5

stravit: Hic erit locus,' Magoni fratri ait, quem teneas. U. C. 536. 'Delige centenos viros ex omni pedite atque equite; cum A. C. 218. quibus ad me vigilia prima venias. Nunc corpora curare tempus est.' Ita prætorium missum1. Mox cum delectis Mago aderat. Robora virorum cerno,' inquit Hannibal: 'sed, ut et numero etiam, non animis modo, valeatis, singulis vobis novenos ex turmis manipulisque vestri similes 'eligite. Mago locum monstrabit, quem insideatis. Hos'tem cæcum ad has belli artes habebitis.' Ita mille equitibus Magoni, mille peditibus dimissis, Hannibal prima luce Numidas equites, transgressos Trebiam flumen, obequitare jubet hostium portis, jaculandoque in stationes elicere ad pugnam hostem: injecto deinde certamine cedendo sensim citra flumen pertrahere. Hæc mandata Numidis. Ceteris ducibus peditum equitumque præceptum, ut prandere omnes juberent: armatos deinde, instratisque equis, signum exspectare.

Sempronius, ad tumultum Numidarum primum omnem equitatum, ferox ea parte virium, deinde sex millia peditum, postremo omnes copias ad destinatum jam ante consilio', avidus certaminis, eduxit. Erat forte brumæ tempus et nivalis dies in locis Alpibus Apenninoque interjectis, propinquitate etiam fluminum ac paludium prægelidis. Ad hoc raptim eductis hominibus atque equis, non capto ante cibo, non ope ulla ad arcendum frigus adhibita, nihil caloris inerat: et quicquid auræ fluminis' appropinquabant, afflabat

4 Ita prætorium missum.] "On this understanding the council was dismissed."

5 Robora virorum, &c.] "I perceive strength of men (picked men), and, in order to have strength of numbers also," &c.

6 Injecto-certamine.] "When an engagement was provoked."

Ad destinatum jam ante consilio.] "According to the previously designed arrangement;" or, ad (certamen) jam ante consilio destinatum, "to an encounter previously planned." 8 In locis Alpibus Apenninoque interjectis.] This district (the Milanese) for its climate, soil, and scenery, is the favourite theme of the praises of all travellers in Italy. "The climate," says Eustace, (chap. ii.) "like that of Italy at large, is uniform and serene; but, as the more southern provinces are refreshed, during the sultry season, by a breeze

from the sea, so these plains are
cooled by gales that blow constantly
from the bordering mountains. Hence
the traveller, who has been panting
and melting away in the glowing
atmosphere of Florence and Genoa,
no sooner crosses the Apennines, and
descends into the Milanese, than he
finds himself revived by a freshness
the more agreeable and unexpected,
because he still continues to enjoy
the same unclouded sky and azure
firmament." It may be added, that
no part of Italy, or, indeed, no part
of Europe, has suffered so much, in
proportion to its extent, from those
successive hordes of invaders, whom
the wealth and refinement of the
south attracted across the Alps.

9 Non capto ante cibo.] "With-
out first taking food; without using
any means to counteract the cold."

1 Quicquid auræ fluminis, &c.] "The nearer they approached the breeze from the river, the sharper was the cold that blew upon them."

55.

