No More Learning

To them, marching up the first acclivities, the mountaineers appeared occupying the heights overhead ; who, if they had occupied the more concealed valleys, might, by rushing out suddenly to the attack, have occasioned great flight and havoc. Hannibal orders them to halt, and having sent forward Gauls to view the ground, when he found there was no passage that way, he pitches his camp in the widest valley he could find, among places all rugged and precipitous. Then, having learned from the same Gauls, when they had mixed in conversation with the mountaineers, from whom they differed little in language and manners, that the pass was only beset during the day, and that at night each withdrew to his own dwelling, he advanced at the dawn to the heights, as if designing openly and by day to force his way through the defile. The day then being passed in feigning a different attempt from that which was in preparation, when they had fortified the camp in the same place where they had halted, as soon as he perceived that the mountaineers had descended from the heights, and that the guards were withdrawn, having lighted for show a greater number of fires than was proportioned to the number that remained, and having left the baggage in the camp, with the cavalry and the principal part of the infantry, he himself with a party of light-armed, consisting of all the most courageous of his troops, rapidly cleared the defile, and took post on those very heights which the enemy had occupied.
At dawn of light the next day the camp broke up, and the rest of the army began to move forward. The mountaineers, on a signal being given, were now assembling from their forts to their usual station, when they suddenly behold part of the enemy overhanging them from above, in possession of their former position, and the others passing along the road. Both these objects, presented at the same time to the eye and the mind, made them stand motionless for a little while ; but when they afterwards saw the confusion in the pass, and that the
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 49
marching body was thrown into disorder by the tumult which itself created, principally from the horses being terrified, think ing that whatever terror they added would suffice for the destruction of the enemy, they scramble along the dangerous rocks, as being accustomed alike to pathless and circuitous ways. Then indeed the Carthaginians were opposed at once by the enemy and by the difficulties of the ground ; and each striving to escape first from the danger, there was more fight ing among themselves than with their opponents. The horses, in particular, created danger in the lines, which, being terrified by the discordant clamors which the groves and reechoing val leys augmented, fell into confusion ; and if by chance struck or wounded, they were so dismayed that they occasioned a great loss both of men and baggage of every description : and as the pass on both sides was broken and precipitous, this tumult threw many down to an immense depth, some even of the armed men ; but the beasts of burden, with their loads, were rolled down like the fall of some vast fabric. Though
these disasters were shocking to view, Hannibal, however, kept his place for a little, and kept his men together, lest he might augment the tumult and disorder ; but afterwards, when he saw the line broken, and that there was danger that he should bring over his army preserved to no purpose if deprived of their baggage, he hastened down from the higher ground; and though he had routed the enemy by the first onset alone, he at the same time increased the disorder in his own army : but that tumult was composed in a moment, after the roads were cleared by the flight of the mountaineers ; and presently the whole army was conducted through, not only without being disturbed, but almost in silence. He then took a fortified place, which was the capital of that district, and the little vil lages that lay around it, and fed his army for three days with the corn and cattle he had taken ; and during these three days, as the soldiers were neither obstructed by the mountaineers, who had been daunted by the first engagement, nor yet much by the ground, he made considerable way.
He then came to another state, abounding, for a mountain ous country, with inhabitants ; where he was nearly overcome, not by open war, but by his own arts of treachery and ambus cade. Some old men, governors of forts, came as deputies to the Carthaginian, professing, " that having been warned by the useful example of the calamities of others, they wished
vOl. v. —
i
50 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
rather to experience the friendship than the hostilities of the Carthaginians : they would, therefore, obediently execute his commands, and begged that he would accept of a supply of provisions, guides of his march, and hostages for the sincerity of their promises. " Hannibal, when he had answered them in a friendly manner, thinking that they should neither be rashly trusted nor yet rejected, lest if repulsed they might openly become enemies, having received the hostages whom they prof fered, and made use of the provisions which they of their own accord brought down to the road, follows their guides, by no means as among a people with whom he was at peace, but with his line of march in close order. The elephants and cavalry formed the van of the marching body ; he himself, examining everything around, and intent on every circumstance, followed with the choicest of the infantry. When they came into a narrower pass, lying on one side beneath an overhanging emi nence, the barbarians, rising at once on all sides from their ambush, assail them in front and rear, both at close quarters and from a distance, and roll down huge stones on the army. The most numerous body of men pressed on the rear ; against whom the infantry facing about and directing their attack made it very obvious that, had not the rear of the army been well supported, a great loss must have been sustained in that pass. Even as it was, they came to the extremity of danger, and almost to destruction ; for while Hannibal hesitates to lead down his division into the defile, because, though he him self was a protection to the cavalry, he had not in the same way left any aid to the infantry in the rear, the mountaineers, charging obliquely, and on having broken through the middle of the army, took possession of the road ; and one night was spent by Hannibal without his cavalry and baggage.
Next day, the barbarians running in to the attack between (the two divisions) less vigorously, the forces were reunited, and the defile passed, not without loss, but yet with a greater destruction of beasts of burden than of men. From that time the mountaineers fell upon them in smaller parties, more like an attack of robbers than war, sometimes on the van, some times on the rear, according as the ground afforded them advantage, or stragglers advancing or loitering gave them an opportunity. Though the elephants were driven through steep and narrow roads with great loss of time, yet wherever they went they rendered the army safe from the enemy, because
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 51
men unacquainted with such animals were afraid of approach ing too nearly. On the ninth day they came to a summit of the Alps, chiefly through places trackless ; and after many mis takes of their way, which were caused either by the treachery of the guides, or, when they were not trusted, by entering val leys at random on their own conjectures of the route. For two days they remained encamped on the summit; and rest was given to the soldiers, exhausted with toil and fighting ; and several beasts of burden, which had fallen down among the rocks, by following the track of the army arrived at the camp. A fall of snow, it being now the season of the setting of the constellation of the Pleiades, caused great fear to the soldiers, already worn out with weariness of so many hard ships. On the standards being moved forward at daybreak, when the army proceeded slowly over all places entirely blocked up with snow, and languor and despair strongly appeared in the countenances of all, Hannibal, having advanced before the standards, and ordered the soldiers to halt on a certain emi nence, whence there was a prospect far and wide, points out to them Italy and the plains of the Po, extending themselves beneath the Alpine mountains, and said, " that they were now surmounting not only the ramparts of Italy, but also of the city of Rome ; that the rest of the journey would be smooth and downhill ; that after one, or, at most, a second battle, they would have the citadel and capital of Italy in their power and possession. " The army then began to advance, the enemy now making no attempts beyond petty thefts, as opportunity offered. But the journey proved much more difficult than it had been in the ascent, as the declivity of the Alps, being gen erally shorter on the side of Italy, is consequently steeper ; for nearly all the road was precipitous, narrow, and slippery, so that neither those who made the least stumble could prevent them selves from falling, nor, when fallen, remain in the same place, but rolled, both men and beasts of burden, one upon another.
