causes, were also alarmed by recent prodigies; for both a wolf had entered the camp, and having torn those who met him, had escaped unhurt; and a swarm of bees had settled on a tree overhanging the general's tent. After these prodigies were expiated, Scipio having set out with his cavalry and light-armed spearmen towards the camp of the enemy, to observe from a near point their forces, how numerous, and of what description they were, falls in with Hannibal, who had himself also advanced with his cavalry to explore the circumjacent country: neither at first perceived the other, but the dust arising from the trampling of so many men and horses soon gave the signal of approaching enemies. Both armies halted, and were preparing themselves for battle. Scipio places his spearmen and Gallic cavalry in front; the Romans and what force of allies he had with him, in reserve. Hannibal receives the horsemen who rode with the rein in the centre, and strengthens his wings with Numidians. When the shout was scarcely raised, the spearmen fled among the reserve to the second line: there was then a contest of the cavalry, for some time doubtful; but afterwards, on account of the foot soldiers, who were intermingled, causing confusion among the horses, many of the riders falling off from their horses, or leaping down where they saw their friends surrounded and hard pressed, the battle for the most part came to be fought on foot; until the Numidians, who were in the wings, having made a small circuit, showed themselves on the rear. That alarm dismayed the Romans, and the wound of the consul, and the danger to his life, warded off by the interposition of his son, then just arriving at the age of puberty, augmented their fears. This youth will be found to be the same to whom the glory of finishing this war belongs, and to whom the name of Africanus was given, on account of his splendid victory over Hannibal and the Carthaginians. The flight, however, of the spearmen, whom the Numidians attacked first, was the most disorderly. The rest of the cavalry, in a close body, protecting, not only with their arms, but also with their bodies, the consul, whom they had received into the midst of them, brought him back to the camp without any where giving way in disorder or precipitation. Coelius attributes the honour of saving the consul to a slave, by nation a Ligurian. I indeed should rather wish that the account about the son was true, which also most authors have transmitted, and the report of which has generally obtained credit.
47
This was the first battle with Hannibal; from which it clearly appeared that the Carthaginian was superior in cavalry; and on that account, that open plains, such as lie between the Po and the Alps, were not suited to the Romans for carrying on the war. On the following night, therefore, the soldiers being ordered to prepare their baggage in silence, the camp broke up from the Ticinus, and they hastened to the Po, in order that the rafts by which the consul had formed a bridge over the river, being not yet loosened, he might lead his forces across without disturbance or pursuit of the enemy. They arrived at Placentia before Hannibal had ascertained that they had set out from the Ticinus. He took, however, six hundred of those who loitered on the farther bank, who were slowly unfastening the raft; but he was not able to pass the bridge, as the whole raft floated down the stream as soon as the ends were unfastened. Coelius relates that Mago, with the cavalry and Spanish infantry, immediately swam the river; and that Hannibal himself led the army across by fords higher up the Po, the elephants being opposed to the stream in a line to break the force of the current. These accounts can scarcely gain credit with those who are acquainted with that river; for it is neither probable that the cavalry could bear up against the great violence of the stream, without losing their arms or horses, even supposing that inflated bags of leather had transported all the Spaniards; and the fords of the Po, by which an army encumbered with baggage could pass, must have been sought by a circuit of many days' march. Those authors are more credited by me, who relate that in the course of two days a place was with difficulty found fit for forming a bridge of rafts across the river, and that by this way the light-armed Spanish cavalry was sent forward with Mago. Whilst Hannibal, delaying beside the river to give audience to the embassies of the Gauls, conveys over the heavy-armed forces of infantry, in the mean time Mago and the cavalry proceed towards the enemy at Placentia one day's journey after crossing the river. Hannibal, a few days after, fortified his camp six miles from Placentia, and on the following day, having drawn up his line of battle in sight of the enemy, gave them an opportunity of fighting.
