Ancient history

The Carthaginians have the advantage

The Carthaginians have the advantage

Meanwhile Hannibal's soldiers, who had lit fires in front of their tents, limbered up their limbs with the oil distributed to each battalion, and quietly ate their meal, at the news that the enemy had crossed the river, seized their arms, full of ardor and strength, and come to line up in battle. Hannibal places in the front line the Balearics, light troops, which form about eight thousand men; then his infantry, heavily armed, all he has of brave, vigorous warriors:he spreads on the wings ten thousand horses, and, at the head of each he places his elephants. The consul, who sees his cavalry, ardent in pursuit of the disbanded Numidians, suddenly assailed by these same Numidians who suddenly oppose him with a strong resistance, sounds the retreat, recalls it, and distributes it on the two wings. of his infantry, composed of eighteen thousand Romans, twenty thousand allies of Latin name, and a body of Cenoman auxiliaries, the only one of the Gallic nations whose faith had not been contradicted. Such were the two armies marching into battle. The action was taken by the Balearics; but, as the legions presented them with too imposing a mass of forces, these light troops were soon withdrawn to the wings. By this movement, the Roman cavalry was immediately overwhelmed. Indeed, four thousand horsemen, who already by themselves had difficulty in resisting ten thousand Carthaginians, most of them as ready as the Romans were exhausted, found themselves still crushed by a hail of darts hurled at them by the Balearics. With this, the elephants, which protruded the ends of the wings, and whose extraordinary appearance and smell especially frightened the horses, spread disorder far and wide. Between the two infantries, there was rather equality of courage than of vigour; for the Carthaginians, fresh and well fed in advance, struggled with advantage against enemies exhausted with hunger and lassitude, benumbed and paralyzed by the cold. However, the Romans would have resisted, if they had only had to fight infantry:but our cavalry once routed, the Balearics riddled our infantry with arrows on the flanks, and the elephants had already moved on. the center. Soon Mago and the Numidians, who have seen the Romans overrun their secret ambush, arrive from behind, and sow trouble and consternation here and there. However, in the midst of so many evils which threaten it from all sides, our army remained unshakeable for some time, and, contrary to general expectation, sustained above all the shock of the elephants. Velites, arranged for this purpose, turned their backs on them, throwing sharp javelins at them; then, rushing in their tracks, they pierced them under the tail, where their softer skin was more accessible to the iron.