They then came to a rock much more narrow, and formed of such perpendicular ledges that a light-armed soldier, care fully making the attempt, and clinging with his hands to the bushes and roots around, could with difficulty lower himself down. The ground, even before very steep by nature, had been broken by a recent falling away of the earth into a preci pice of nearly a thousand feet in depth. Here, when the cavalry had halted, as if at the end of their journey, it is
52 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
announced to Hannibal, wondering what obstructed the march, that the rock was impassable. Having then gone himself to view the place, it seemed clear to him that he must lead his army round it, by however great a circuit, through the pathless and untrodden regions around. But this route also proved impracticable; for while the new snow of a moderate depth remained on the old, which had not been removed, their foot steps were planted with ease as they walked upon the new snow, which was soft and not too deep ; but when it was dis solved by the trampling of so many men and beasts of burden, they then walked on the bare ice below, and through the dirty fluid formed by the melting snow. Here there was a wretched struggle, both on account of the slippery ice not affording any hold to the step, and giving way beneath the foot more readily by reason of the slope ; and whether they assisted themselves in rising by their hands or their knees, their supports themselves giving way, they would tumble again; nor were there any stumps or roots near by pressing against which one might with hand or foot support himself ; so that they only floundered on the smooth ice and amidst the melted snow. The beasts of burden sometimes also cut into this lower ice by merely tread ing upon it, at others they broke it completely through by the violence with which they struck in their hoofs in their strug gling, so that most of them, as if taken in a trap, stuck in the hardened and deeply frozen ice.
At length, after the men and beasts of burden had been fatigued to no purpose, the camp was pitched on the summit, the ground being cleared for that purpose with great difficulty, so much snow was there to be dug out and carried away. The soldiers being then set to make a way down the cliff, by which alone a passage could be effected, and it being necessary that they should cut through the rocks, having felled and lopped a number of large trees which grew around, they make a huge pile of timber ; and as soon as a strong wind fit for exciting the flames arose, they set fire to it, and, pouring vinegar on the heated stones, they render them soft and crumbling. They then open a road through the incandescent rock with iron tools, and reduce the grades by moderate windings, so that not only the draft animals but the elephants also can be brought down. Four days being spent around the cliff, the draft animals had nearly perished with hunger; for the peaks were almost bare, and what little forage there was, the snows buried up. The
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 53
lower levels have valleys and sunny knolls, and brooks near woods, and still more suitable spots under human cultivation. There the draft animals are turned out to pasture, and rest is given to the men tired out with fatigue duty.
The Escape by the Stratagem of the Oxen.
It happened that on that day Minucius had formed a junction with Fabius, having been sent to secure with a guard the pass above Tarracina, which, contracted into a narrow gorge, over hangs the sea, in order that Hannibal might not be able to get into the Roman territory by the Appian Way's being unguarded. The dictator and master of the horse, uniting their forces, lead them down into the road through which Hannibal was about to march his troops. The enemy was two miles from that place.
The following day the Carthaginian filled the whole road between the two camps with his troops in marching order ; and though the Romans had taken their stand immediately under their rampart, having a decidedly superior position, yet the Carthaginian came up with his light horse, and, with a view to provoke the enemy, carried on a kind of desultory attack, first charging and then retreating. The Roman line remained in its position. The battle was slow, and more conformable to the wish of the dictator than of Hannibal. On the part of the Romans there fell two hundred, on the part of the enemy eight hundred. It now began to appear that Hannibal was hemmed in, the road to Casilinum being blockaded ; and that while Capua, and Samnium, and so many wealthy allies in the rear of the Romans might supply them with provisions, the Cartha ginian, on the other hand, must winter amidst the rocks of Formue and the sands and hideous swamps of Liternum. Nor did it escape Hannibal that he was assailed by his own arts ; wherefore, since he could not escape by way of Casilinum, and since it was necessary to make for the mountains and pass the summit of Callicula, lest in any place the Romans should at tack his troops while inclosed in valleys ; having hit upon a stratagem calculated to deceive the sight, and excite terror from its appearance, by means of which he might baffle the enemy, he resolved to come up by stealth to the mountains at the commencement of night. The preparation of his wily stratagem was of this description. Torches, collected from every part of the country, and bundles of rods and dry cut tings, are fastened before the horns of oxen, of which, wild and
54 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
tame, he had driven away a great number among other plunder of the country : the number of oxen was made up to nearly two thousand. To Hasdrubal was assigned the task of driving to the mountains that herd, after having set fire to their horns as soon as ever it was dark ; particularly, if he could, over the passes beset by the enemy.