48
On the following night a slaughter was made in the Roman camp by the auxiliary Gauls, which appeared greater from the tumult than it proved in reality. Two thousand infantry and two hundred horse, having killed the guards at the gates, desert to Hannibal; whom the Carthaginians having addressed kindly, and excited by the hope of great rewards, sent each to several states to gain over the minds of their countrymen. Scipio, thinking that that slaughter was a signal for the revolt of all the Gauls, and that, contaminated with the guilt of that affair, they would rush to arms as if a frenzy had been sent among them, though he was still suffering severely from his wound, yet setting out for the river Trebia at the fourth watch of the following night with his army in silence, he removes his camp to higher ground and hills more embarrassing to the cavalry. He escaped observation less than at the Ticinus: and Hannibal, having despatched first the Numidians and then all the cavalry, would have thrown the rear at least into great confusion, had not the Numidians, through anxiety for booty, turned aside into the deserted Roman camp. There whilst, closely examining every part of the camp, they waste time, with no sufficient reward for the delay, the enemy escaped out of their hands; and when they saw the Romans already across the Trebia, and measuring out their camp, they kill a few of the loiterers intercepted on that side of the river. Scipio being unable to endure any longer the irritation of his wound, caused by the roughness of the road, and thinking that he ought to wait for his colleague, (for he had now heard that he was recalled from Sicily,) fortified a space of chosen ground, which, adjoining the river, seemed safest for a stationary camp. When Hannibal had encamped not far from thence, being as much elated with the victory of his cavalry, as anxious on account of the scarcity which every day assailed him more severely, marching as he did through the territory of the enemy, and supplies being no where provided, he sends to the village of Clastidium, where the Romans had collected a great stock of corn. There, whilst they were preparing for an assault, a hope of the town being betrayed to them was held out: Dasius, a Brundusian, the governor of the garrison, having been corrupted for four hundred pieces of gold, (no great bribe truly,) Clastidium is surrendered to Hannibal. It served as a granary for the Carthaginians while they lay at the Trebia. No cruelty was used towards the prisoners of the surrendered garrison, in order that a character for clemency might be acquired at the commencement of his proceedings.
49
While the war by land was at a stand beside the Trebia, in the mean time operations went on by land and sea around Sicily and the islands adjacent to Italy, both under Sempronius the consul, and before his arrival. Twenty quinqueremes, with a thousand armed men, having been sent by the Carthaginians to lay waste the coast of Italy, nine reached the Liparae, eight the island of Vulcan, and three the tide drove into the strait. On these being seen from Messana, twelve ships sent out by Hiero king of Syracuse, who then happened to be at Messana, waiting for the Roman consul, brought back into the port of Messana the ships taken without any resistance. It was discovered from the prisoners that, besides the twenty ships, to which fleet they belonged, and which had been despatched against Italy, thirty-five other quinqueremes were directing their course to Sicily, in order to gain over their ancient allies: that their main object was to gain possession of Lilybaeum, and they believed that that fleet had been driven to the islands Aegates by the same storm by which they themselves had been dispersed. The king writes these tidings, according as they had been received, to Marcus Aemilius the praetor, whose province Sicily was, and advises him to occupy Lilybaeum with a strong garrison. Immediately the lieutenants, generals, and tribunes, with the praetor, were despatched to the different states, in order that they might keep their men on vigilant guard; above all things it was commanded, that Lilybaeum should be secured: an edict having been put forth that, in addition to such warlike preparations, the crews should carry down to their ships dressed provisions for ten days, so that no one when the signal was given might delay in embarking; and that those who were stationed along the whole coast should look out from their watch-towers for the approaching fleet of the enemy. The Carthaginians, therefore, though they had purposely slackened the course of their ships, so that they might reach Lilybaeum just before daybreak, were descried before their arrival, because both the moon shone all night, and they came with their sails set up. Immediately the signal was given from the watch-towers, and the summons to arms was shouted through the town, and they embarked in the ships: part of the soldiers were left on the walls and at the stations of the gates, and part went on board the fleet. The Carthaginians, because they perceived that they would not have to do with an unprepared enemy, kept back from the harbour till daylight, that interval being spent in taking down their rigging and getting ready the fleet for action. When the light appeared, they withdrew their fleet into the open sea, that there might be room for the battle, and that the ships of the enemy might have a free egress from the harbour. Nor did the Romans decline the conflict, being emboldened both by the recollection of the exploits they had performed near that very spot, and by the numbers and valour of their soldiers.