U. C. 536. acrior frigoris vis. Ut vero refugientes Numidas inseA. C. 218. quentes aquam ingressi sunt, (et erat pectoribus tenus aucta nocturno imbri) tum utique egressis rigere omnibus corpora, ut vix armorum tenendorum potentia essent, et simul lassitudine, procedente jam die, fame etiam deficere. Hannibalis interim miles, ignibus ante tentoria factis, oleoque per manipulos, ut mollirent artus, misso, et cibo per otium capto, ubi transgressos flumen hostes nuntiatum est, alacer animis corporibusque arma capit, atque in aciem procedit. Baliares locat ante signa, levem armaturam, octo ferme millia hominum; dein graviorem armis peditem2, quod virium, quod roboris erat: in cornibus circumfudit decem millia equitum; et ab cornibus in utramque partem divisos elephantos statuit. Consul effusos sequentes equites, quum ab resistentibus subito Numidis incauti exciperentur, signo receptui dato, revocatos circumdedit peditibus. Duodeviginti millia Romani erant, sociûm nominis Latini viginti; auxilia præterea Cenomanorum: ea sola in fide manserat Gallica gens. His copiis concursum est. Prolium a Baliaribus ortum est; quibus quum majore robore1 legiones obsisterent, deductæ propere in cornua leves armaturæ sunt. Quæ res effecit, ut equitatus Romanus extemplo urgeretur: nam quum vix jam per se resisterent decem millibus equitum quattuor millia, et fessi plerisque integris, obruti sunt insuper velut nube jaculorum a Baliaribus conjecta. Ad hoc elephanti, eminentes ab extremis cornibus, equis maxime non visu modo, sed odore insolito territis, fugam late faciebant. Pedestris pugna par animis magis, quam viribus, erat; quas recentes Poenus, paullo ante. curatis corporibus, in prælium attulerat: contra, jejuna fessaque corpora Romanis et rigentia gelu torpebant. Restitissent tamen animis, si cum pedite solum foret pugnatum. Sed et Baliares, pulso equite, jaculabantur in latera, et elephanti jam in mediam peditum aciem sese tulerant et Mago Numidæque, simul latebras eorum improvida præterlata acies est, exorti ab tergo ingentem tumultum ac terrorem fecere. Tamen in tot circumstantibus malis mansit aliquamdiu immota acies, maxime præter

:

2 Graviorem armis peditem, &c.] "All the power and resistance of his more heavily armed infantry."

3 Revocatos circumdedit peditibus.] "When recalled, he posted them on the flanks of the infantry."

4 Quibus quum majore robore, &c.] "And as the legion, with their greater solidity, withstood these."

5 Nam quum vix jam, &c.] "For, as four thousand men, and these

exhausted, were already scarcely
able, of themselves, to resist ten
thousand, for the most part fresh,
they were further overpowered," &c.
6 Eminentes ab extremis corni-
bus.]
"Adding still more to the
length of the wings."

7 Jejuna fessaque, &c.] "The bodies of the Romans, hungry and weary and stiff with cold, were benumbed."

56.

spem omnium adversus elephantos. Eos velites, ad id U C. 536. ipsum locati, verutis conjectis et avertere, et insecuti A. C. 218. aversos sub caudis, qua maxime molli cute vulnera accipiunt, fodiebant. Trepidantes propeque jam in suos consternatos media acie in extremam, ad sinistrum cornu, adversus Gallos auxiliares agi jussit Hannibal. Extemplo haud dubiam fecere fugam. Additus quoque novus terror Romanis, ut fusa auxilia sua viderunt. Itaque, quum jam in orbem pugnarent, decem millia ferme hominum, quum alia evadere nequissent, media Afrorum acie, quæ Gallicis auxiliis firmata erat, cum ingenti cæde hostium perrupere: et, quum neque in castra reditus esset flumine interclusis, neque præ imbri satis decernere possent, qua suis opem ferrent, Placentiam recto itinere perrexere. Plures deinde in omnes partes eruptiones facta: et, qui flumen petiere, aut gurgitibus absumpti sunt, aut inter cunctationem ingrediendi ab hostibus oppressi. Qui passim per agros fuga sparsi erant, vestigia cedentis sequentes agminis, Placentiam contendere: aliis timor hostium audaciam ingrediendi flumen fecit, transgressique in castra pervenerunt. Imber nive mixtus, et intoleranda vis frigoris, et homines multos, et jumenta, et elephantos prope omnes, absumpsit. Finis insequendi hostis Poenis flumen Trebia fuit: et ita torpentes gelu in castra rediere, ut vix lætitiam victoriæ sentirent. Itaque nocte insequenti, quum præsidium cas

8 Velites.] The use of this name here is, technically speaking, a prolepsis; as Velites were not formally established in the Roman army, until the siege of Capua. (See 1. xxvi. c. 44.)