As soon as it was dark the camp was moved in silence ; the oxen were driven a little in advance of the standards. When they arrived at the foot of the mountains and the narrow passes, the signal is immediately given for setting fire to their horns and driving them violently up the mountains before them. The mere terror excited by the flame, which cast a glare from their heads, and the heat now approaching the quick and the roots of their horns, drove on the oxen as if goaded by madness. By which dispersion, on a sudden all the surrounding shrubs were in a blaze, as if the mountains and woods had been on fire ; and the unavailing tossing of their heads quickening the flame, exhibited an appearance as of men running to and fro on every side. Those who had been placed to guard the passage of the wood, when they saw fires on the tops of the mountains, and some over their own heads, con cluding that they were surrounded, abandoned their post ; making for the tops of the mountains in the direction in which the fewest fires blazed, as being the safest course ; however, they fell in with some oxen which had strayed from their herds. At first, when they beheld them at a distance, they stood fixed in amazement at the miracle, as it appeared to them, of creatures breathing fire ; afterwards, when it showed itself to be a human stratagem, then, forsooth, concluding that there was an ambuscade, as they are hurrying away in flight with increased alarm, they fall in also with the light-armed troops of the enemy. But the night, when the fear was equally shared, kept them from commencing the battle till morning. Meanwhile Hannibal, having marched his whole army through the pass, and having cut off some of the enemy in the very defile, pitches his camp in the country of Allifae.
Fabius perceived this tumult, but concluding that it was a snare, and being disinclined for a battle, particularly by night, kept his troops within the works. At break of day a battle took place under the summit of the mountain, in which the Romans, who were considerably superior in numbers, would have easily overpowered the light-armed of the enemy, cut off
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
55
as they were from their party, had not a cohort of Spaniards, sent back by Hannibal for that very purpose, reached the spot. That body being more accustomed to mountains, and being more adapted, both from the agility of their limbs and also from the character of their arms, to skirmishing amidst rocks and crags, easily foiled, by their manner of fighting, an enemy loaded with arms, accustomed to level ground and the steady kind of fighting. Separating from a contest thus by no means equal, they proceeded to their camps, — the Spaniards almost all untouched, the Romans having lost a few. Fabius also moved his camp, and passing the defile, took up a position above Allifae, in a strong and elevated place. Then Hannibal, pretending to march to Rome through Samnium, came back as far as the Peligni, spreading devastation. Fabius led his troops along the heights midway between the army of the enemy and the city of Rome, neither avoiding him altogether, nor coming to an engagement. From the Peligni the Carthaginian turned his course, and going back again to Apulia, reached Geronium, a city deserted by its inhabitants from fear, as a part of its walls had fallen down together in ruins. The dictator formed a completely fortified camp in the territory of Larinum, and being recalled thence to Rome on account of some sacred rites, he not only urged the master of the horse, in virtue of his authority, but with advice and almost with prayers, that he would trust rather to prudence than fortune, and imitate him as a general rather than Sempronius and Flaminius ; that he would not suppose that nothing had been achieved by having worn out nearly the whole summer in baffling the enemy ; that physicians, too, sometimes gained more by rest than by motion and action. That it was no small thing to have ceased to be conquered by an enemy so often victorious, and to have taken breath after successive disasters. Having thus unavailingly admonished the master of the horse, he set out for Rome.
The Battle of Lake Trastmenus, b. c. 217.
Hannibal lays waste the country between the city Cortona and the lake Trasimenus with all the devastation of war, the more to exasperate the enemy to revenge the injuries inflicted on his allies. They had now reached a place formed by nature for an ambuscade, where the Trasimenus comes nearest to the mountains of Cortona. A very narrow passage only intervenes,
56 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
as though room enough just for that purpose had been left designedly ; after that a somewhat wider plain opens itself, and then some hills rise up. On these he pitches his camp, in full view, where he himself, with his Spaniards and Africans, only might be posted. The Baliares and his other light troops he leads round the mountains ; his cavalry he posts at the very entrance of the defile, some eminences conveniently concealing them ; in order that when the Romans had entered, the cavalry advancing, every place might be inclosed by the lake and the mountains. Flaminius, passing the defiles before it was quite daylight, without reconnoitering, though he had arrived at the lake the preceding day at sunset, when the troops began to be spread into the wider plain, saw that part only of the enemy which was opposite to him ; the ambuscade in his rear and over head escaped his notice. And when the Carthaginian had his enemy inclosed by the lake and mountains, and surrounded by his troops, he gives the signal to all to make a simultaneous
charge ; and each running down the nearest way, the sudden ness and unexpectedness of the event was increased to the Romans by a mist rising from the lake, which had settled thicker on the plain than on the mountains ; and thus the troops of the enemy ran down from the various eminences, sufficiently well discerning each other, and therefore with the greater regularity. A shout being raised on all sides, the Roman found himself surrounded before he could well see the enemy; and the attack on the front and flank had com menced ere his line could be well formed, his arms prepared for action, or his swords unsheathed.
The consul, while all were panic-struck, himself suffi ciently undaunted, though in so perilous a case, marshals, as well as the time and place permitted, the lines which were thrown into confusion by each man's turning himself towards the various shouts ; and wherever he could approach or be heard, exhorts them, and bids them stand and fight : for that they could not escape thence by vows and prayers to the gods, but by exertion and valor; that a way was sometimes opened by the sword through the midst of marshaled armies, and that generally the less the fear the less the danger. However, from the noise and tumult, neither his advice nor command could be caught ; and so far were the soldiers from knowing their own standards, and ranks, and position, that they had scarce sufficient courage to take up arms and make them ready for battle ; and
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 67
certain of them were surprised before they could prepare them, being burdened rather than protected by them; while in so great darkness there was more use of ears than of eyes. They turned their faces and eyes in every direction towards the groans of the wounded, the sounds of blows upon the body or arms, and the mingled clamors of the menacing and the affrighted. Some, as they were making their escape, were stopped, having encountered a body of men engaged in fight ; and bands of fugitives returning to the battle, diverted others. After charges had been attempted unsuccessfully in every direction, and on their flanks the mountains and the lake, on the front and rear the lines of the enemy inclosed them, when it was evident that there was no hope of safety but in the right hand and the sword ; then each man became to himself a leader and encourager to action ; and an entirely new contest arose, not a regular line, with principes, hastati, and triarii ; nor of such a sort as that the vanguard should fight before the stand ards, and the rest of the troops behind them ; nor such that each soldier should be in his own legion, cohort, or company : chance collects them into bands; and each man's own will assigned to him his post, whether to fight in front or rear ; and so great was the ardor of the conflict, so intent were their minds upon the battle, that not one of the combatants felt an earthquake which threw down large portions of many of the cities of Italy, turned rivers from their rapid courses, carried the sea up into rivers, and leveled mountains with a tremen dous crash.