50
When they had advanced into the open sea, the Romans wished to come to close fight, and to make a trial of strength hand to hand. The Carthaginians, on the contrary, eluded them, and sought to maintain the fight by art, not by force, and to make it a battle of ships rather than of men and arms: for though they had their fleet abundantly supplied with mariners, yet it was deficient in soldiers; and when a ship was grappled, a very unequal number of armed men fought on board of it. When this was observed, their numbers increased the courage of the Romans, and their inferiority of force diminished that of the others. Seven Carthaginian ships were immediately surrounded; the rest took to flight: one thousand seven hundred soldiers and mariners were captured in the ships, and among them were three noble Carthaginians. The Roman fleet returned without loss to the harbour, only one ship being pierced, and even that also brought back into port. After this engagement, before those at Messana were aware of its occurrence, Titus Sempronius the consul arrived at Messana. As he entered the strait, king Hiero led out a fleet fully equipped to meet him; and having passed from the royal ship into that of the general, he congratulated him on having arrived safe with his army and fleet, and prayed that his expedition to Sicily might be prosperous and successful. He then laid before him the state of the island and the designs of the Carthaginians, and promised that with the same spirit with which he had in his youth assisted the Romans during the former war, he would now assist them in his old age; that he would gratuitously furnish supplies of corn and clothing to the legions and naval crews of the consul; adding, that great danger threatened Lilybaeum and the maritime states, and that a change of affairs would be acceptable to some of them. For these reasons it appeared to the consul that he ought to make no delay, but to repair to Lilybaeum with his fleet. The king and the royal squadron set out along with him, and on their passage they heard that a battle had been fought at Lilybaeum, and that the enemy's ships had been scattered and taken.
51
The consul having dismissed Hiero with the royal fleet, and left the praetor to defend the coast of Sicily, passed over himself from Lilybaeum to the island Melita, which was held in possession by the Carthaginians. On his arrival, Hamilcar, the son of Gisgo, the commander of the garrison, with little less than two thousand soldiers, together with the town and the island, are delivered up to him: thence, after a few days, he returned to Lilybaeum, and the prisoners taken, both by the consul and the praetor, excepting those illustrious for their rank, were publicly sold. When the consul considered that Sicily was sufficiently safe on that side, he crossed over to the islands of Vulcan, because there was a report that the Carthaginian fleet was stationed there: but not one of the enemy was discovered about those islands. They had already, as it happened, passed over to ravage the coast of Italy, and having laid waste the territory of Vibo, were also threatening the city. The descent made by the enemy on the Vibonensian territory is announced to the consul as he was returning to Sicily: and letters were delivered to him which had been sent by the senate, about the passage of Hannibal into Italy, commanding him as soon as possible to bring assistance to his colleague. Perplexed with having so many anxieties at once, he immediately sent his army, embarked in the fleet, by the upper sea to Ariminum; he assigned the defence of the territory of Vibo, and the sea-coast of Italy, to Sextus Pomponius, his lieutenant-general, with twenty-five ships of war: he made up a fleet of fifty ships for Marcus Aemilius the praetor; and he himself, after the affairs of Sicily were settled, sailing close along the coast of Italy with ten ships, arrived at Ariminum, whence, setting out with his army for the river Trebia, he joined his colleague.
52
Both the consuls and all the strength of Rome being now opposed to Hannibal, made it sufficiently obvious that the Roman empire could either be defended by those forces, or that there was no other hope left. Yet the one consul being dispirited by the battle of the cavalry and his own wound, wished operations to be deferred: the other having his spirits unsubdued, and being therefore the more impetuous, admitted no delay. The tract of country between the Trebia and the Po was then inhabited by the Gauls, who, in this contest of two very powerful states, by a doubtful neutrality, were evidently looking forward to the favour of the conqueror. The Romans submitted to this conduct of the Gauls with tolerable satisfaction, provided they did not take any active part at all; but the Carthaginian bore it with great discontent, giving out that he had come invited by the Gauls to set them at liberty. On account of that resentment, and in order that he might at the same time maintain his troops from the plunder, he ordered two thousand foot and a thousand horse, chiefly Numidians, with some Gauls intermixed, to lay waste all the country straightforward as far as the banks of the Po. The Gauls, being in want of assistance, though they had up to this time kept their inclinations doubtful, are forced by the authors of the injury to turn to some who would be their supporters; and having sent ambassadors to the consul, they implore the aid of the Romans in behalf of a country which was suffering for the too great fidelity of its inhabitants to the Romans. Neither the cause nor the time of pleading it was satisfactory to Cornelius; and the nation was suspected by him, both on account of many treacherous actions, and though others might have been forgotten through length of time, on account of the recent perfidy of the Boii. Sempronius, on the contrary, thought that it would be the strongest tie upon the fidelity of the allies, if those were defended who first required support. Then, while his colleague hesitated, he sends his own cavalry, with about a thousand spearmen on foot in their company, to protect the Gallic territory beyond the Trebia. These, when they had unexpectedly attacked the enemy while scattered and disordered, and for the most part encumbered with booty, caused great terror, slaughter, and flight, even as far as the camp and outposts of the enemy; whence being repulsed by the numbers that poured out, they again renewed the fight with the assistance of their own party. Then pursuing and retreating in doubtful battle, though they left it at last equal, yet the fame of the victory was more with the Romans than the enemy.