Chap. lvi. In order to understand the topography of the battle on the Trebia, it is necessary to remember, that Hannibal was stationed between the rivers (Trebia and Padus), and the Romans at the further side of the Trebia, which thus separated the two armies, (erat in medio rivus). On the bank at his own side, Hannibal laid the ambush described in chap. liv; and in order to provoke the Romans to come across the river at that point, he sent over his cavalry to menace the camp, and retreat when pursued. In following the Carthaginian cavalry back through the river, the Romans (cavalry and infantry) became disabled by cold, and, as the day advanced, by hunger. As soon as the Romans advanced sufficiently to have the ambuscade

on their rear, the additional assault
from behind completed the rout
already impending. Hannibal's tac-
tics during the engagement were an
attack on the Roman infantry by
the Baleares, and (when this was
resisted) the removal of those light
skirmishers to the flanks, where
they galled the Roman cavalry,
already inconvenienced by the ele-
phants: finally, after the assault on
the rear, and the repulse of the ele-
phants, a charge of these animals on
the Gallic (Roman) allies. This
movement completed the dispersion
of the Romans, who, fearing to enter
the river a second time, retreated in
the direction of Piacenza, with the
exception of a small number collected
by Scipio, and led to Cremona.

9 Trepidantes propeque jam, &c.]
"As they (the elephants) were just
now running wildly among their
owners, now in disorder, Hannibal
ordered them to be driven from
centre to flank against the Gallic
auxiliaries on the left wing."

U. C. 536. trorum, et quod reliquum ex magna parte militum erat, A. C. 218. ratibus Trebiam trajicerent, aut nihil sensere, obstrepente

57.

pluvia; aut, quia jam moveri præ lassitudine nequibant ac vulneribus, sentire sese dissimularunt: quietisque Pœnis, tacito agmine ab Scipione consule exercitus Placentiam est. perductus: inde Pado trajectus Cremonam, ne duorum exercituum hibernis una colonia premeretur.

Romam tantus terror ex hac clade perlatus est, ut jam ad urbem crederent infestis signis hostem venturum; nec quicquam spei aut auxilii esse, quo portis moenibusque vim arcerent. 'Uno consule ad Ticinum victo, altero ex 'Sicilia revocato, duobus consulibus, duobus consularibus 'exercitibus victis, quos alios duces, quas alias legiones esse, quæ arcessantur.' Ita territis Sempronius consul advenit, ingenti periculo per effusos passim ad prædandum hostium equites, audacia magis', quam consilio aut spe fallendi resistendive, si non falleret, transgressus. Id quod unum maxime in præsentia desiderabatur, comitiis consularibus habitis, in hiberna rediit. Creati consules Cn. Servilius et C. Flaminius.

Ceterum ne hiberna quidem Romanis quieta erant, vagantibus passim Numidis equitibus, et, qua his impeditiora erant, Celtiberis Lusitanisque. Omnes igitur clausi undique commeatus erant, nisi quos Pado naves subveherent. Emporium prope Placentiam fuit, et opere magno munitum, et valido firmatum præsidio. Ejus castelli expugnandi spe cum equitibus ac levi armatura profectus Hannibal, quum plurimum in celando incepto ad effectum spei habuisset, nocte adortus, non fefellit vigiles. Tantus repente clamor est sublatus, ut Placentiæ quoque audiretur. Itaque sub lucem cum equitatu consul aderat, jussis quadrato agmine legionibus sequi. Equestre proelium interim commissum: in quo, quia saucius Hannibal pugna ex

1 Audacia magis, &c.] "Rather through desperation, than with any plan or hope of escaping detection; or, in case he should escape, of making resistance.”