The battle was continued near three hours, and in every quarter with fierceness ; around the consul, however, it was still hotter and more determined. Both the strongest of the troops, and himself too, promptly brought assistance wherever he per ceived his men hard pressed and distressed. But, distinguished by his armor, the enemy attacked him with the utmost vigor, while his countrymen defended him ; until an Insubrian horse man, named Ducarius, knowing him also by his face, says to his countrymen, " Lo, this is the consul who slew our legions and laid waste our fields and city. Now will I offer this victim to the shades of my countrymen, miserably slain ; " and putting spurs to his horse, he rushes through a very dense body of the enemy ; and first slaying his armor bearer, who had opposed himself to his attack as he approached, ran the consul through with his lance ; the triarii, opposing their shields, kept him off when
58 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
seeking to despoil him. Then first the flight of a great num ber began ; and now neither the lake nor the mountains obstructed their hurried retreat ; they run through all places, confined and precipitous, as though they were blind ; and arms and men are tumbled one upon another. A great many, when there remained no more space to run, advancing into the water through the first shallows of the lake, plunge in, as far as they could stand above it with their heads and shoulders. Some there were whom inconsiderate fear induced to try to escape even by swimming ; but as that attempt was inordinate and hopeless, they were either overwhelmed in the deep water, their courage failing, or, wearied to no purpose, made their way back, with extreme difficulty, to the shallows, and there were cut up on all hands by the cavalry of the enemy, which had entered the water. Near upon six thousand of the foremost body, hav ing gallantly forced their way through the opposing enemy, entirely unacquainted with what was occurring in their rear, escaped from the defile ; and having halted on a certain rising ground, and hearing only the shouting and clashing of arms, they could not know nor discern, by reason of the mist, what was the fortune of the battle. At length, the affair being decided, when the mist, dispelled by the increasing heat of the sun, had cleared the atmosphere, then, in the clear light, the mountains and plains showed their ruin, and the Roman army miserably destroyed; and thus, lest, being descried at a dis tance, the cavalry should be sent against them, hastily snatch ing up their standards, they hurried away with all possible expedition. On the following day, when in addition to their extreme sufferings in other respects, famine also was at hand, Maharbal, who had followed them during the night with the whole body of cavalry, pledging his honor that he would let them depart with single garments if they would deliver up their arms, they surrendered themselves ; which promise was kept by Hannibal with Punic fidelity, and he threw them all into chains.
This is the celebrated battle at the Trasimenus, and recorded among the few disasters of the Roman people. Fifteen thousand Romans were slain in the battle. Ten thousand, who had been scattered in the flight through all Etruria, returned to the city by different roads. One thousand five hundred of the enemy perished in the battle ; many on both sides died afterwards of their wounds.
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
The Battle of Cannae, b. c. 216.
69
The consuls persisted in the same opinions they ever enter tained ; but nearly all acquiesced with Varro, and none with Paulus except Servilius, the consul of the former year. In compliance with the opinion of the majority, they set out, under the impulse of destiny, to render Cannae celebrated by a Roman disaster. Hannibal had pitched his camp near that village, with his back to the wind Vulturnus, which, in those plains which are parched with drought, carries with it clouds of dust. This circumstance was not only very advantageous to the camp, but would be a great protection to them when they formed their line ; as they, with the wind blowing only on their backs, would combat with an enemy blinded with the thickly blown dust.
When the consuls, employing sufficient diligence in explor ing the road in pursuit of the Carthaginian, had arrived at Cannae, where they had the enemy in the sight of them, having divided their forces, they fortify two camps, with nearly the same interval as before, at Geronium. The river Aufidus, which flowed by both the camps, afforded approach to the watering parties of each, as opportunity served, though not without contest. The Romans in the lesser camp, however, which was on the other side the Aufidus, were more freely furnished with water, because the farther bank had no guard of the enemy. Hannibal, entertaining a hope that the consuls would not decline a battle in this tract, which was naturally adapted to a cavalry engagement, in which portion of his forces he was invincible, formed his line, and provoked the enemy by a skirmishing attack with his Numidians. Upon this the Roman camp began again to be embroiled by a mutiny among the soldiers, and the disagreement of the consuls : since Paulus instanced to Varro the temerity of Sempronius and Flaminius ; while Varro pointed to Fabius, as a specious ex ample to timid and inactive generals. The latter called both gods and men to witness " that no part of the blame attached
to him, that Hannibal had now made Italy his own, as it were, by right of possession ; that he was held bound by his col league ; that the swords and arms were taken out of the hands of the indignant soldiers, who were eager to fight. " The former declared " that, if any disaster should befall the legions thus exposed and betrayed into an ill-advised and imprudent
60 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
battle, he should be exempt from any blame, though the sharer of all the consequences. That he must take care that their hands were equally energetic in the battle, whose tongues were so forward and impetuous. "
While time is thus consumed in altercation rather than deliberating, Hannibal, who had kept his troops drawn up in order of battle till late in the day, when he had led the rest of them back into the camp, sends Numidians across the river to attack a watering party of the Romans from the lesser camp. Having routed this disorderly band by shouting and tumult, before they had well reached the opposite bank, they advanced even to an outpost which was before the rampart, and near the very gates of the camp. It seemed so great an indignity, that now even the camp of the Romans should be terrified by a tumultuary band of auxiliaries, that this cause alone kept back the Romans from crossing the river forthwith, and forming their line, that the chief command was on that day held by Paulus. Accordingly, Varro, on the following day, on which it was his turn to hold the command, without consulting his colleague, displayed the signal for battle, and, forming his troops, led them across the river. Paulus followed, because he could better disapprove of the proceeding than withhold his assistance. Having crossed the river, they add to their forces those which they had in the lesser camp ; and thus forming their line, place the Roman cavalry in the right wing, which was next the river ; and next them the infantry : at the extremity of the left wing the allied cavalry ; within them the allied infantry, extending to the center, and contigu ous to the Roman legions. The darters, and the rest of the light-armed auxiliaries, formed the van. The consuls com manded the wings, — Terentius the left, ^Emilius the right. To Germinus Servilius was committed the charge of main taining the battle in the center.