53
But to no one did it appear more important and just than to the consul himself. He was transported with joy "that he had conquered with that part of the forces with which the other consul had been defeated; that the spirits of the soldiers were restored and revived; that there was no one, except his colleague, who would wish an engagement delayed; and that he, suffering more from disease of mind than body, shuddered, through recollection of his wound, at arms and battle. But others ought not to sink into decrepitude together with a sick man. For why should there be any longer protraction or waste of time? What third consul, what other army did they wait for? The camp of the Carthaginians was in Italy, and almost in sight of the city. It was not Sicily and Sardinia, which had been taken from them when vanquished, nor Spain on this side of the Iberus, that was their object, but that the Romans should be driven from the land of their fathers, and the soil in which they were born. How deeply," he continued, "would our fathers groan, who were wont to wage war around the walls of Carthage, if they should see us their offspring, two consuls and two consular armies, trembling within our camps in the heart of Italy, while a Carthaginian had made himself master of all the country between the Alps and the Apennine!" Such discourses did he hold while sitting beside his sick colleague, and also at the head-quarters, almost in the manner of an harangue. The approaching period of the elections also stimulated him, lest the war should be protracted till the new consuls were chosen, and the opportunity of turning all the glory to himself, while his colleague lay sick. He orders the soldiers, therefore, Cornelius in vain attempting to dissuade him, to get ready for an immediate engagement. Hannibal, as he saw what conduct would be best for the enemy, had scarce at first any hope that the consuls would do any thing rashly or imprudently, but when he discovered that the disposition of the one, first known from report, and afterwards from experience, was ardent and impetuous, and believed that it had been rendered still more impetuous by the successful engagement with his predatory troops, he did not doubt that an opportunity of action was near at hand. He was anxious and watchful not to omit this opportunity, while the troops of the enemy were raw, while his wound rendered the better of the two commanders useless, and while the spirits of the Gauls were fresh; of whom he knew that a great number would follow him with the greater reluctance the farther they were drawn away from home. When, for these and similar reasons, he hoped that an engagement was near and desired to make the attack himself, if there should be any delay; and when the Gauls, who were the safer spies to ascertain what he wished, as they served in both camps, had brought intelligence that the Romans were prepared for battle, the Carthaginian began to look about for a place for an ambuscade.
54
Between the armies was a rivulet, bordered on each side with very high banks, and covered around with marshy plants, and with the brushwood and brambles with which uncultivated places are generally overspread; and when, riding around it, he had, with his own eyes, thoroughly reconnoitred a place which was sufficient to afford a covert even for cavalry, he said to Mago his brother: "This will be the place which you must occupy. Choose out of all the infantry and cavalry a hundred men of each, with whom come to me at the first watch. Now is the time to refresh their bodies." The council was thus dismissed, and in a little time Mago came forward with his chosen men. "I see," said Hannibal, "the strength of the men; but that you may be strong not only in resolution, but also in number, pick out each from the troops and companies nine men like yourselves: Mago will show you the place where you are to lie in ambush. You will have an enemy who is blind to these arts of war." A thousand horse and a thousand foot, under the command of Mago, having been thus sent off, Hannibal orders the Numidian cavalry to ride up, after crossing the river Trebia by break of day, to the gates of the enemy, and to draw them out to a battle by discharging their javelins at the guards; and then, when the fight was commenced, by retiring slowly to decoy them across the river. These instructions were given to the Numidians: to the other leaders of the infantry and cavalry it was commanded that they should order all their men to dine; and then, under arms and with their horses equipped, to await the signal. Sempronius, eager for the contest, led out, on the first tumult raised by the Numidians, all the cavalry, being full of confidence in that part of the forces; then six thousand infantry, and lastly all his army, to the place already determined in his plan. It happened to be the winter season and a snowy day, in the region which lies between the Alps and the Apennine, and excessively cold by the proximity of rivers and marshes: besides, there was no heat in the bodies of the men and horses thus hastily led out without having first taken food, or employed any means to keep off the cold; and the nearer they approached to the blasts from the river, a keener degree of cold blew upon them. But when, in pursuit of the flying Numidians, they entered the water, (and it was swollen by rain in the night as high as their breasts,) then in truth the bodies of all, on landing, were so benumbed, that they were scarcely able to hold their arms; and as the day advanced they began to grow faint, both from fatigue and hunger.
