The History of Rome

Chapter 22

Prev List Next

BOOK XXI.

_Origin of the second Punic war. Hannibal"s character. In violation of a treaty, he pa.s.ses the Iberus. Besieges Saguntum, and at length takes it. The Romans send amba.s.sadors to Carthage; declare war.

Hannibal crosses the Pyrenees: makes his way through Gaul; then crosses the Alps; defeats the Romans at the Ticinus. The Romans again defeated at the Trebia. Cneius Cornelius Scipio defeats the Carthaginians in Spain, and takes Hanno, their general, prisoner._

1. I may be permitted to premise at this division of my work, what most historians [Footnote: Thucydides seems to be specially referred to.] have professed at the beginning of their whole undertaking; that I am about to relate the most memorable of all wars that were ever waged: the war which the Carthaginians, under the conduct of Hannibal, maintained with the Roman people. For never did any states and nations more efficient in their resources engage in contest; nor had they themselves at any other period so great a degree of power and energy.

They brought into action too no arts of war unknown to each other, but those which had been tried in the first Punic war; and so various was the fortune of the conflict, and so doubtful the victory, that they who conquered were more exposed to danger. The hatred with which they fought also was almost greater than their resources; the Romans being indignant that the conquered aggressively took up arms against their victors; the Carthaginians, because they considered that in their subjection it had been lorded over them with haughtiness and avarice.

There is besides a story, that Hannibal, when about nine years old, while he boyishly coaxed his father Hamilcar that he might be taken to Spain, (at the time when the African war was completed, and he was employed in sacrificing previously to transporting his army thither,) was conducted to the altar; and, having laid his hand on the offerings, was bound by an oath to prove himself, as soon as he could, an enemy to the Roman people. The loss of Sicily and Sardinia grieved the high spirit of Hamilcar: for he deemed that Sicily had been given up through a premature despair of their affairs; and that Sardinia, during the disturbances in Africa, had been treacherously taken by the Romans, while, in addition, the payment of a tribute had been imposed.

2. Being disturbed with these anxieties, he so conducted himself for five years in the African war, which commenced shortly after the peace with Rome, and then through nine years employed in augmenting the Carthaginian empire in Spain, that it was obvious that he was revolving in his mind a greater war than he was then engaged in; and that if he had lived longer, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar would have carried the war into Italy, which, under the command of Hannibal, they afterwards did. The timely death of Hamilcar and the youth of Hannibal occasioned its delay. Hasdrubal, intervening between the father and the son, held the command for about eight years. He was first endeared to Hamilcar, as they say, on account of his youthful beauty, and then adopted by him, when advanced in age, as his son-in-law, on account of his eminent abilities; and, because he was his son-in-law, he obtained the supreme authority, against the wishes of the n.o.bles, by the influence of the Barcine faction, [Footnote: The Barcine faction derived its name from Hamilcar, who was surnamed Barca. Hanno appears to have been at the head of the opposite party.]

which was very powerful with the military and the populace.

Prosecuting his designs rather by stratagem than force, by entertaining the princes, and by means of the friendship of their leaders, gaining the favour of unknown nations, he aggrandized the Carthaginian power, more than by arms and battles. Yet peace proved no greater security to himself. A barbarian, in resentment of his master"s having been put to death by him, publicly murdered him; and, having been seized by the bystanders, he exhibited the same countenance as if he had escaped; nay, even when he was lacerated by tortures, he preserved such an expression of face, that he presented the appearance of one who smiled, his joy getting the better of his pains. With this Hasdrubal, because he possessed such wonderful skill in gaining over the nations and adding them to his empire, the Roman people had renewed the treaty, [Footnote: A. U. C. 526, thirteen years after the conclusion of the first Punic war, being the sixth treaty between the Carthaginians and Romans. The first was a commercial agreement made during the first consulate, in the year that the Tarquins were expelled from Rome; but is not mentioned by Livy.

The second is noted by him, lib. vii. 27, and the third, lib. ix. 43.

The fourth was concluded during the war with Pyrrhus and the Tarentines, Polyb. V. iii. 25: and the fifth was the memorable treaty at the close of the first war] on the terms, that the river Iberus should be the boundary of both empires; and that to the Saguntines, who lay between the territories of the two states, their liberty should be preserved.

3. There was no doubt that in appointing a successor to Hasdrubal, the approbation of the commons would follow the military prerogative, by which the young Hannibal had been immediately carried to the praetorium, and hailed as general, amid the loud shouts and acquiescence of all. Hasdrubal had sent for him by letter, when scarce yet arrived at manhood; and the matter had even been discussed in the senate, the Barcine faction using all their efforts, that Hannibal might be trained to military service and succeed to his father"s command. Hanno, the leader of the opposite faction, said, "Hasdrubal seems indeed to ask what is reasonable, but I, nevertheless, do not think his request ought to be granted." When he had attracted to himself the attention of all, through surprise at this ambiguous opinion, he proceeded: "Hasdrubal thinks that the flower of youth which he gave to the enjoyment of Hannibal"s father, may justly be expected by himself in return from the son: but it would little become us to accustom our youth, in place of a military education, to the l.u.s.tful ambition of the generals. Are we afraid that the son of Hamilcar should be too late in seeing the immoderate power and splendour of his father"s sovereignty? or that we shall not soon enough become slaves to the son of him, to whose son-in-law our armies were bequeathed as an hereditary right? I am of opinion, that this youth should be kept at home, and taught, under the restraint of the laws and the authority of magistrates, to live on an equal footing with the rest of the citizens, lest at some time or other this small fire should kindle a vast conflagration."

4. A few, and nearly every one of the highest merit, concurred with Hanno; but, as usually happens, the more numerous party prevailed over the better. Hannibal, having been sent into Spain, from his very first arrival drew the eyes of the whole army upon him. The veteran soldiers imagined that Hamilcar, in his youth, was restored to them; they remarked the same vigour in his looks and animation in his eye the same features and expression of countenance; and then, in a short time, he took care that his father should be of the least powerful consideration in conciliating their esteem. There never was a genius more fitted for the two most opposite duties of obeying and commanding; so that you could not easily decide whether he were dearer to the general or the army: and neither did Hasdrubal prefer giving the command to any other, when any thing was to be done with courage and activity; nor did the soldiers feel more confidence and boldness under any other leader. His fearlessness in encountering dangers, and his prudence when in the midst of them, were extreme. His body could not be exhausted, nor his mind subdued, by any toil. He could alike endure either heat or cold. The quant.i.ty of his food and drink was determined by the wants of nature, and not by pleasure. The seasons of his sleeping and waking were distinguished neither by day nor night.

