(216 B.C.)
When the news arrived at Rome that the two armies were face to face,
and that skirmishes between advanced parties of both sides were daily
taking place, the city was in a state of high excitement and
uneasiness; the people dreading the result, owing to the disasters
which had now befallen them on more than one occasion; and foreseeing
and anticipating in their imaginations what would happen if they were
utterly defeated. All the oracles preserved at Rome were in
everybody's mouth; and every temple and house was full of prodigies
and miracles: in consequence of which the city was one scene of vows,
sacrifices, supplicatory processions, and prayers. For the Romans in
times of danger take extraordinary pains to appease gods and men, and
look upon no ceremony of that kind in such times as unbecoming or
beneath their dignity.
When he took over the command on the following day, as soon as the sun
was above the horizon, Gaius Terentius[81] got the army in motion from
both the camps. Those from the larger camp he drew up in order of
battle, as soon as he had got them across the river, and bringing up
those of the smaller camp he placed them all in the same line,
selecting the south as the aspect of the whole. The Roman horse he
stationed on the right wing along the river, and their foot next them
in the same line, placing the maniples, however, closer together than
usual, and making the depth of each maniple several times greater than
its front. The cavalry of the allies he stationed on the left wing,
and the light-armed troops he placed slightly in advance of the whole
army, which amounted with its allies to eighty thousand infantry and a
little more than six thousand horse. At the same time Hannibal brought
his Balearic slingers and spearmen across the river, and stationed
them in advance of his main body; which he led out of their camp,
and, getting them across the river at two spots, drew them up opposite
the enemy. On his left wing, close to the river, he stationed the
Iberian and Celtic horse opposite the Roman cavalry; and next to them
half the Libyan heavy-armed foot; and next to them the Iberian and
Celtic foot; next, the other half of the Libyans, and, on the right
wing, the Numidian horse. Having now got them all into line, he
advanced with the central companies of the Iberians and Celts; and so
arranged the other companies next these in regular gradations that the
whole line became crescent-shaped, diminishing in depth toward its
extremities: his object being to have his Libyans as a reserve in the
battle, and to commence the action with his Iberians and Celts.
The armor of the Libyans was Roman, for Hannibal had armed them with a
selection of the spoils taken in previous battles. The shield of the
Iberians and Celts was about the same size, but their swords were
quite different. For that of the Roman can thrust with as deadly
effects as it can cut, while the Gallic sword can only cut, and that
requires some room. And the companies coming alternately--the naked
Celts, and the Iberians with their short linen tunics bordered with
purple stripes, the whole appearance of the line was strange and
terrifying. The whole strength of the Carthaginian cavalry was ten
thousand, but that of their foot was not more than forty thousand,
including the Celts. Æmilius[82] commanded on the Roman right, Gaius
Terentius on the left, Marcus Atilius and Gnæus Servilius, the Consuls
of the previous year, on the center. The left of the Carthaginians
was commanded by Hasdrubal,[83] the right by Hanno,[84] the center by
Hannibal in person, attended by his brother Mago. And as the Roman
line faced the south, as I said before, and the Carthaginian the
north, the rays of the rising sun did not inconvenience either of
them.
The battle was begun by an engagement between the advanced guard of
the two armies; and at first the affair between these light-armed
troops was indecisive. But as soon as the Iberian and Celtic cavalry
got at the Romans, the battle began in earnest, and in the true
barbaric fashion: for there was none of the usual formal advance and
retreat; but when they once got to close quarters, they grappled man
to man, and, dismounting from their horses, fought on foot. But when
the Carthaginians had got the upper hand in this encounter and killed
most of their opponents on the ground--because the Romans all
maintained the fight with spirit and determination--and began chasing
the remainder along the river, slaying as they went and giving no
quarter; then the legionaries took the place of the light-armed and
closed with the enemy. For a short time the Iberian and Celtic lines
stood their ground and fought gallantly; but, presently overpowered by
the weight of the heavy-armed lines, they gave way and retired to the
rear, thus breaking up the crescent. The Roman maniples followed with
spirit, and easily cut their way through the enemy's line; since the
Celts had been drawn up in a thin line, while the Romans had closed up
from the wings toward the center and the point of danger. For the two
wings did not come into action at the same time as the center: but the
center was first engaged because the Gauls, having been stationed on
the arc of the crescent, had come into contact with the enemy long
before the wings, the convex of the crescent being toward the enemy.