Hannibal, at break of day, having sent before him the Baliares and other light-armed troops, crossed the river, and placed his troops in line of battle, as he had conveyed them across the river. The Gallic and Spanish cavalry he placed in the left wing, opposite the Roman cavalry : the right wing was assigned to the Numidian cavalry, the center of the line being strongly formed by the infantry, so that both extremities of it were composed of Africans, between which Gauls and Spaniards were placed. One would suppose the Africans were
s.
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 61
for the most part Romans, they were so equipped with arms captured at the Trebia, and for the greater part at the Trasi- menus. The shields of the Gauls and Spaniards were of the same shape, their swords unequal and dissimilar. The Gauls had very long ones, without points. The Spaniards, who were accustomed to stab, more than to cut, their enemy, had swords convenient, from their shortness, and with points. The aspect of these nations in other respects was terrific, both as to the appearance they exhibited and the size of their persons. The Gauls were naked above the navel : the Spaniards stood arrayed in linen vests resplendent with surprising whiteness, and bor dered with purple. The whole amount of infantry standing in battle array was forty thousand ; of cavalry ten. The generals who commanded the wings were, on the left, Hasdrubal ; on the right, Maharbal : Hannibal himself, with his brother Mago, commanded the center. The sun very conveniently shone obliquely upon both parties — the Romans facing the south, and the Carthaginians the north ; either placed so designedly, or having stood thus by chance. The wind, which the inhab itants of the district call the Vulturnus, blowing violently in front of the Romans, prevented their seeing far by rolling clouds of dust into their faces.
The shout being raised, the auxiliaries charged, and the battle commenced, in the first place, with the light-armed troops : then the left wing, consisting of the Gallic and Span ish cavalry, engages with the Roman right wing, by no means in the manner of a cavalry battle ; for they were obliged to engage front to front ; for, as on one side the river, on the other the line of infantry hemmed them in, there was no space left at their flanks for evolution, but both parties were com pelled to press directly forward. At length the horses stand ing still, and being crowded together, man grappling with man, dragged him from his horse. The contest now came to be carried on principally on foot. The battle, however, was more violent than lasting ; and the Roman cavalry being re pulsed, turn their backs. About the conclusion of the contest between the cavalry, the battle between the infantry com menced. At first the Gauls and Spaniards preserved their ranks unbroken, not inferior in strength or courage ; but at length the Romans, after long and repeated efforts, drove in with their even front and closely compacted line, that part of
the enemy's line in the form of a wedge, which projected
62
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
beyond the rest, which was too thin, and therefore deficient in strength. These men, thus driven back and hastily re treating, they closely pursued ; and as they urged their course without interruption through this terrified band, as it fled with precipitation, were borne first upon the center line of the enemy ; and, lastly, no one opposing them, they reached the African reserved troops. These were posted at the two ex tremities of the line, where it was depressed ; while the center, where the Gauls and Spaniards were placed, projected a little. When the wedge thus formed being driven in, at first rendered the line level, but afterwards, by the pressure, made a curvature in the center, the Africans, who had now formed wings on each side of them, surrounded the Romans on both sides, who incau tiously rushed into the intermediate space ; and presently extend ing their wings, inclosed the enemy on the rear also. After this the Romans, who had in vain finished one battle, leaving the Gauls and Spaniards, whose rear they had slaughtered, in addition commence a fresh encounter with the Africans, not
because, being hemmed in, they had to fight against troops who surrounded them, but also because,
fatigued, they fought with those who were fresh and vigorous. Now also in the left wing of the Romans, in which the allied cavalry were opposed to the Numidians, the battle was
joined, which was at first languid, commencing with a strata gem on the part of the Carthaginians. About five hundred Numidians, who, besides their usual arms, had swords con cealed beneath their coats of mail, quitting their own party, and riding up to the enemy under the semblance of deserters, with their bucklers behind them, suddenly leap down from their horses, and, throwing down their bucklers and javelins at the feet of their enemies, are received into their center, and, being conducted to the rear, ordered to remain there ; and there they continued until the battle became general. But afterwards, when the thoughts and attention of all were occu pied with the contest, snatching up the shields which lay scat tered on all hands among the heaps of slain, they fell upon the rear of the Roman line, and striking their backs and wounding their hams, occasioned vast havoc, and still greater panic and confusion. While in one part terror and flight prevailed, in another the battle was obstinately persisted in, though with little hope. Hasdrubal, who was then command ing in that quarter, withdrawing the Numidians from the
only disadvantageous,
HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER. 63
center of the army, as the conflict with their opponents was slight, sends them in pursuit of the scattered fugitives, and joining the Africans, now almost weary with slaying rather than fighting the Spanish and Gallic infantry.
On the other side of the field, Paulus, though severely wounded from a sling in the very commencement of the battle, with a compact body of troops, frequently opposed himself to Hannibal, and in several quarters restored the battle, the Roman cavalry protecting him ; who, at length, when the consul had not strength enough even to manage his horse, dismounted from their horses. And when some one brought intelligence that the consul had ordered the cavalry to dis mount, it is said that Hannibal observed, " How much rather would I that he delivered them to me in chains. " The fight maintained by the dismounted cavalry was such as might be expected, when the victory was undoubtedly on the side of the enemy, the vanquished preferring death in their places to flight ; and the conquerors, who were enraged at them for delaying the victory, butchering those whom they could not put to flight. They at length, however, drove the few who remained away, worn out with exertion and wounds. After that they were all dispersed, and such as could sought to regain their horses for flight. Cneius Lentulus, a military tribune, seeing, as he rode by, the consul sitting upon a stone and covered with blood, said to him : " Lucius JSmilius ! the only man whom the gods ought to regard as being guilt less of this day's disaster, take this horse, while you have any strength remaining, and I am with you to raise you up and protect you. Make not this battle more calamitous by the death of a consul. There is sufficient matter for tears "and grief without this addition. " In reply the consul said : Do thou, indeed, go on and prosper, Cneius Servilius, in your career of virtue I But beware lest you waste in bootless commiseration the brief opportunity of escaping from the hands of the enemy. Go and tell the fathers publicly to fortify the city of Rome, and garrison it strongly before the victorious enemy arrive ; and tell Quintus Fabius, individu ally, that Lucius ^milius lived, and now dies, mindful of his injunctions. Allow me to expire amidst these heaps of my slaughtered troops, that I may not a second time be accused after my consulate, or stand forth as the accuser of my col league, in order to defend my own innocence by criminating