The time that remained after the transaction of business was given to repose; but that repose was neither invited by a soft bed nor by quiet. Many have seen him wrapped in a military cloak, lying on the ground amid the watches and outposts of the soldiers. His dress was not at all superior to that of his equals: his arms and his horses were conspicuous. He was at once by far the first of the cavalry and infantry; and, foremost to advance to the charge, was last to leave the engagement. Excessive vices counterbalanced these high virtues of the hero; inhuman cruelty, more than Punic perfidy, no truth, no reverence for things sacred, no fear of the G.o.ds, no respect for oaths, no sense of religion. With a character thus made up of virtue and vices, he served for three years under the command of Hasdrubal, without neglecting any thing which ought to be done or seen by one who was to become a great general.

5. But from the day on which he was declared general, as if Italy had been decreed to him as his province, and the war with Rome committed to him, thinking there should be no delay, lest, while he procrastinated, some unexpected accident might defeat him, as had happened to his father, Hamilcar, and afterwards to Hasdrubal, he resolved to make war the Saguntines. As there could be no doubt that by attacking them the Romans would be excited to arms, he first led his army into the territory of the Olcades, a people beyond the Iberus, rather within the boundaries than under the dominion of the Carthaginians, so that he might not seem to have had the Saguntines for his object, but to have been drawn on to the war by the course of events; after the adjoining nations had been subdued, and by the progressive annexation of conquered territory. He storms and plunders Carteia, a wealthy city, the capital of that nation; at which the smaller states being dismayed, submitted to his command and to the imposition of a tribute. His army, triumphant and enriched with booty, was led into winter-quarters to New Carthage. Having there confirmed the attachment of all his countrymen and allies by a liberal division of the plunder, and by faithfully discharging the arrears of pay, the war was extended, in the beginning of spring, to the Vaccaei. The cities Hermandica and Arbocala were taken by storm. Arbocala was defended for a long time by the valour and number of its inhabitants.

Those who escaped from Hermandica joining themselves to the exiles of the Olcades, a nation subdued the preceding summer, excite the Carpetani to arms; and having attacked Hannibal near the river Tagus, on his return from the Vaccaei, they threw into disorder his army enc.u.mbered with spoil. Hannibal avoided an engagement, and having pitched his camp on the bank, as soon as quiet and silence prevailed among the enemy, forded the river; and having removed his rampart so far that the enemy might have room to pa.s.s over, resolved to attack them in their pa.s.sage. He commanded the cavalry to charge as soon as they should see them advanced into the water. He drew up the line of his infantry on the bank with forty elephants in front. The Carpetani, with the addition of the Olcades and Vaccaei amounted to a hundred thousand, an invincible army, were the fight to take place in the open plain. Being therefore both naturally ferocious and confiding in their numbers; and since they believed that the enemy had retired through fear thinking that victory was only delayed by the intervention of the river, they raise a shout, and in every direction, without the command of any one, dash into the stream, each where it nearest to him. At the same time, a heavy force of cavalry poured into the river from its opposite bank, and the engagement commenced in the middle of the channel on very unequal terms; for there the foot-soldier, having no secure footing, and scarcely trusting to the ford, could be borne down even by an unarmed horseman, by the mere shock of his horse urged at random; while the horseman, with the command of his body and his weapons, his horse moving steadily even through the middle of the eddies, could maintain the fight either at close quarters or at a distance. A great number were swallowed up by the current; some being carried by the whirlpools of the stream to the side of the enemy, were trodden down by the elephants; and whilst the last, for whom it was more safe to retreat to their own bank, were collecting together after their various alarms, Hannibal, before they could regain courage after such excessive consternation, having entered the river with his army in a close square, forced them to fly from the bank. Having then laid waste their territory, he received the submission of the Carpetani also within a few days. And now all the country beyond the Iberus, excepting that of the Saguntines, was under the power of the Carthaginians.

6. As yet there was no war with the Saguntines, but already, in order to a war, the seeds of dissension were sown between them and their neighbours, particularly the Turetani, with whom when the same person sided who had originated the quarrel, and it was evident, not that a trial of the question of right, but violence, was his object, amba.s.sadors were sent by the Saguntines to Rome to implore a.s.sistance in the war which now evidently threatened them. The consuls then at Rome were Publius Cornelius Scipio and Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius Longus, who, after the amba.s.sadors were introduced into the senate, having made a motion on the state of public affairs, it was resolved that envoys should be sent into Spain to inspect the circ.u.mstances of the allies; and if they saw good reason, both to warn Hannibal that he should refrain from the Saguntines, the allies of the Roman people, and to pa.s.s over into Africa to Carthage, and report the complaints of the allies of the Roman people. This emba.s.sy having been decreed but not yet despatched, the news arrived, more quickly than any one expected, that Saguntum was besieged. The business was then referred anew to the senate. And some, decreeing Spain and Africa as provinces for the consuls, thought the war should be maintained both by sea and land, while others wished to direct the whole hostilities against Spain and Hannibal. There were others again who thought that an affair of such importance should not be entered on rashly; and that the return of the amba.s.sadors from Spain ought to be awaited. This opinion, which seemed the safest, prevailed; and Publius Valerius Flaccus, and Quintus Baebius Tamphilus, were, on that account, the more quickly despatched as amba.s.sadors to Hannibal at Saguntum, and from thence to Carthage, if he did not desist from the war, to demand the general himself in atonement for the violation of the treaty.

7. While the Romans thus prepare and deliberate, Saguntum was already besieged with the utmost vigour. That city, situated about a mile from the sea, was by far the most opulent beyond the Iberus. Its inhabitants are said to have been sprung from the island Zacynthus, and some of the Rutulian race from Ardea to have been also mixed with them; but they had risen in a short time to great wealth, either by their gains from the sea or the land, or by the increase of their numbers, or the integrity of their principles, by which they maintained their faith with their allies, even to their own destruction. Hannibal having entered their territory with a hostile army, and laid waste the country in every direction, attacks the city in three different quarters. There was an angle of the wall sloping down into a more level and open valley than the other s.p.a.ce around; against this he resolved to move the vineae, by means of which the battering-ram might be brought up to the wall. But though the ground at a distance from the wall was sufficiently level for working the vineae, yet their undertakings by no means favourably succeeded, when they came to effect their object. Both a huge tower overlooked it, and the wall, as in a suspected place, was raised higher than in any other part; and a chosen band of youths presented a more vigorous resistance, where the greatest danger and labour were indicated. At first they repelled the enemy with missile weapons, and suffered no place to be sufficiently secure for those engaged in the works; afterwards, not only did they brandish their weapons in defence of the walls and tower, but they had courage to make sallies on the posts and works of the enemy; in which tumultuary engagements, scarcely more Saguntines than Carthaginians were slain. But when Hannibal himself, while he too incautiously approached the wall, fell severely wounded in the thigh by a javelin, such flight and dismay spread around, that the works and vineae had nearly been abandoned.

