HKB
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Often appears with: battle and tactics · siege and fortification · conquest, plunder, and captives · naval warfare and sea power · military discipline and training · arms, armor, and machines · withdrawal toward apulia · weather, storms, and the seasons · supply, logistics, and encampment · siege of adys · set-piece battle planning · sempronius and cavalry
Usually: narrative (12) · sudden reversal of fortune (4) · curiosity (3) · crisis of belief (1) · the test or trial (1) · detachment (1) · indignation (1)
Hannibal readies his troops with fires, oil, and food after the Romans cross the Trebia, then fields infantry, cavalry, and elephants against Sempronius’s forces as the battle begins.
all, on landing, were so benumbed, that they were scarcely able to hold their arms; and as the day advanced they began to grow faint, both from fatigue and hunger. 55. In the mean time the soldiers of Hannibal, fires having been kindled before the tents, and oil sent through the companies to soften their limbs, and their food having been taken at leisure, as soon as it was announced that the enemy had passed the riv…
Marcellus and Hannibal exchange intense battlefield rhetoric; the Carthaginians retreat under pressure, the Romans win decisively, elephants are killed, prisoners taken, and Hannibal withdraws to winter quarters in Apulia near Arpi.
them to station themselves in reserve, and to carry the wounded out of the field but not take part in the battle, unless they should receive a signal from him. 45. It was a doubtful battle; the generals exerting themselves to the utmost in exhorting, and the soldiers in fighting Marcellus urged his troops to press vigorously on men who had been vanquished but three days before, who had been put to flight at Cumae on…
The Carthaginians shift from Munda to Auringis after Roman victories, but Cneius Scipio is wounded, elephants pierce the rampart, and Rome retakes Saguntum, enslaving and razing the Turditanians’ city.
the siege of Bigerra, a city which was also in alliance with the Romans, was commenced by the Carthaginians; but Scipio coming up, raised the siege without experiencing any opposition. 42. The Carthaginians then removed their camp to Munda, whither the Romans speedily followed them. Here a pitched battle was fought, which lasted almost four hours; and while the Romans were carrying all before them in the most glorio…
After an initial Carthaginian defeat, Hannibal withdraws and marches toward Apulia, while the Romans pursue, fight irregular battles near Venusia, and the narrative notes Nero’s continued tracking of the enemy.
that the enemy had spread themselves like cattle in such disorder throughout the whole plain, that they might be knocked down and trampled under foot before they could be formed. 42. Hannibal had not yet gone out of the camp, when he heard the shout of his troops engaged; and thus roused by the alarm, he hastily led his forces against the enemy. Already had the Roman horse spread terror through the Carthaginian van;…
Two armies face each other for several days without attacking; Scipio manipulates arrangements at dawn, changes troop placement, unleashes cavalry and light troops, and begins a complex battle using reserves, oblique lines, and attacks on flanks.
this battle, the spirits of the Romans were considerably raised, and those of the enemy depressed, yet, for several days following, the horsemen and light-armed troops never ceased from skirmishes. 14. After having made sufficient trial of their strength in these slight engagements, Hasdrubal first led out his forces for battle, and then the Romans also advanced. But both the armies stood drawn up before their rampa…
In the same summer, Romans under Quinctilius Varus and Cornelius fight Mago of Carthage in Insubrian Gaul; Roman plans falter when elephants terrify cavalry, but infantry and legions reform to rout Gauls after Mago is wounded.
were discharged from custody and given back to the king. In addition to these, dwellings, reserved by the state for such purposes, grounds, and entertainment, were assigned to the ambassadors. 18. The same summer during which these decrees were passed at Rome, and these transactions took place in Africa, Publius Quinctilius Varus, the praetor, and Marcus Cornelius, the proconsul, fought a pitched battle with Mago th…
As the march begins, Persians attack ahead of their elephants; Roman legions fight back, bury casualties, fortify camps, repel a cavalry intrusion, and suffer delays, including a Saracen danger near Dura.
Jovian, and it was pronounced that he would ruin everything if he remained in the camp, as he proposed, but that if he quitted it he would have the advantage. 2. And just as we were beginning our march, the Persians attacked us, preceded by their elephants. Both our horses and men were at first disordered by their roaring and formidable onset; but the Jovian and Herculean legions slew a few of the monsters, and made…
As Julian’s army advances toward the Tigris, Persian cavalry harass and eventually surround the Romans; despite fighting at Maronga with elephants and heavy losses, the Romans are slowed by heat and time, while supplies dwindle under retreat.
134, p. 357,) and Zosimus, (l. iii. p. 183.) The two last seem ignorant that their conqueror was retreating; and Libanius absurdly confines him to the banks of the Tigris.] As long as the Romans seemed to advance into the country, their march was observed and insulted from a distance, by several bodies of Persian cavalry; who, showing themselves sometimes in loose, and sometimes in close order, fai…
Hanno attempts to relieve Agrigentum using elephants and staged cavalry provocation, defeats the Romans’ advanced guard, suffers confusion during retreat, and ultimately Hannibal escapes at night to withdraw and save his forces.
[Sidenote: Hannibal escapes by night; and the Romans enter and plunder Agrigentum.] +19.+ He saw that the Romans were reduced by disease and want, owing to an epidemic that had broken out among them, and he believed that his own forces were strong enough to give them battle: he accordingly collected his elephants, of which he had about fifty, and the whole of the rest of his army, and advanced at a rapid pace from H…
Marcus conducts raids against unwalled towns, besieges Adys, and defeats the Carthaginians after they misplace themselves on steep ground, nullifying elephants and cavalry and leading to Roman plunder of the countryside.
[Sidenote: Defeat of the Carthaginians near Adys.] A few days afterwards Marcus sallied forth on one of his marauding expeditions. Such towns as were unwalled he carried by assault and plundered, and such as were walled he besieged. Among others he came to the considerable town of Adys, and having placed his troops round it was beginning with all speed to raise siege works. The Carthaginians were both eager to relie…
Roman cavalry retreats under Carthaginian pressure, leaving flanks exposed so Hannibal’s spearmen and Numidians strike the Roman sides and reserve rear; after ambush disruption, the Romans’ center breaks toward Placentia.
[Sidenote: The Roman cavalry retreat.] +73.+ When the two forces came within distance, the light-armed troops in front of the two armies closed with each other. In this part of the battle the Romans were in many respects at a disadvantage, while the Carthaginians had everything in their favour. For the Roman spearmen had been on hard service ever since daybreak, and had expended most of their weapons in the engageme…
The elephants are harassed and injure both sides; Hasdrubal’s Libyan center avoids engagement while the Roman wings fight, then midday heat and timing lead the Carthaginian center to retreat and flee.
[Sidenote: The elephants.] +24.+ When these troops were at close quarters the elephants were severely handled, being wounded and harassed on every side by the velites and cavalry, and did as much harm to their friends as to their foes; for they rushed about promiscuously and killed every one that fell in their way on either side alike. As to the infantry,—the Carthaginian wings began to be broken, but the centre occ…