HKB
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Often appears with: battle and tactics · weather, storms, and the seasons · vulturnus wind · ticinus bridge · supply, logistics, and encampment · strategy and the aims of war · siege and fortification · roman cavalry · reconnaissance skirmish · publius · oath with lamb and flint · mobilization and recruitment
Usually: narrative (5) · description (1) · ambition and its cost (1) · sudden reversal of fortune (1) · detachment (1) · wonder (1)
“O Hercules! how much sooner than I expected, though later than he seemed to desire, hath Minucius destroyed himself!” Plutarch, Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans · vivid
“Did not I tell you, that this cloud which always hovered upon the mountains would, at some time or other, come down with a storm upon us?” Plutarch, Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans · wit
“And that they might know that these promises were certain, holding in his left hand a lamb, and in his right a flint, having prayed to Jupiter and the other gods, that, if he was false to his word, they would thus slay him as he slew the lamb; after the prayer he broke the skull of the sheep with the stone.” Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Books 09 to 26 · vivid
Numidian horse sent to observe the Romans clashes with Roman cavalry; the Numidians rout, and then Boiian ambassadors and Magalus redirect Hannibal toward attacking Italy with the full force despite soldiers’ fear of the Alps and long journey.
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 thre…
Livy describes the opening moves of the Roman-Carthaginian clash: Romans build a bridge over the Ticinus, Hannibal offers rewards, stages a cavalry-initiative, and uses theatrically bound promises to spur battle.
fixed and determined in the minds of you all, I will repeat, you have already conquered: no stronger incentive to victory has been given to man by the immortal gods." 45. When the minds of the soldiers on both sides had been animated to the contest by these exhortations, the Romans throw a bridge over the Ticinus, and, for the sake of defending the bridge, erect a fort on it. The Carthaginian, while the Romans were …
Livy describes Hannibal’s deployment at Cannae—Gallic and Spanish cavalry left, Numidian cavalry right, African-centered infantry—plus the wind and dust conditions favoring the Carthaginians.
light-armed auxiliaries, formed the van. The consuls commanded the wings; Terentius the left, Aemilius the right. To Geminus Sevilius was committed the charge of maintaining the battle in the centre. 46. 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 Spani…
As Minucius’s army collapses under Hannibal’s ambush, Fabius personally watches, then rushes to rescue him by clearing Numidians and attacking the rear, forcing Hannibal to retreat; Hannibal later quips about a storm-cloud.
the danger, and yielding to a flight, which, however, could not end in safety. The Numidian horsemen were already in full victory riding about the plain, cutting down the fugitives. Fabius was not ignorant of this danger of his countrymen; he foresaw what would happen from the rashness of Minucius, and the cunning of Hannibal; and, therefore, kept his men to their arms, in readiness to wait the event; nor would he t…
Numidian reconnoitrers flee after a skirmish with Roman cavalry led by Publius; Hannibal positions cavalry by the sea, detaches preparations for crossing, and keeps elephants and remaining men behind.
[Sidenote: The passage of the elephants.] +46.+ The mode of getting the elephants across was as follows. They made a number of rafts strongly compacted, which they lashed firmly two and two together, so as to form combined a breadth of about fifty feet, and brought them close under the bank at the place of crossing. To the outer edge of these they lashed some others and made them join exactly; so that the whole raft…
Hannibal selects flat, treeless ground beside a stream with an overhanging thorny bank to stage an ambush, assigns Mago with selected cavalry and infantry, and plans a dawn attack to catch Romans unready.
[Sidenote: Hannibal prepares an ambuscade.] +71.+ Now he had some time before remarked a certain piece of ground which was flat and treeless, and yet well suited for an ambush, because there was a stream in it with a high overhanging bank thickly covered with thorns and brambles. Here he determined to entrap the enemy. The place was admirably adapted for putting them off their guard; because the Romans were always s…