2 Qua his impeditiora erant.] "And where the ground was too uneven for these," (sc. the Numidians.)

3 Celtiberis.] The Celtiberians were a mixed race, between the Celts and the Iberians. The latter hold the rank of Aborigines, having been found in Spain by the Phonicians. Their descendants and representatives at the present day are

the Basques, inhabiting Guipuscoa, Biscay, Alava, Navarre, and the country between the Bidassoa and the Adour.

Emporium ] "A depôt." Several of those stations subsequently retained this as a proper name: e. g. the Emporia (now Ampurias) in Spain, from which Hannibal began his march.

5 Quum plurimum in celando incepto, &c.] "Though he had his best hope of success in concealing his purpose, and made his attack in the night, he did not elude the vigilance of the guards."

cessit, pavore hostibus injecto, defensum egregie præsi- U. C. 536. dium est. Paucorum inde dierum quiete sumpta, et vixdum A. C. 218. satis percurato vulnere, ad Victumvias ire pergit oppugnandas. Id emporium a Romanis Gallico bello fuerat munitum. Inde' locum frequentaverant accolæ mixti undique ex finitimis populis; et tum terror populationum eo plerosque ex agris compulerat. Hujus generis multitudo, fama impigre defensi ad Placentiam præsidii accensa, armis arreptis obviam Hannibali procedit. Magis agmina, quam acies, in via concurrerunt; et, quum ex altera parte nihil, præter inconditam turbam, esset, in altera et dux militi, et duci fidens miles, ad triginta quinque millia hominum a paucis fusa. Postero die, deditione facta, præsidium intra moenia accepere: jussique arma tradere quum dicto paruissent', signum repente victoribus datur, ut tanquam vi captam urbem diriperent. Neque ulla, quæ in tali re memorabilis scribentibus videri solet, prætermissa clades est2: adeo omnis libidinis, crudelitatisque, et inhumanæ superbiæ editum in miseros est exemplum. Hæ fuere hibernæ expeditiones Hannibalis.

Haud longi inde temporis, dum intolerabilia frigora 58. erant, quies militi data est: et ad prima ac dubia signa veris3 profectus ex hibernis, in Etruriam ducit, eam quoque gentem, sicut Gallos Liguresque, aut vi aut voluntate adjuncturus. Transeuntem Apenninum adeo atrox adorta tempestas est, ut Alpium foeditatem prope superaverit.

6 Gallico bello.] This must have been the war of A. U. C. 464. When the Senones and Boii were defeated by Dolabella and Æmilius Papus.

7 Inde.] "From that time," or possibly, "for that reason," (sc. its being fortified.)

8 Famá impigre defensi &c.] "By the report of the prompt defence of the garrison at Placentia."

9 Magis agmina, quam acies &c.] "They were rather lines of march than lines of battle that met," &c.

66

Jussique arma tradere quum dicto paruissent.] And, although they had obeyed the summons to surrender their arms."

Neque ulla prætermissa clades est &c.] "Nor was any severity omitted that historians consider worthy of record on such an occasion; to such a degree (so unreservedly) was every form of insult, cruelty, and inhuman oppression inflicted upon" &c.

Chap. lviii. The passage of the Apennines, in a less favourable season of the year, appears to have been as disastrous an undertaking for the Carthaginian army as that of the Alps.

"Horrebat glacie, saxa inter Lubrica summo Piniferum cælo miscens caput, Apenninus: Condiderat nix alta trabes, et vertice celso Canus apex structâ surgebat ad astra pruinâ," (Silius Ital. ix. 741.) It was fortunate for the Romans that so formidable a barrier, just at that time, after their defeat on the Trebia, stood between them and their enemy. After the most obstinate efforts, Hannibal was compelled to return to the plain; a respite which gave the Romans time to raise new levies, and organize all their available strength for a fresh struggle.

3 Prima ac dubia signa veris.] "The first undecided (partial) appearances of Spring."

4 Alpium fœditatem &c.] "That