8. For a few days after, while the general"s wound was being cured, there was rather a blockade than a siege: during which time, though there was a respite from fighting, yet there was no intermission in the preparation of works and fortifications. Hostilities, therefore, broke out afresh with greater fury, and in more places, in some even where the ground scarcely admitted of the works, the vineae began to be moved forward, and the battering-ram to be advanced to the walls.

The Carthaginian abounded in the numbers of his troops; for there is sufficient reason to believe that he had as many as a hundred and fifty thousand in arms. The townsmen began to be embarra.s.sed, by having their attention multifariously divided, in order to maintain their several defences, and look to every thing; nor were they equal to the task, for the walls were now battered by the rams, and many parts of them were shattered. One part by continuous ruins left the city exposed; three successive towers and all the wall between them had fallen down with an immense crash, and the Carthaginians believed the town taken by that breach; through which, as if the wall had alike protected both, there was a rush from each side to the battle. There was nothing resembling the disorderly fighting which, in the storming of towns, is wont to be engaged in, on the opportunities of either party; but regular lines, as in an open plain, stood arrayed between the ruins of the walls and the buildings of the city, which lay but a slight distance from the walls. On the one side hope, on the other despair, inflamed their courage; the Carthaginian believing that, if a little additional effort were used, the city was his; the Saguntines opposing their bodies in defence of their native city deprived of its walls, and not a man retiring a step, lest he might admit the enemy into the place he deserted. The more keenly and closely, therefore, they fought on both sides, the more, on that account, were wounded, no weapon falling without effect amidst their arms and persons. There was used by the Saguntines a missile weapon, called falarica, with the shaft of fir, and round in other parts except towards the point, whence the iron projected: this part, which was square, as in the pilum, they bound around with tow, and besmeared with pitch. It had an iron head three feet in length, so that it could pierce through the body with the armour. But what caused the greatest fear was, that this weapon, even though it stuck in the shield and did not penetrate into the body, when it was discharged with the middle part on fire, and bore along a much greater flame, produced by the mere motion, obliged the armour to be thrown down, and exposed the soldier to succeeding blows.

9. When the contest had for a long time continued doubtful, and the courage of the Saguntines had increased, because they had succeeded in their resistance beyond their hopes, while the Carthaginian, because he had not conquered, felt as vanquished, the townsmen suddenly set up a shout, and drive their enemies to the ruins of the wall; thence they force them, while embarra.s.sed and disordered; and lastly, drove them back, routed and put to flight, to their camp. In the mean time it was announced that amba.s.sadors had arrived from Rome; to meet whom messengers were sent to the sea-side by Hannibal, to tell them that they could not safely come to him through so many armed bands of savage tribes, and that Hannibal at such an important conjuncture had not leisure to listen to emba.s.sies. It was obvious that, if not admitted, they would immediately repair to Carthage: he therefore sends letters and messengers beforehand to the leaders of the Barcine faction, to prepare the minds of their partisans, so that the other party might not be able in any thing to give an advantage to the Romans.

10. That emba.s.sy, therefore, excepting that the amba.s.sadors were admitted and heard, proved likewise vain and fruitless. Hanno alone, in opposition to the rest of the senate, pleaded the cause of the treaty, amidst deep silence on account of his authority, and not from the approbation of the audience. He said: that he had admonished and forewarned them by the G.o.ds, the arbiters and witnesses of treaties, that they should not send the son of Hamilcar to the army; that the manes, that the offspring of that man could not rest in peace, nor ever, while any one of the Barcine name and blood survived, would the Roman treaties continue undisturbed. "You, supplying as it were fuel to the flame, have sent to your armies a youth burning with the desire of sovereign power, and seeing but one road to his object, if by exciting war after war, he may live surrounded by arms and legions.

You have therefore fostered this fire, in which you now burn. Your armies invest Saguntum, whence they are forbidden by the treaty: ere long the Roman legions will invest Carthage, under the guidance of those G.o.ds through whose aid they revenged in the former war the infraction of the treaty. Are you unacquainted with the enemy, or with yourselves, or with the fortune of either nation? Your good general refused to admit into his camp amba.s.sadors coming from allies and in behalf of allies, and set at nought the law of nations. They, however, after being there repulsed, where not even the amba.s.sadors of enemies are prohibited admittance, come to you: they require rest.i.tution according to the treaty: let not guilt attach to the state, they demand to have delivered up to them the author of the transgression, the person who is chargeable with this offence. The more gently they proceed,--the slower they are to begin, the more unrelentingly, I fear, when they have once commenced, will they indulge resentment. Set before your eyes the islands Aegates and Eryx, all that for twenty-four years ye have suffered by land and sea. Nor was this boy the leader, but his father Hamilcar himself, a second Mars, as these people would have it: but we had not refrained from Tarentum, that is, from Italy, according to the treaty; as now we do not refrain from Saguntum. The G.o.ds and men have, therefore, prevailed over us; and as to that about which there was a dispute in words, whether of the two nations had infringed the treaty, the issue of the war, like an equitable judge, hath awarded the victory to the party on whose side justice stood. It is against Carthage that Hannibal is now moving his vineae and towers: it is the wall of Carthage that he is shaking with his battering-ram. The ruins of Saguntum (oh that I may prove a false prophet!) will fall on our heads; and the war commenced against the Saguntines must be continued against the Romans. Shall we, therefore, some one will say, deliver up Hannibal? In what relates to him I am aware that my authority is of little weight, on account of my enmity with his father. But I both rejoice that Hamilcar perished, for this reason, that, had he lived we should have now been engaged in a war with the Romans; and this youth, as the fury and firebrand of this war, I hate and detest. Nor ought he only to be given up in atonement for the violated treaty; but even though no one demanded him, he ought to be transported to the extremest sh.o.r.es of earth or sea, and banished to a distance, whence neither his name nor any tidings of him can reach us, and he be unable to disturb the peace of a tranquil state. I therefore give my opinion, that amba.s.sadors be sent immediately to Rome to satisfy the senate; others to tell Hannibal to lead away his army from Saguntum, and to deliver up Hannibal himself, according to the treaty to the Romans; and I propose a third emba.s.sy to make rest.i.tution to the Saguntines."

