The History of Rome; Books Nine to Twenty Six - Titus Livius
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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
assistance of the gods, 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 assembled 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 horsemen, 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
ambassadors, to influence the minds of the chiefs,) he assigns 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 horsemen 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 passes 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 passes 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 passage 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, assembled 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
pass 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 ambassadors of Marseilles than that Hannibal had
passed the Iberus; when the Boii asked if he had already passed 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 Titus Annius, who had come to assign 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 Titus
Annius, some annals have Quintus Acilius and Caius Herenrius; others,
Publius Cornelius Asina and Caius Papirius Maso. This point is also
uncertain, whether the ambassadors 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 ambassadors, 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 ambassadors 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 multitude 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 assistance
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 Marseilles, 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 passage 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 Massilian 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 multitude of men that
burthened it. A great number, therefore, of ships and boats rudely
formed for the neighbouring passages, 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, principally 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 passage.
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 passing 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 passing. The
infantry already had the boats prepared and fitted; a line of ships
higher up transporting the horsemen 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 multitude 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 passage. While sufficiently
dismayed by this tumult in front, more terrifying shouts from behind
assailed them, their camp having been taken by Hanno; presently he
himself came up, and a twofold terror encompassed them, both such a
multitude 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
assembled 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
entitled 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 passed, the
females leading the way, on to the smaller raft which was joined to
it, the lashings, by which it was slightly fastened, being immediately
let go, it was drawn by some light boats to the opposite side. The
first having been thus landed, the rest were then returned for and
carried across. They gave no signs of alarm whatever while they were
driven along as it were on a continuous bridge. The first fear was,
when, the raft being loosed from the rest, they were hurried into the
deep. Then pressing together, as those at the edges drew back from the
water, they produced some disorder, till mere terror, when they saw
water all around, produced quiet. Some, indeed, becoming infuriated,
fell into the river; but, steadied by their own weight, having thrown
off their riders, and seeking step by step the shallows, they escaped
to the shore.
29. Whilst the elephants were conveyed over, Hannibal, in the mean
time, had sent five hundred Numidian horsemen towards the camp of the
Romans, to observe where and how numerous their forces were, and what
they were designing. The three hundred Roman horsemen sent, as was
before said, from the mouth of the Rhone, meet this band of cavalry;
and a more furious engagement than could be expected from the number
of the combatants takes place. For, besides many wounds, the loss on
both sides was also nearly equal: and the flight and dismay of the
Numidians gave victory to the Romans, now exceedingly fatigued. There
fell of the conquerors one hundred and sixty, not all Romans, but
partly Gauls: of the vanquished more than two hundred. This
commencement, and at the same time omen of the war, as it portended to
the Romans a prosperous issue of the whole, so did it also the success
of a doubtful and by no means bloodless contest. When, after the
action had thus occurred, his own men returned to each general, Scipio
could adopt no fixed plan of proceeding, except that he should form
his measures from the plans and undertakings of the enemy: and
Hannibal, uncertain whether he should pursue the march he had
commenced into Italy, or fight with the Roman army which had first
presented itself, the arrival of ambassadors from the Boii, and of a
petty prince called Magalus, diverted from an immediate engagement;
who, declaring that they would be the guides of his journey and the
companions of his dangers, gave it as their opinion, that Italy ought
to be attacked with the entire force of the war, his strength having
been no where previously impaired. The troops indeed feared the enemy,
the remembrance of the former war not being yet obliterated; but much
more did they dread the immense journey and the Alps, a thing
formidable by report, particularly to the inexperienced.