55
In the mean time the soldiers of Hannibal, fires having been kindled before the tents, and oil sent through the companies to soften their limbs, and their food having been taken at leisure, as soon as it was announced that the enemy had passed the river, seized their arms with vigour of mind and body, and advanced to the battle. Hannibal placed before the standards the Baliares and the light-armed troops, to the amount of nearly eight thousand men; then the heavier-armed infantry, the chief of his power and strength: on the wings he posted ten thousand horse, and on their extremities stationed the elephants divided into two parts. The consul placed on the flanks of his infantry the cavalry, recalled by the signal for retreat, as in their irregular pursuit of the enemy they were checked, while unprepared, by the Numidians suddenly turning upon them. There were of infantry eighteen thousand Romans, twenty thousand allies of the Latin name, besides the auxiliary forces of the Cenomani, the only Gallic nation that had remained faithful: with these forces they engaged the enemy. The battle was commenced by the Baliares; whom when the legions resisted with superior force, the light-armed troops were hastily drawn off to the wings; which movement caused the Roman cavalry to be immediately overpowered: for when their four thousand already with difficulty withstood by themselves ten thousand of the enemy, the wearied, against men for the most part fresh, they were overwhelmed in addition by a cloud as it were of javelins, discharged by the Baliares; and the elephants besides, which held a prominent position at the extremities of the wings, (the horses being greatly terrified not only at their appearance, but their unusual smell,) occasioned flight to a wide extent. The battle between the infantry was equal rather in courage than strength; for the Carthaginian brought the latter entire to the action, having a little before refreshed themselves, while, on the contrary, the bodies of the Romans, suffering from fasting and fatigue, and stiff with cold, were quite benumbed. They would have made a stand, however, by dint of courage, if they had only had to fight with the infantry. But both the Baliares, having beaten off the cavalry, poured darts on their flanks, and the elephants had already penetrated to the centre of the line of the infantry; while Mago and the Numidians, as soon as the army had passed their place of ambush without observing them, starting up on their rear, occasioned great disorder and alarm. Nevertheless, amid so many surrounding dangers, the line for some time remained unbroken, and, most contrary to the expectation of all, against the elephants. These the light infantry, posted for the purpose, turned back by throwing their spears; and following them up when turned, pierced them under the tail, where they received the wounds in the softest skin.
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Hannibal ordered the elephants, thus thrown into disorder, and almost driven by their terror against their own party, to be led away from the centre of the line to its extremity against the auxiliary Gauls on the left wing. In an instant they occasioned unequivocal flight; and a new alarm was added to the Romans when they saw their auxiliaries routed. About ten thousand men, therefore, as they now were fighting in a circle, the others being unable to escape, broke through the middle of the line of the Africans, which was supported by the Gallic auxiliaries, with immense slaughter of the enemy: and since they neither could return to the camp, being shut out by the river, nor, on account of the heavy rain, satisfactorily determine in what part they should assist their friends, they proceeded by the direct road to Placentia. After this several irruptions were made in all directions; and those who sought the river were either swallowed up in its eddies, or whilst they hesitated to enter it were cut off by the enemy. Some, who had been scattered abroad through the country in their flight, by following the traces of the retreating army, arrived at Placentia; others, the fear of the enemy inspired with boldness to enter the river, having crossed it, reached the camp. The rain mixed with snow, and the intolerable severity of the cold, destroyed many men and beasts of burden, and almost all the elephants. The river Trebia was the termination of the Carthaginians' pursuit of the enemy; and they returned to the camp so benumbed with cold, that they could scarcely feel joy for the victory. On the following night, therefore, though the guard of the camp and the principal part of the soldiers that remained passed the Trebia on rafts, they either did not perceive it, on account of the beating of the rain, or being unable to bestir themselves, through their fatigue and wounds, pretended that they did not perceive it; and the Carthaginians remaining quiet, the army was silently led by the consul Scipio to Placentia, thence transported across the Po to Cremona, lest one colony should be too much burdened by the winter quarters of two armies.