11. When Hanno had concluded, there was no occasion for any one to contend with him in debate, to such a decree were almost all the senators devoted to Hannibal; and they accused Hanno of having spoken with more malignity than Flaccus Valerius, the Roman amba.s.sador. It was then said in answer to the Roman amba.s.sadors, "that the war had been commenced by the Saguntines, not by Hannibal; and that the Roman people acted unjustly if they preferred the Saguntines to the most ancient [Footnote: Alluding to the first treaty made in the year that the kings were expelled from Rome.] alliance of the Carthaginians." Whilst the Romans waste time in sending emba.s.sies, Hannibal, because his soldiers were fatigued with the battles and the works, allowed them rest for a few days, parties being stationed to guard the vineae and other works. In the mean time he inflames their minds, now by inciting their anger against the enemy, now with the hope of reward. But when he declared before the a.s.sembled army, that the plunder of the captured city should be given to the soldiers, to such a degree were they all excited, that if the signal had been immediately given, it appeared that they could not have been resisted by any force. The Saguntines, as they had a respite from fighting, neither for some days attacking nor attacked, so they had not, by night or day, ever ceased from toiling, that they might repair anew the wall in the quarter where the town had been exposed by the breach.

A still more desperate storming than the former then a.s.sailed them; nor whilst all quarters resounded with various clamours, could they satisfactorily know where first or princ.i.p.ally they should lend a.s.sistance. Hannibal, as an encouragement, was present in person, where a movable tower, exceeding in height all the fortifications of the city, was urged forward. When being brought up it had cleared the walls of their defenders by means of the catapultae and ballistae ranged through all its stories, then Hannibal, thinking it a favourable opportunity, sends about five hundred Africans with pickaxes to undermine the wall: nor was the work difficult, since the unhewn stones were not fastened with lime, but filled in their interstices with clay, after the manner of ancient building. It fell, therefore, more extensively than it was struck, and through the open s.p.a.ces of the ruins troops of armed men rushed into the city. They also obtain possession of a rising ground; and having collected thither catapultae and ballistae, so that they might have a fort in the city itself, commanding it like a citadel, they surround it with a wall: and the Saguntines raise an inner wall before the part of the city which was not yet taken. On both sides they exert the utmost vigour in fortifying and fighting: but the Saguntines, by erecting these inner defences, diminish daily the size of their city. At the same time, the want of all supplies increased through the length of the siege, and the expectation of foreign aid diminished, since the Romans, their only hope, were at such a distance, and all the country round was in the power of the enemy. The sudden departure of Hannibal against the Oretani and Carpetani [Footnote: The Carpetani have already been mentioned, chap. v. The Oretani, then neighbours, occupied the country lying between the sources of the Baetis and the Anas, or what are now called the Guadalquiver and Guadiana. In a part of Orospeda they deduced their name from a city called Oretum, the site of which has been brought to light in a paltry village to which the name of Oreto still remains.--_D"Anville_.] revived for a little their drooping spirits; which two nations, though, exasperated by the severity of the levy, they had occasioned, by detaining the commissaries, the fear of a revolt, having been suddenly checked by the quickness of Hannibal, laid down the arms they had taken up.

12. Nor was the siege of Saguntum, in the mean time, less vigorously maintained; Maharbal, the son of Himilco, whom Hannibal had set over the army, carrying on operations so actively that neither the townsmen nor their enemies perceived that the general was away. He both engaged in several successful battles, and with three battering-rams overthrew a portion of the wall; and showed to Hannibal, on his arrival the ground all covered with fresh ruins. The army was therefore immediately led against the citadel itself, and a desperate combat was commenced with much slaughter on both sides, and part of the citadel was taken. The slight chance of a peace was then tried by two persons; Alcon a Saguntine, and Alorcus a Spaniard. Alcon, thinking he could effect something by entreaties, having pa.s.sed over, without the knowledge of the Saguntines, to Hannibal by night, when his tears produced no effect, and harsh conditions were offered as from an exasperated conqueror, becoming a deserter instead of an advocate, remained with the enemy; affirming that the man would be put to death who should treat for peace on such terms. For it was required that they should make rest.i.tution to the t.u.r.detani; and after delivering up all their gold and silver, departing from the city each with a single garment, should take up their dwelling where the Carthaginian should direct. Alcon having denied that the Saguntines would accept such terms of peace, Alorcus, a.s.serting that when all else is subdued, the mind becomes subdued, offers himself as the proposer of that peace.

Now at that time he was a soldier of Hannibal"s, but publicly the friend and host of the Saguntines. Having openly delivered his weapon to the guards of the enemy and pa.s.sed the fortifications, he was conducted, as he had himself requested, to the Saguntine praetor; whither when there was immediately a general rush of every description of people, the rest of the mult.i.tude being removed, an audience of the senate is given to Alorcus; whose speech was to the following effect:

13. "If your citizen Alcon, as he came to implore a peace from Hannibal, had in like manner brought back to you the terms of peace proposed by Hannibal, this journey of mine would have been unnecessary; by which circ.u.mstance I should not have had to come to you as the legate of Hannibal, nor as a deserter. Since he has remained with your enemies, either through your fault or his own, (through his own, if he counterfeited fear; through yours, if among you there be danger to those who tell the truth,) that you may not be ignorant that there are some terms of safety and peace for you, I have come to you in consideration of the ancient ties of hospitality which subsist between us. But that I speak what I address to you for your sake and that of no other, let even this be the proof: that neither while you resisted with your own strength, nor while you expected a.s.sistance from the Romans, did I ever make any mention of peace to you. But now, after you have neither any hope from the Romans, nor your own arms nor walls sufficiently defend you, I bring to you a peace rather necessary than just: of effecting which there is thus some hope, if, as Hannibal offers it in the spirit of a conqueror, you listen to it as vanquished; if you will consider not what is taken from you as loss, (since all belongs to the conqueror,) but whatever is left as a gift. He takes away from you your city, which, already for the greater part in ruins, he has almost wholly in his possession; he leaves you your territory, intending to mark out a place in which you may build a new town; he commands that all the gold and silver, both public and private, shall be brought to him; he preserves inviolate your persons and those of your wives and children, provided you are willing to depart from Saguntum, unarmed, each with two garments. These terms a victorious enemy dictates. These, though harsh and grievous, your condition commends to you. Indeed I do not despair, when the power of every thing is given him, that he will remit something from these terms. But even these I think you ought rather to endure, than suffer, by the rights of war, yourselves to be slaughtered, your wives and children to be ravished and dragged into captivity before your faces."