64 HANNIBAL AS STRATEGIST AND SOLDIER.
another. " While finishing these words, first a crowd of their flying countrymen, after that the enemy, came upon them ; they overwhelm the consul with their weapons, not knowing who he was ; in the confusion his horse rescued Lentulus. After that they fly precipitately.
Seven thousand escaped to the lesser camp, ten to the greater, about two thousand to the village of Cannae itself; those were immediately surrounded by Carthalo and the cav alry, no fortifications protecting the village. The other con sul, whether by design or by chance, made good his escape to Venusia with about seventy horse, without mingling with any party of the flying troops. Forty thousand foot and two thousand seven hundred horse, with an equal number of citizens and allies, are said to have been slain. Among these both the quaestors of the consuls, Lucius Atilius and Lucius Furius Bibaculus ; twenty-one military tribunes ; sev eral who had passed the offices of consul, praetor, and aedile ; among these they reckon Cneius Servilius Germinus, and Marcus Minucius, who had been master of the horse on a former year and consul some years before ; moreover, eighty, either sena tors, or who had borne those offices by which they might be elected into the senate, and who had voluntarily enrolled them selves in the legions. Three thousand infantry and three hun dred cavalry are said to have been captured in that battle.
The spoils having been gathered for a great part of the day, Hannibal leads his troops to storm the lesser camp ; and first of all interposing a trench, cuts it off from the river. But as the men were fatigued with toil, watching, and wounds, a surrender was made sooner than he expected. Having agreed to deliver up their arms and horses for a ransom of 300 denarii [$50] for every Roman, 200 for an ally, and 100 for a slave, and that on payment of that ransom they should be allowed to de part with single garments, they received the enemy into the camp, and were all delivered into custody ; citizens and allies being kept separate. While the time is being spent there, all who had strength or spirit enough, to the number of four thou sand foot and two hundred horse, quitted the greater camp and arrived at Canusium ; some in a body, others widely dispersed through the country, which was no less secure a course : the camp itself was surrendered to the enemy by the wounded and timid troops, on the same terms as the other was.
THE HAUNTED HOUSE. 66
THE HAUNTED HOUSE. By T. Maccius Plautus. (From ««Mostellaria.
")
[Titus Macciub Plautus, one of the great comic dramatists of the world, was born in Umbria, Italy, probably about B. C. 264 ; died about 184. He and Terence may be called pre-Boman writers; that is, their dramas are not of Roman life, nor do they form even a germ of Roman literature proper (though, midway of the two, Ennius and his followers were laying the foundations of it), but are adaptations — though with genius — of Greek originals. Plautus was very fertile and immensely popular ; some twenty of his plays still survive, entire save a few gaps. Lessing called Plautus' " Captives " the best-constructed drama in existence. The most famous besides this are perhaps the " Miles Glori- osus" (Braggart Soldier), "Trinummus" (Threepenny Piece), "Mentechmi" (Twins), " Aulularia " (Little Pot), " Mostellaria " (Ghost), and " Amphitruo " (Amphitryon). Every comic playwright since his time has borrowed freely from him. Ben Jonson and Shakespeare used the Miles Gloriosus for Captain Bobadil and Ancient Pistol; Moliere took the hint of his "Miser" from " Aulularia " ; Dry den cooked over " Amphitruo " as " The Two Sosias. "]
Dramatis Persona (as far as included in selections) : Theuropides, an Athe nian merchant ; Simo, his neighbor, a grouty old man ; Philolaches, son of Theuropides ; Tranio, his servant ; Grumio, his father's servant ; Phile- matium, his mistress, a slave music girl he has bought ; Soapha, her maid.
Act I. — Scene I.
Enter, from the house of Theuropides, Grumio, pushing out Tranio.
Chrumio — Get out of the kitchen, will you ; out of it, you whip-scoundrel, giving me back-talk among the platters ; march out of the house, you ruin of your master! Upon my faith, if I live I'll be more than even with you in the country. Get out, I say, you kitchen-reek : what are you skulking here
for? Tranio — What the plague are you making a row here before the house for? Do you fancy yourself on the farm? Get out of the house ; be off to the farm. Go and hang your self. Get away from the door. [Striking him. "] There now, was that what you wanted ? —
Grumio [running away] I'm undone I What are you beating me for?
Tranio — Because you need it.
Grumio — I've got to stand it, I suppose. But only let the old gentleman come back ; only let him come back safe, you eating him up while he is gone.
vOL. v. — 6
66 THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
Tranio — Your lies are not even likely ones, you block head, — eating any one up while he is gone I
Ghrumio — Ah, you town wit, you minion of the mob, do you throw the farm in my teeth? Really, Tranio, I believe you feel sure you'll soon be handed over to the mill. Before long, i' faith, Tranio, you'll be adding to the iron-bound race in the country. While you choose, and have the chance, drink on, squander his property, corrupt my master's son, — a most worthy young man, — drink night and day, live like Greeks, buy mistresses, give them their freedom, feed parasites, feast yourselves sumptuously. Was this the old gentleman's injunc tion when he went abroad ? Is it after this fashion he will find his property well husbanded ? Do you suppose this is the duty of a good servant, to be ruining both the estate and the son of his master ? For I do consider him as ruined when he gives himself up to these goings on. One with whom not one of all the young men of Attica was before thought equally frugal or more steady, the same is now carrying off the palm in the oppo site direction. Through your management and your tutoring that has been done.