30. Hannibal, therefore, when his own resolution was fixed to proceed
in his course and advance on Italy, having summoned an assembly, works
upon the minds of the soldiers in various ways, by reproof and
exhortation. He said, that "he wondered what sudden fear had seized
breasts ever before undismayed: that through so many years they had
made their campaigns with conquest; nor had departed from Spain before
all the nations and countries which two opposite seas embrace, were
subjected to the Carthaginians. That then, indignant that the Romans
demanded those, whosoever had besieged Saguntum, to be delivered up to
them, as on account of a crime, they had passed the Iberus to blot out
the name of the Romans, and to emancipate the world. That then the way
seemed long to no one, though they were pursuing it from the setting
to the rising of the sun. That now, when they saw by far the greater
part of their journey accomplished, the passes of the Pyrenees
surmounted, amid the most ferocious nations, the Rhone, that mighty
river, crossed, in spite of the opposition of so many thousand Gauls,
the fury of the river itself having been overcome, when they had the
Alps in sight, the other side of which was Italy, should they halt
through weariness at the very gates of the enemy, imagining the Alps
to be--what else than lofty mountains? That supposing them to be
higher than the summits of the Pyrenees, assuredly no part of the
earth reached the sky, nor was insurmountable by mankind. The Alps in
fact were inhabited and cultivated;--produced and supported living
beings. Were they passable by a few men and impassable to armies? That
those very ambassadors whom they saw before them had not crossed the
Alps borne aloft through the air on wings; neither were their
ancestors indeed natives of the soil, but settling in Italy from
foreign countries, had often as emigrants safely crossed these very
Alps in immense bodies, with their wives and children. To the armed
soldier, carrying nothing with him but the instruments of war, what in
reality was impervious or insurmountable? That Saguntum might be
taken, what dangers, what toils were for eight months undergone! Now,
when their aim was Rome, the capital of the world, could any thing
appear so dangerous or difficult as to delay their undertaking? That
the Gauls had formerly gained possession of that very country which
the Carthaginian despairs of being able to approach. That they must,
therefore, either yield in spirit and valour to that nation which they
had so often during those times overcome; or look forward, as the end
of their journey, to the plain which spreads between the Tiber and the
walls of Rome."
31. He orders them, roused by these exhortations, to refresh
themselves and prepare for the journey. Next day, proceeding upward
along the bank of the Rhone, he makes for the inland part of Gaul: not
because it was the more direct route to the Alps, but believing that
the farther he retired from the sea, the Romans would be less in his
way; with whom, before he arrived in Italy, he had no intention of
engaging. After four days' march he came to the Island: there the
streams of the Arar and the Rhone, flowing down from different
branches of the Alps, after embracing a pretty large tract of country,
flow into one. The name of the Island is given to the plains that lie
between them. The Allobroges dwell near, a nation even in those days
inferior to none in Gaul in power and fame. They were at that time at
variance. Two brothers were contending for the sovereignty. The elder,
named Brancus, who had before been king, was driven out by his younger
brother and a party of the younger men, who, inferior in right, had
more of power. When the decision of this quarrel was most opportunely
referred to Hannibal, being appointed arbitrator of the kingdom, he
restored the sovereignty to the elder, because such had been the
opinion of the senate and the chief men. In return for this service,
he was assisted with a supply of provisions, and plenty of all
necessaries, particularly clothing, which the Alps, notorious for
extreme cold, rendered necessary to be prepared. After composing the
dissensions of the Allobroges, when he now was proceeding to the Alps,
he directed his course thither, not by the straight road, but turned
to the left into the country of the Tricastini, thence by the extreme
boundary of the territory of the Vocontii he proceeded to the
Tricorii; his way not being any where obstructed till he came to the
river Druentia. This stream, also arising amid the Alps, is by far the
most difficult to pass of all the rivers in Gaul; for though it rolls
down an immense body of water, yet it does not admit of ships;
because, being restrained by no banks, and flowing in several and not
always the same channels, and continually forming new shallows and new
whirlpools, (on which account the passage is also uncertain to a
person on foot,) and rolling down besides gravelly stones, it affords
no firm or safe passage to those who enter it; and having been at that
time swollen by showers, it created great disorder among the soldiers
as they crossed, when, in addition to other difficulties, they were of
themselves confused by their own hurry and uncertain shouts.