14. When an a.s.sembly of the people, by the gradual crowding round of the mult.i.tude, had mingled with the senate to hear these proposals, the chief men suddenly withdrawing before an answer was returned, and throwing all the gold and silver collected, both from public and private stores, into a fire hastily kindled for that purpose, the greater part flung themselves also into it. When the dismay and agitation produced by this deed had pervaded the whole city, another noise was heard in addition from the citadel. A tower, long battered, had fallen down; and when a Carthaginian cohort, rushing through the breach, had made a signal to the general that the city was dest.i.tute of the usual outposts and guards, Hannibal, thinking that there ought to be no delay at such an opportunity, having attacked the city with his whole forces, took it in a moment, command being given that all the adults should be put to death; which command, though cruel, was proved in the issue to have been almost necessary. For to whom of those men could mercy have been shown, who, either shut up with their wives and children, burned their houses over their own heads, or abroad in arms made no end of fighting, except in death.

15. The town was taken, with immense spoil. Though the greater part of the goods had been purposely damaged by their owners, and resentment had made scarce any distinction of age in the ma.s.sacre, and the captives were the booty of the soldiers; still it appears that some money was raised from the price of the effects that were sold, and that much costly furniture and garments were sent to Carthage. Some have written that Saguntum was taken in the eighth month after it began to be besieged; that Hannibal then retired to New Carthage, into winter quarters; and that in the fifth month after he had set out from Carthage he arrived in Italy. If this be so, it was impossible that Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius could have been consuls, to whom both at the beginning of the siege the Saguntine amba.s.sadors were despatched, and who, during their office, fought with Hannibal; the one at the river Ticinus, and both some time after at the Trebia.

Either all these events took place in a somewhat shorter period, or Saguntum was not begun to be besieged, but taken at the beginning of the year in which Publius Cornelius and Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius were consuls. For the battle at Trebia could not have been so late as the year of Cneius Servilius and Caius Flaminius, since Flaminius entered on the office at Ariminum, having been created by the consul Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius; who, having repaired to Rome after the battle at Trebia for the purpose of creating consuls, returned when the election was finished to the army into winter quarters.

16. Nearly about the same time, both the amba.s.sadors who had returned from Carthage brought intelligence to Rome that all appearances were hostile, and the destruction of Saguntum was announced. Then such grief, and pity for allies so undeservingly destroyed, and shame that aid was withheld, and rage against the Carthaginians, and fear for the issue of events, as if the enemy were already at the gates, took at once possession of the senators, that their minds, disturbed by so many simultaneous emotions, trembled with fear rather than deliberated. For they considered that neither had a more spirited or warlike enemy ever encountered them nor had the Roman state been ever so sunk in sloth, and unfit for war: that the Sardinians, the Corsicans, the Istrians, and the Illyrians, had rather kept in a state of excitement than exercised the Roman arms; and with the Gauls it had been more properly a tumult than a war. That the Carthaginian, a veteran enemy, ever victorious during the hardest service for twenty-three years among the tribes of Spain, first trained to war under Hamilcar, then Hasdrubal, now Hannibal, a most active leader, and fresh from the destruction of a most opulent city, was pa.s.sing the Iberus; that along with them he was bringing the numerous tribes of Spain, already aroused, and was about to excite the nations of Gaul, ever desirous of war; and that a war against the world was to be maintained in Italy and before the walls of Rome.

17. The provinces had already been previously named for the consuls; and having been now ordered to cast lots for them, Spain fell to Cornelius, and Africa with Sicily to Semp.r.o.nius. Six legions were decreed for that year, and as many of the allies as should seem good to the consuls, and as great a fleet as could be equipped. Twenty-four thousand Roman infantry were levied, and one thousand eight hundred horse: forty thousand infantry of the allies, and four thousand four hundred horse: two hundred and twenty ships of three banks of oars, and twenty light galleys, were launched. It was then proposed to the people, "whether they willed and commanded that war should be declared against the people of Carthage;" and for the sake of that war a supplication was made through the city, and the G.o.ds were implored that the war which the Roman people had decreed might have a prosperous and fortunate issue. The forces were thus divided between the consuls. To Semp.r.o.nius two legions were given, (each of these consisted of four thousand infantry and three hundred horse,) and sixteen thousand of the infantry of the allies, and one thousand eight hundred horse: one hundred and sixty ships of war, and twelve light galleys. With these land and sea forces Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius was despatched to Sicily, in order to transport his army to Africa if the other consul should be able to prevent the Carthaginian from invading Italy. Fewer troops were given to Cornelius, because Lucius Manlius, the praetor, also had been sent with no weak force into Gaul. The number of ships in particular was reduced to Cornelius. Sixty of five banks of oars were a.s.signed to him, (for they did not believe that the enemy would come by sea, or would fight after that mode of warfare,) and two Roman legions with their regular cavalry, and fourteen thousand of the infantry of the allies, with one thousand six hundred horse. The province of Gaul being not as yet exposed to the Carthaginian invasion, had, in the same year, two Roman legions, ten thousand allied infantry, one thousand allied cavalry, and six hundred Roman.

18. These preparations having been thus made, in order that every thing that was proper might be done before they commenced war, they send Quintus Fabius, Marcus Livius, Lucius Aemilius, Caius Licinius, and Quintus Baebius, men of advanced years, as amba.s.sadors into Africa, to inquire of the Carthaginians if Hannibal had laid siege to Saguntum by public authority; and if they should confess it, as it seemed probable they would, and defend it as done by public authority, to declare war against the people of Carthage. After the Romans arrived at Carthage, when an audience of the senate was given them, and Quintus Fabius had addressed no further inquiry than the one with which they had been charged, then one of the Carthaginians replied: "Even your former emba.s.sy, O Romans, was precipitate, when you demanded Hannibal to be given up, as attacking Saguntum on his own authority: but your present emba.s.sy, though so far milder in words, is in fact more severe. For then Hannibal was both accused, and required to be delivered up: now both a confession of wrong is exacted from us, and, as though we had confessed, rest.i.tution is immediately demanded.

But I think that the question is not, whether Saguntum was attacked by private or public authority, but whether it was with right or wrong.