Tranio — What the plague business have you with me or with what I do? Haven't you got your cattle in the coun
I choose to drink, to intrigue, to keep
try to look after ?
my wenches ; but Ido it at the risk of my own back, not
yours. Q-rumio
—
What brass he talks with! [Turning away in Faugh!
di»gust. ~\
Tranio — But may Jupiter and all the deities confound you,
you stink of garlic, you filth unmentionable, you clod, you goat, you pigsty, you mongrel of dog and goat !
Ghrumio — What do you want done ? It isn't everybody that can smell of foreign perfumes, even if you smell of them ; or that can take their places at table above their master, or live on such exquisite dainties as you do. Keep those turtledoves, fish, and poultry to yourself ; let me enjoy my lot on garlic. You are fortunate ;
good fortune be awaiting me, your bad yourself.
I unlucky. It must be borne. Let my
Tranio — You seem, Grumio, as though you envied me, because I enjoy myself and you are wretched. It is quite my due. It's proper for me to make love, and for you to feed the cattle ; for me to fare handsomely, you in a miserable way.
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
67
Crrumio — O riddle [sieve] for the executioner, as I guess it will turn out : they'll be so pinking you with goads, as you carry your gibbet along the streets one day, as soon as ever the old gentleman returns here.
Tranio — How do you know whether that mayn't happen to yourself sooner than to me ?
Grumio — Because I have never deserved it : you have deserved it, and you now deserve it.
Tranio — Do cut short the trouble of your talking, unless you wish a heavy mischance to befall you.
Grumio — Are you going to give me the tares for me to
take for the cattle ? If you are not, give me the money.
on, still persist in the way you've begun ! Drink, live like Greeks, eat, stuff yourselves, slaughter your fatlings ! I
Tranio — Hold your tongue and be off into the country ; intend to go to the Piraeus to get me some fish for the evening. To-morrow I'll make some one bring you the tares to the farm. What's the matter? What are you staring at me now for, gallows-bird ?
Go
Grumio — I' faith, I've an idea that will be your own title before long.
Tranio — So long as it is as it is, in the meantime I'll put up with that " before long. "
Grumio — That's the way ; and understand this one thing, that what is disagreeable comes much quicker than what you
want. — Tranio
Don't make yourself a nuisance : now then, away
Don't deceive
with you into the country — take yourself off. yourself, you shan't be a hindrance in my way.
[Exit. Not to care one
Grumio [to himself] — Is he really gone ?
straw for what I've said ! O immortal gods, I implore your aid, do cause this old gentleman of ours, who has now been three years absent, to return as soon as possible before every thing is gone, both house and land. Unless he does, only enough remnants to last for a few months are left. Now I'll
I see my master's son, one who has been corrupted from having been a most excellent
[Exit.
II. — Philolaches cornes in, soliloquizes, and remains on one side. ]
be off to the country ; but look I young man.
[Scene
68
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
Scene III.
Enter Philematium and Scapha, with all the requisites for a toilet.
Philematium — On my word, for this long time I've not bathed in cold water with more delight than just now ; nor do I think that I ever was, my dear Scapha, more thoroughly cleansed than now.
Scapha — May the upshot of everything be unto you like a plenteous year's harvest.
Philematium — What has this harvest got to do with my
bathing ? — Scapha
Not a bit more than your bathing has to do with
the harvest. Philolaches [apart]
—
of mine which stripped off all the modesty with which I was
O beauteous Venus, this is that storm
roofed ; through which Desire and Cupid poured their shower into my breast ; and never since have I been able to roof it in. Now are my walls soaking in my heart ; this building is utterly undone. —
Do look, my Scapha, there's a dear, whether this dress quite become me. I wish to please Philolaches my
protector, the apple of my eye.
Scapha — Nay, but you set yourself off to advantage with
pleasing manners, inasmuch as you yourself are pleasing. The lover isn't in love with a woman's dress, but with that which stuffs out the dress.
Philematium
Philolaches [apart] — So may the Gods bless me, Scapha is waggish ; the hussy's quite knowing. How cleverly she under stands all matters, the maxims of lovers, too I
Philematium — Well, now ?
Scapha — What is it ?
Philematium — Why, look at me and examine how this
becomes me.
Scapha — Thanks to your good looks, it happens that what
ever you put on becomes you.
Philolaches [apart] — Now then, for that expression, Sca
pha, I'll make you some present or other to-day, and I won't allow you to have praised for nothing her who is so pleasing to me.
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
Philematium — I don't want you to flatter me.
69
Scapha — Really, you are a very simple woman. Come now, would you rather be censured undeservedly, than be praised with truth? Upon my faith, for my own part, even though undeservedly, I'd much rather be praised than be found fault with with reason, or that other people should laugh at my appearance.
Philematium — I love the truth ;
I wish the truth to be told
I detest a liar.
me ;
Scapha — So may you love me, and so may your Philolaches
love you, how charming you are I
Philolaches [apart] — How say you, you hussy ? In what
words did you adjure? "So may I love her? " Why wasn't " So may she love me," added as well ? I revoke the present. What I just now promised you is done for ; you have lost the
present. — Troth, for my part I am surprised that a Scapha you, per
son so knowing, so clever, and so well educated, are not aware that you are acting foolishly.
Philematium — Then give me your advice, I beg, if I have done wrong in anything.
Scapha — I' faith, you certainly do wrong in setting your mind upon him alone, in fact, and humoring him in particular in this way and slighting other men. It's the part of a mar ried woman, and not of courtesans, to be devoted to a single lover. —
O Jupiter ! Why, what pest is this
Philolaches [apart]
that has befallen my house? May all the gods and goddesses destroy me in the worst of fashions, if I don't kill this old hag with thirst, and hunger, and cold.
Scapha — You are clearly a simpleton in thinking that he'll for everlasting be your friend and well-wisher. I warn you, he'll forsake you by reason of age and satiety.