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Such terror on account of this disaster was carried to Rome, that they believed that the enemy was already approaching the city with hostile standards, and that they had neither hope nor aid by which they might repel his attack from the gates and walls. One consul having been defeated at the Ticinus, the other having been recalled from Sicily, and now both consuls and their two consular armies having been vanquished, what other commanders, what other legions were there to be sent for? The consul Sempronius came to them whilst thus dismayed, having passed at great risk through the cavalry of the enemy, scattered in every direction in search of plunder, with courage, rather than with any plan or hope of escaping, or of making resistance if he should not escape it. Having held the assembly for the election of the consuls, the only thing which was particularly wanting at present, he returned to the winter quarters. Cneius Servilius and Caius Flaminius were elected consuls. But not even the winter quarters of the Romans were undisturbed, the Numidian horse ranging at large, and where the ground was impracticable for these, the Celtiberians and Lusitanians. All supplies, therefore, from every quarter, were cut off, except such as the ships conveyed by the Po. There was a magazine near Placentia, both fortified with great care and secured by a strong garrison. In the hope of taking this fort, Hannibal having set out with the cavalry and the light-armed horse, and having attacked it by night, as he rested his main hope of effecting his enterprise on keeping it concealed, did not escape the notice of the guards. Such a clamour was immediately raised, that it was heard even at Placentia. The consul; therefore, came up with the cavalry about daybreak, having commanded the legions to follow in a square band. In the mean time an engagement of cavalry commenced, in which the enemy being dismayed because Hannibal retired wounded from the fight, the fortress was admirably defended. After this, having taken rest for a few days, and before his wound was hardly as yet sufficiently healed, he sets out to lay siege to Victumviae. This magazine had been fortified by the Romans in the Gallic war; afterwards a mixture of inhabitants from the neighbouring states around had made the place populous; and at this time the terror created by the devastation of the enemy had driven together to it numbers from the country. A multitude of this description, excited by the report of the brave defence of the fortress near Placentia, having snatched up their arms, went out to meet Hannibal. They engaged on the road rather like armies in order of march than in line of battle; and since on the one side there was nothing but a disorderly crowd, and on the other a general confident in his soldiers, and soldiers in their general, as many as thirty-five thousand men were routed by a few. On the following day, a surrender having been made, they received a garrison within their walls; and being ordered to deliver up their arms, as soon as they had obeyed the command, a signal is suddenly given to the victors to pillage the city, as if it had been taken by storm; nor was any outrage, which in such cases is wont to appear to writers worthy of relation, left unperpetrated; such a specimen of every kind of lust, barbarity, and inhuman insolence was exhibited towards that unhappy people. Such were the expeditions of Hannibal during the winter.
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For a short time after, while the cold continued intolerable, rest was given to the soldiers; and having set out from his winter quarters on the first and uncertain indications of spring, he leads them into Etruria, intending to gain that nation to his side, like the Gauls and Ligurians, either by force or favour. As he was crossing the Apennines, so furious a storm attacked him, that it almost surpassed the horrors of the Alps. When the rain and wind together were driven directly against their faces, they at first halted, because their arms must either be cast away, or striving to advance against the storm they were whirled round by the hurricane, and dashed to the ground: afterwards, when it now stopped their breath, nor suffered them to respire, they sat down for a little, with their backs to the wind. Then indeed the sky resounded with loud thunder, and the lightnings flashed between its terrific peals; all, bereft of sight and hearing, stood torpid with fear. At length, when the rain had spent itself, and the fury of the wind was on that account the more increased, it seemed necessary to pitch the camp in that very place where they had been overtaken by the storm. But this was the beginning of their labours, as it were, afresh; for neither could they spread out nor fix any tent, nor did that which perchance had been put up remain, the wind tearing through and sweeping every thing away: and soon after, when the water raised aloft by the wind had been frozen above the cold summits of the mountains, it poured down such a torrent of snowy hail, that the men, casting away every thing, fell down upon their faces, rather buried under than sheltered by their coverings; and so extreme an intensity of cold succeeded, that when each wished to raise and lift himself from that wretched heap of men and beasts of burden, he was for a long time unable, because their sinews being stiffened by the cold, they had great difficulty in bending their joints. Afterwards, when, by continually moving themselves to and fro, they succeeded in recovering the power of motion, and regained their spirits, and fires began to be kindled in a few places, every helpless man had recourse to the aid of others. They remained as if blockaded for two days in that place. Many men and beasts of burden, and also seven elephants, of those which had remained from the battle fought at the Trebia, were destroyed.