For in the case of our citizen, the right of inquiry, whether he has acted by his own pleasure or ours, and the punishment also, belongs to us. The only dispute with you is, whether it was allowed to be done by the treaty. Since, therefore, it pleases you that a distinction should be made between what commanders do by public authority, and what on their own suggestion, there was a treaty between us made by the consul Lutatius; in which, though provision was made for the allies of both, there is no provision made for the Saguntines, for they were not as yet your allies. But in that treaty which was made with Hasdrubal, the Saguntines are excepted; against which I am going to say nothing but what I have learned from you. For you denied that you were bound by the treaty which Caius Lutatius the consul first made with us, because that it had neither been made by the authority of the senate nor the command of the people; and another treaty was therefore concluded anew by public authority. If your treaties do not bind you unless they are made by your authority and your commands, neither can the treaty of Hasdrubal, which he made without our knowledge, be binding on us.

Cease, therefore, to make mention of Saguntum and the Iberus, and let your mind at length bring forth that with which it has long been in labour." Then the Roman, having formed a fold in his robe, said, "Here we bring to you peace and war; take which you please." On this speech they exclaimed no less fiercely in reply: "he might give which he chose;" and when he again, unfolding his robe, said "he gave war,"

they all answered that "they accepted it, and would maintain it with the same spirit with which they accepted it."

19. This direct inquiry and denunciation of war seemed more consistent with the dignity of the Roman people, both before and now, especially when Saguntum was destroyed, than to cavil in words about the obligation of treaties. For if it was a subject for a controversy of words, in what was the treaty of Hasdrubal to be compared with the former treaty of Lutatius, which was altered? Since in the treaty of Lutatius, was expressly added, "that it should only be held good if the people sanctioned it;" but in the treaty of Hasdrubal, neither was there any such exception; and that treaty during its life had been so established by the silence of so many years, that not even after the death of its author was any change made in it. Although even were they to abide by the former treaty, there had been sufficient provision made for the Saguntines by excepting the allies of both states; for neither was it added, "those who then were," nor "those who should afterwards be admitted." and since it is allowable to admit new allies, who could think it proper, either that no people should be received for any services into friendship? or that, being received under protection, they should not be defended? It was only stipulated, that the allies of the Carthaginians should not be excited to revolt, nor, revolting of their own accord, be received. The Roman amba.s.sadors, according as they had been commanded at Rome, pa.s.sed over from Carthage into Spain, in order to visit the nations, and either to allure them into an alliance, or dissuade them from joining the Carthaginians. They came first to the Bargusii, by whom having been received with welcome, because they were weary of the Carthaginian government, they excited many of the states beyond the Iberus to the desire of a revolution. Thence they came to the Volciani, whose reply being celebrated through Spain, dissuaded the other states from an alliance with the Romans; for thus the oldest member in their council made answer: "What sense of shame have ye, Romans, to ask of us that we should prefer your friendship to that of the Carthaginians, when you, their allies, betrayed the Saguntines with greater cruelty than that with which the Carthaginians, their enemies, destroyed them?

There, methinks, you should look for allies, where the ma.s.sacre of Saguntum is unknown. The ruins of Saguntum will remain a warning as melancholy as memorable to the states of Spain, that no one should confide in the faith or alliance of Rome." Having been then commanded to depart immediately from the territory of the Volciani, they afterwards received no kinder words from any of the councils of Spain: they therefore pa.s.s into Gaul, after having gone about through Spain to no purpose.

20. Among the Gauls a new and alarming spectacle was seen, by reason of their coming (such is the custom of the nation) in arms to the a.s.sembly. When, extolling in their discourse the renown and valour of the Roman people, and the wide extent of their empire, they had requested that they would refuse a pa.s.sage through their territory and cities to the Carthaginian invading Italy; such laughter and yelling is said to have arisen, that the youths were with difficulty composed to order by the magistrates and old men. So absurd and shameless did the request seem, to propose that the Gauls, rather than suffer the war to pa.s.s on to Italy, should turn it upon themselves and expose their own lands to be laid waste instead of those of others. When the tumult was at length allayed, answer was returned to the amba.s.sadors, "that they had neither experienced good from the Romans, nor wrong from the Carthaginians, on account of which they should either take up arms in behalf of the Romans, or against the Cathaginians. On the contrary, they had heard that men of their nation had been driven from the lands and confines of Italy by the Roman people, that they had to pay a tribute, and suffered other indignities." Nearly the same was said and heard in the other a.s.semblies of Gaul; nor did they hear any thing friendly or pacific before they came to Ma.r.s.eilles. There, every thing found out by the care and fidelity of the allies was made known to them--"that the minds of the Gauls had been already prepossessed by Hannibal, but that not even by him would that nation be found very tractable, (so fierce and untameable are their dispositions,) unless the affections of the chiefs should every now and then be conciliated with gold, of which that people are most covetous." Having thus gone round through the tribes of Spain and Gaul, the amba.s.sadors return to Rome not long after the consuls had set out for their provinces. They found the whole city on tiptoe in expectation of war, the report being sufficiently confirmed, that the Carthaginians had already pa.s.sed the Iberus.

21. Hannibal, after the taking of Saguntum, had retired to New Carthage into winter quarters; and there, having heard what had been done and decreed at Rome and Carthage, and that he was not only the leader, but also the cause of the war, after having divided and sold the remains of the plunder, thinking there ought to be no longer delay, he calls together and thus addresses his soldiers of the Spanish race: "I believe, tribes, that even you yourselves perceive that, all the tribes of Spain having been reduced to peace, we must either conclude our campaigns and disband our armies, or transfer the war into other regions: for thus these nations will flourish amid the blessings not only of peace, but also of victory, if we seek from other countries spoils and renown. Since, therefore, a campaign far from home soon awaits you, and it is uncertain when you shall again see your homes, and all that is there dear to you, if any one of you wishes to visit his friends, I grant him leave of absence. I give you orders to be here at the beginning of spring, that, with the good a.s.sistance of the G.o.ds, we may enter on a war which will prove one of great glory and spoil." This power of visiting their homes, voluntarily offered, was acceptable to almost all, already longing to see their friends, and foreseeing in future a still longer absence Repose through the whole season of winter, between toils already undergone and those that were soon to be endured, repaired the vigour of their bodies and minds to encounter all difficulties afresh. At the beginning of spring they a.s.sembled according to command. Hannibal, when he had reviewed the auxiliaries of all the nations, having gone to Gades, performs his vows to Hercules; and binds himself by new vows, provided his other projects should have a prosperous issue. Then dividing his care at the same time between the offensive and defensive operations of the war, lest while he was advancing on Italy by a land journey through Spain and Gaul, Africa should be unprotected and exposed to the Romans from Sicily, he resolved to strengthen it with a powerful force. For this purpose he requested a reinforcement from Africa, chiefly of light-armed spearmen, in order that the Africans might serve in Spain, and the Spaniards in Africa, each likely to be a better soldier at a distance from home, as if bound by mutual pledges.