Scapha —Things which you don't hope happen more fre quently than things which you do hope. In fine, if you cannot be persuaded by words to believe this to be the truth, judge of my words from facts ; consider this instance, who I now am, and who I once was. No less than you are now, was I once beloved, and I devoted myself to one who, faith, when with age
Philematium — I don't want you, Scapha, to be giving me bad advice.
Philematium — I hope not.
70 THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
this head changed its hue, forsook and deserted me. Depend on the same will happen to yourself.
Philolaches [apart] — can scarcely withhold myself from flying at the eyes of this mischief maker.
Philematium — am of opinion that ought to keep myself alone devoted to him, since to myself alone has he given free dom for himself alone.
Philolaches [apart] — ye immortal gods what charm ing woman, and of disposition how chaste By heaven, 'tis excellently done, and I'm rejoiced at that for her sake I've got nothing left.
Scapha — On my word you really are silly.
Philematium — For what reason
Scapha — Because you care for this, whether he loves you. Philematium — Prithee, why should not care for
Scapha — You now are free. You've now got what you
wanted he didn't still love you, as much money as he gave for your liberty he'd lose.
Philolaches [apart] — Heavens, I'm dead man don't torture her to death after the most shocking fashion. That evil-persuading enticer to vice corrupting this damsel.
Philematium — Scapha, can never return him sufficient thanks for what he deserves of me don't you be persuading me to esteem him less.
Scapha — But take care and reflect upon this one thing, you devote yourself to him alone, while now you are at this youthful age, you'll be complaining to no purpose in your aged years. —
Philolaches [apart] could wish myself this instant changed into quinsy, that might seize the throat of that old witch, and put an end to the wicked mischief maker.
Philematium — It befits me now to have the same grateful feelings since obtained it, as formerly before acquired it, when used to lavish caresses upon him.
Philolaches [apart] — May the gods do towards me what they please, for that speech don't make you free over again, and don't torture Scapha to death.
Scapha — If you are quite assured that you will have pro vision to the end, and that this lover will be your own for life, think that you ought to devote yourself to him alone, and put
on wife's coiffure.
Philematium —Just as person's character is, he's in the
I a
if I
I if
it,
a
I
a
aIIII
is ;?
a
O
I
I
I is
if
a
I
it,
I
; if
if it I?
a
!
it !
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
71
habit of finding means accordingly. If I keep a good character for myself, I shall be rich enough.
Philolaches [apart] — By my troth, since selling there must be, my father shall be sold much sooner than, while I'm alive, I'll ever permit you to be in want or go a-begging.
Scapha — What's to become of the rest of those who are in love with you ? —
Philematium They'll love me the more when they see me displaying gratitude to one who has done me services.
Philolaches [apart] — I do wish that news were brought me now that my father's dead, that I might disinherit myself of my property, and that she might be my heir.
Scapha — This property of his will certainly soon be at an end ; day and night there's eating and drinking, and no one displays thriftiness ; 'tis downright cramming.
Philolaches [apart] — I' faith, I'm determined to make trial on yourself for the first to be thrifty ; for you shall neither eat nor drink anything at my house for the next ten days.
Philematium — If you choose to say anything good about him, you shall be at liberty to say it ; if you speak otherwise than well, on my word you shall have a beating instantly.
Philolaches [apart] — Upon my faith, if I had paid sacri fice to supreme Jove with that money which I gave for her liberty, never could I have so well employed it. Do see how, from her very heart's core, she loves me ! Oh, I'm a fortunate man ; I've liberated a patron to plead my cause for me.
Scapha — I see that, compared with Philolaches, you dis regard all other men ; now, that on his account I mayn't get a beating, I'll agree with you in preference, if you are quite satis fied that he will always prove a friend to you.
Philematium — Give me the mirror, and the casket with my trinkets, directly, Scapha, that I may be quite dressed when Philolaches, my delight, comes here.
Scapha — A woman who neglects herself and her youthful age has occasion for a mirror : what need of a mirror have you, who yourself are in especial a mirror for a mirror?
Philolaches [apart] — For that expression, Scapha, that you mayn't have said anything so pretty in vain, I'll to-day give something for your savings — to you, my Philematium.
Philematium [while Scapha is dressing her hair] — Will you see that each hair is nicely arranged in its own place ?
72 THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
Scapha — When you are so nice, do believe that your hair
must be nice. — Philolaches [apart]
Out upon it ! what worse thing can possibly be spoken of than this woman? Now the jade's a
flatterer, just now she was all contradictory.
Philematium — Hand me the ceruse.
Scapha — Why, what need of ceruse have you ? Philematium — To paint my cheeks with it.
Scapha —On the same principle, you would want to be
making ivory white with ink.
Philolaches [apart] — Cleverly said that, about the ink
I applaud you, Scapha.
and the ivory ! Bravo !
Philematium — Well, then, do you give me the rouge. Scapha — I shan't give it. You really are a clever one.
Do you wish to patch up a most clever piece with new daub ing ? It's not right that any paint should touch that person, neither ceruse, nor quince ointment, nor any other wash. Take the mirror, then. [Hands her the glass. ]
Philolaches [apart] — Ah, wretched me ! — she gave the glass a kiss. I could much wish for a stone, with which to break the head of that glass.
Scapha — Take the towel and wipe your hands.
Philematium — Why so, prithee ?
Scapha — As you've been holding the mirror, I'm afraid
that your hands may smell of silver ; lest Philolaches should suspect you've been receiving silver somewhere.
Philolaches [apart] — I don't think that I ever did see any one more cunning. How cleverly and artfully did it occur to the jade's imagination about the mirror !
Philematium — Do you think I ought to be perfumed with unguents as well?
Scapha — By no means do so.
Philematium — For what reason ?
Scapha — Because, i' faith, a woman smells best when she
smells of nothing at all. For those old women who are in the habit of anointing themselves with unguents, vampt up, tooth less old hags, who hide the blemishes of the person with paint, when the sweat has blended itself with the unguents, forthwith they stink just like when a cook has poured together a variety of broths ; what they smell of you don't know, except this only, that you understand that badly they do smell.
Philolaches [apart] — How very cleverly she does under
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
T8
stand everything!