The Romans, however, going in pursuit of these troops, and hastily
closing in toward the center and the part of the enemy which was
giving ground, advanced so far that the Libyan heavy-armed troops on
either wing got on their flanks. Those on the right, facing to the
left, charged from the right upon the Roman flank; while those who
were on the left wing faced to the right, and, dressing by the left,
charged their right flank, the exigency of the moment suggesting to
them what they ought to do. Thus it came about, as Hannibal had
planned, that the Romans were caught between two hostile lines of
Libyans--thanks to their impetuous pursuit of the Celts. Still they
fought, tho no longer in line, yet singly or in maniples, which faced
about to meet those who charged them on the flanks.
Tho he had been from the first on the right wing, and had taken part
in the cavalry engagement, Lucius Æmilius still survived. Determined
to act up to his own exhortatory speech, and seeing that the decision
of the battle rested mainly on the legionaries, riding up to the
center of the line he led the charge himself, and personally grappled
with the enemy, at the same time cheering on and exhorting his
soldiers to the charge. Hannibal, on the other side, did the same, for
he too had taken his place on the center from the commencement. The
Numidian horse on the Carthaginian right were meanwhile charging the
cavalry on the Roman left; and tho, from the peculiar nature of their
mode of fighting, they neither inflicted nor received much harm, they
yet rendered the enemy's horse useless by keeping them occupied, and
charging them first on one side and then on another. But when
Hasdrubal, after all but annihilating the cavalry by the river, came
from the left to the support of the Numidians, the Roman allied
cavalry, seeing his charge approaching, broke and fled.
At that point Hasdrubal appears to have acted with great skill and
discretion. Seeing the Numidians to be strong in numbers, and more
effective and formidable to troops that had once been forced from
their ground, he left the pursuit to them; while he himself hastened
to the part of the field where the infantry were engaged, and brought
his men up to support the Libyans. Then, by charging the Roman legions
on the rear, and harassing them by hurling squadron after squadron
upon them at many points at once, he raised the spirits of the
Libyans, and dismayed and deprest those of the Romans. It was at this
point that Lucius Æmilius fell, in the thick of the fight, covered
with wounds: a man who did his duty to his country at the last hour of
his life, as he had throughout its previous years, if any man ever
did. As long as the Romans could keep an unbroken front, to turn first
in one direction and then in another to meet the assaults of the
enemy, they held out; but the outer files of the circle continually
falling, and the circle becoming more and more contracted, they at
last were all killed on the field; and among them Marcus Atilius and
Gnæus Servilius, the Consuls of the previous year, who had shown
themselves brave men and worthy of Rome in the battle. While this
struggle and carnage were going on, the Numidian horse were pursuing
the fugitives, most of whom they cut down or hurled from their horses;
but some few escaped into Venusia, among whom was Gaius Terentius, the
Consul, who thus sought a flight, as disgraceful to himself, as his
conduct in office had been disastrous to his country.
Such was the end of the battle of Cannæ,[85] in which both sides
fought with the most conspicuous gallantry, the conquered no less than
the conquerors. This is proved by the fact that, out of six thousand
horse, only seventy escaped with Gaius Terentius to Venusia, and about
three hundred of the allied cavalry to various towns in the
neighborhood. Of the infantry ten thousand were taken prisoners in
fair fight, but were not actually engaged in the battle: of those who
were actually engaged only about three thousand perhaps escaped to the
towns of the surrounding district; all the rest died nobly, to the
number of seventy thousand, the Carthaginians being on this occasion,
as on previous ones, mainly indebted for their victory to their
superiority in cavalry: a lesson to posterity that in actual war it is
better to have half the number of infantry, and the superiority in
cavalry, than to engage your enemy with an equality in both. On the
side of Hannibal there fell four thousand Celts, fifteen hundred
Iberians and Libyans, and about two hundred horse....
The result of this battle, such as I have described it, had the
consequences which both sides expected. For the Carthaginians by their
victory were thenceforth masters of nearly the whole of the Italian
coast which is called _Magna Græcia_. Thus the Tarentines immediately
submitted; and the Arpani and some of the Campanian states invited
Hannibal to come to them; and the rest were with one consent turning
their eyes to the Carthaginians: who, accordingly, began now to have
high hopes of being able to carry even Rome itself by assault.