He sent into Africa thirteen thousand eight hundred and fifty targetteers, eight hundred and seventy Balearic slingers, and one thousand two hundred hors.e.m.e.n, composed of various nations. He orders these forces partly to be used as a garrison for Carthage and partly to be distributed through Africa: at the same time having sent commissaries into the different states, he orders four thousand chosen youth whom they had levied to be conducted to Carthage, both as a garrison and as hostages.

22. Thinking also that Spain ought not to be neglected (and the less because he was aware that it had been traversed by the Roman amba.s.sadors, to influence the minds of the chiefs,) he a.s.signs that province to his brother Hasdrubal, a man of active spirit, and strengthens him chiefly with African troops: eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty African infantry, three hundred Ligurians, and five hundred Balearians. To these forces of infantry were added four hundred hors.e.m.e.n of the Libyphoenicians, a mixed race of Carthaginians and Africans; of the Numidians and Moors, who border on the ocean, to the number of one thousand eight hundred, and a small band of Ilergetes from Spain, amounting to two hundred horse: and, that no description of land force might be wanting, fourteen elephants. A fleet was given him besides to defend the sea-coast, (because it might be supposed that the Romans would then fight in the same mode of warfare by which they had formerly prevailed,) fifty quinqueremes, two quadriremes, five triremes: but only thirty-two quinqueremes and five triremes were properly fitted out and manned with rowers. From Gades he returned to the winter quarters of the army at Carthage; and thence setting out, he led his forces by the city Etovissa to the Iberus and the sea-coast. There, it is reported, a youth of divine aspect was seen by him in his sleep, who said, "that he was sent by Jupiter as the guide of Hannibal into Italy, and that he should, therefore, follow him, nor in any direction turn his eyes away from him." At first he followed in terror, looking no where, either around or behind: afterwards, through the curiosity of the human mind, when he revolved in his mind what that could be on which he was forbidden to look back, he could not restrain his eyes; then he beheld behind him a serpent of wonderful size moving along with an immense destruction of trees and bushes, and after it a cloud following with thunderings from the skies; and that then inquiring "what was that great commotion, and what the cause of the prodigy," he heard in reply: "That it was the devastation of Italy: that he should continue to advance forward, nor inquire further, but suffer the fates to remain in obscurity."

23. Cheered by this vision, he transported his forces in three divisions across the Iberus, having sent emissaries before him to conciliate by gifts the minds of the Gauls, in the quarter through which his army was to be led, and to examine the pa.s.ses of the Alps.

He led ninety thousand infantry and twelve thousand cavalry across the Iberus. He then subdued the Ilergetes, the Bargusii, the Ausetani, and that part of Lacetania which lies at the foot of the Pyrenaean mountains; and he placed Hanno in command over all this district, that the narrow gorges which connect Spain with Gaul might be under his power. Ten thousand infantry, and a thousand cavalry, were given to Hanno for the defence of the country he was to occupy. After the army began to march through the pa.s.ses of the Pyrenees, and a more certain rumour of the Roman war spread through the barbarians, three thousand of the Carpetanian infantry turned back: it clearly appeared that they were not so much swayed by the prospect of the war as by the length of the journey and the insuperable pa.s.sage of the Alps. Hannibal, because it was hazardous to recall or detain them by force, lest the fierce minds of the rest might also be irritated, sent home above seven thousand men, whom also he had observed to be annoyed with the service, pretending that the Carpetani had also been dismissed by him.

24. Then, lest delay and ease might unsettle their minds, he crosses the Pyrenees with the rest of his forces, and pitches his camp at the town Illiberis. The Gauls, though they had heard that the war was directed against Italy, yet because there was a report that the Spaniards on the other side of the Pyrenees had been reduced by force, and that strong forces had been imposed on them, being roused to arms through the fear of slavery, a.s.sembled certain tribes at Ruscino. When this was announced to Hannibal, he, having more fear of the delay than of the war, sent envoys to say to their princes, "that he wished to confer with them; and that they should either come nearer to Illiberis, or that he would proceed to Ruscino, that their meeting might be facilitated by vicinity: for that he would either be happy to receive them into his camp, or would himself without hesitation come to them: since he had entered Gaul as a friend, and not as an enemy, and would not draw the sword, if the Gauls did not force him, before he came to Italy." These proposals, indeed, were made by his messengers. But when the princes of the Gauls, having immediately moved their camp to Illiberis, came without reluctance to the Carthaginian, being won by his presents, they suffered his army to pa.s.s through their territories, by the town of Ruscino, without any molestation.

25. In the mean time no further intelligence had been brought into Italy to Rome by the amba.s.sadors of Ma.r.s.eilles than that Hannibal had pa.s.sed the Iberus; when the Boii asked if he had already pa.s.sed the Alps, revolted after instigating the Insubrians; not so much through their ancient resentment towards the Roman people, as on account of their having felt aggrieved that the colonies of Placentia and Cremona had been lately planted in the Gallic territory about the Po. Having therefore, suddenly taken up arms, and made an attack on that very territory, they created so much of terror and tumult, that not only the rustic population, but even the Roman triumvirs, Caius Lutatius, Caius Servilius, and t.i.tus Annius, who had come to a.s.sign the lands, distrusting the walls of Placentia, fled to Mutina. About the name of Luttius there is no doubt: in place of Caius Servilius and t.i.tus Annius, some annals have Quintus Acilius and Caius Herenrius; others, Publius Cornelius Asina and Caius Papirius Maso. This point is also uncertain, whether the amba.s.sadors went to expostulate to the Boii suffered violence, or whether an attack was made on the triumvirs while measuring out the lands. While they were shut up in Mutina, and a people unskilled in the arts of besieging towns, and, at the same time, most sluggish at military operations, lay inactive before the walls, which they had not touched, pretended proposals for a peace were set on foot; and the amba.s.sadors, being invited out to a conference by the chiefs of the Gauls, are seized, not only contrary to the law of nations, but in violation of the faith which was pledged on that very occasion; the Gauls denying that they would set them free unless their hostages were restored to them. When this intelligence respecting the amba.s.sadors was announced, and that Mutina and its garrison were in danger, Lucius Manlius, the praetor, inflamed with rage, led his army in haste to Mutina. There were then woods on both sides of the road, most of the country being uncultivated. There, having advanced without previously exploring his route, he fell suddenly into an ambuscade; and after much slaughter of his men, with difficulty made his way into the open plains. Here a camp was fortified, and because confidence was wanting to the Gauls to attack it, the spirit of the soldiers revived, although it was sufficiently evident that their strength was much clipped. The journey was then commenced anew; nor while the army was led in march through open tracts did the enemy appear: but, when the woods were again entered, then attacking the rear, amid great confusion and alarm of all, they slew eight hundred soldiers, and took six standards. There was an end to the Gauls of creating, and to the Romans of experiencing terror, when they escaped from the pathless and entangled thicket; then easily defending their march through the open ground, the Romans directed their course to Tanetum, a village near the Po; where, by a temporary fortification, and the supplies conveyed by the river, and also by the aid of the Brixian Gauls, they defended themselves against the daily increasing mult.i.tude of their enemies.

26. When the account of this sudden disturbance was brought to Rome, and the senators heard that the Punic had also been increased by a Gallic war, they order Caius Atilius, the praetor, to carry a.s.sistance to Manlius with one Roman legion and five thousand of the allies, enrolled in the late levy by the consul: who, without any contest, for the enemy had retired through fear, arrived at Tanetum. At the same time Publius Cornelius, a new legion having been levied in the room of that which was sent with the praetor, setting out from the city with sixty ships of war, by the coast of Etruria and Liguria, and then the mountains of the Salyes, arrived at Ma.r.s.eilles, and pitched his camp at the nearest mouth of the Rhone, (for the stream flows down to the sea divided into several channels,) scarcely as yet well believing that Hannibal had crossed the Pyrenaean mountains; whom when he ascertained to be also meditating the pa.s.sage of the Rhone, uncertain in what place he might meet him, his soldiers not yet being sufficiently recovered from the tossing of the sea, he sends forward, in the mean time, three hundred chosen horses, with Ma.s.silian guides and Gallic auxiliaries, to explore all the country, and observe the enemy from a safe distance. Hannibal, the other states being pacified by fear or bribes, had now come into the territory of the Volcae, a powerful nation. They, indeed, dwell on both sides of the Rhone: but doubting that the Carthaginian could be driven from the hither bank, in order that they might have the river as a defence, having transported almost all their effects across the Rhone, occupied in arms the farther bank of the river. Hannibal, by means of presents, persuades the other inhabitants of the river-side, and some even of the Volcae themselves, whom their homes had detained, to collect from every quarter and build ships; and they at the same time themselves desired that the army should be transported, and their country relieved, as soon as possible, from the vast mult.i.tude of men that burthened it. A great number, therefore, of ships and boats rudely formed for the neighbouring pa.s.sages, were collected together; and the Gauls, first beginning the plan, hollowed out some new ones from single trees; and then the soldiers themselves, at once induced by the plenty of materials and the easiness of the work, hastily formed shapeless hulks, in which they could transport themselves and their baggage, caring about nothing else, provided they could float and contain their burthen.

27. And now, when all things were sufficiently prepared for crossing, the enemy over against them occupying the whole bank, horse and foot, deterred them. In order to dislodge them, Hannibal orders Hanno, the son of Bomilcar, at the first watch of the night, to proceed with a part of the forces, princ.i.p.ally Spanish, one day"s journey up the river; and having crossed it where he might first be able, as secretly as possible, to lead round his forces, that when the occasion required he might attack the enemy in the rear. The Gauls, given him as guides for the purpose, inform him that about twenty-five miles from thence, the river spreading round a small island, broader where it was divided, and therefore with a shallower channel, presented a pa.s.sage.

At this place timber was quickly cut down and rafts formed, on which men, horses, and other burthens might be conveyed over. The Spaniards, without making any difficulty, having put their clothes in bags of leather, and themselves leaning on their bucklers placed beneath them, swam across the river. And the rest of the army, after pa.s.sing on the rafts joined together, and pitching their camp near the river, being fatigued by the journey of the night and the labour of the work, are refreshed by the rest of one day, their leader being anxious to execute his design at a proper season. Setting out next day from this place, they signify by raising a smoke that they had crossed, and were not far distant; which when Hannibal understood, that he might not be wanting on the opportunity, he gives the signal for pa.s.sing. The infantry already had the boats prepared and fitted; a line of ships higher up transporting the hors.e.m.e.n for the most part near their horses swimming beside them, in order to break the force of the current, rendered the water smooth to the boats crossing below. A great part of the horses were led across swimming, held by bridles from the stern, except those which they put on board saddled and bridled, in order that they might be ready to be used by the rider the moment he disembarked on the strand.

28. The Gauls run down to the bank to meet them with various whoopings and songs, according to their custom, shaking their shields above their heads, and brandishing their weapons in their right hands, although such a mult.i.tude of ships in front of them alarmed them, together with the loud roaring of the river, and the mingled clamours of the sailors and soldiers, both those who were striving to break through the force of the current, and those who from the other bank were encouraging their comrades on their pa.s.sage. While sufficiently dismayed by this tumult in front, more terrifying shouts from behind a.s.sailed them, their camp having been taken by Hanno; presently he himself came up, and a twofold terror encompa.s.sed them, both such a mult.i.tude of armed men landing from the ships, and this unexpected army pressing on their rear. When the Gauls, having made a prompt and bold effort to force the enemy, were themselves repulsed, they break through where a way seemed most open, and fly in consternation to their villages around. Hannibal, now despising these tumultuary onsets of the Gauls, having transported the rest of his forces at leisure, pitches his camp. I believe that there were various plans for transporting the elephants; at least there are various accounts of the way in which it was done. Some relate, that after the elephants were a.s.sembled together on the bank, the fiercest of them being provoked by his keeper, pursued him as he swam across the water, to which he had run for refuge, and drew after him the rest of the herd; the mere force of the stream hurrying them to the other bank, when the bottom had failed each, fearful of the depth. But there is more reason to believe that they were conveyed across on rafts; which plan, as it must have appeared the safer before execution, is after it the more ent.i.tled to credit. They extended from the bank into the river one raft two hundred feet long and fifty broad, which, fastened higher up by several strong cables to the bank, that it might not be carried down by the stream they covered, like a bridge, with earth thrown upon it, so that the beasts might tread upon it without fear, as over solid ground. Another raft equally broad and a hundred feet long, fit for crossing the river, was joined to this first; and when the elephants, driven along the stationary raft as along a road had pa.s.sed, the females leading the way, on to the smaller

Prev List Next