when Hannibal ordered Hanno, one of his most trusted generals, to take a
body of his best troops up the stream, to a place out of sight and sound
of the Gallic camp, where one of the friendly guides had told him that a
passage might be made. The country at this point was lonely, and the
detachment met with no enemies along the road, and no one hindered them
in felling trees and making rafts to carry them to the further bank.
Early next morning they all got across, and then by Hannibal's express
orders rested and slept, for he never allowed his soldiers to fight when
exhausted. Before dawn they started on their march down the left bank,
sending up, as soon as it was light, a column of smoke to warn Hannibal
that everything had gone smoothly, and that he might now begin to cross
himself.
His men were all ready, and without hurry or confusion took their
places. The heavy-armed cavalry, with their corselets of bronze, and
swords and long spears, entered the larger vessels; two men, standing in
the stern of every boat, holding the bridles of three or four horses
which were swimming after them. It must have required great skill on the
part of the oarsmen to allow sufficient space between the boats, so that
the horses should not become entangled with each other, but no accident
happened either to the larger vessels or to the canoes which contained
the rest of the foot.
[Illustration: The Gauls poured out of their camp shouting and screaming
with delight.]
Exactly as Hannibal expected, for he always seemed to know by magic the
faults that his enemy would commit, at the sight of the Carthaginian
army on the river the Gauls poured out of their camp, and crowded to the
bank, shouting and screaming with delight and defiance. There they
stood, with eyes fixed on the advancing boats, when suddenly Hanno's men
came up and attacked them from behind. They turned to grapple with this
unexpected enemy, thus giving Hannibal time to land his first division
and charge them in the rear. Unable to stand the twofold onslaught, the
Gauls wavered, and in a few minutes disappeared in headlong flight.
When the rest of the army was safe on the left bank a camp was pitched,
and orders given for the morrow. Hannibal's great anxiety was for the
passage of the elephants, still on the other side, for the great
creatures on whose help he counted, perhaps more than he should, were
terribly afraid of water. But no man ever lived who was cleverer at
forming schemes than Hannibal, and at last he hit on one which he
thought would do. Five hundred of his light-armed horsemen from the
African province of Numidia were despatched down the river to find out
how many soldiers Scipio had with him, the number and size of the ships
that had arrived, and, if possible, the consul's future plans. Then the
general chose out some men who were specially fitted to manage the
elephants, and bade them recross the river immediately, giving them
exact directions what they were to do when they were once more on the
right bank.
The plan Hannibal had invented for the passage of the elephants was
this.
The men whom he had left on the other side of the Rhone were ordered to
cut down more trees as fast as possible, and chop them into logs, which
were bound firmly together into rafts about fifty feet broad; when
finished, these rafts were standing on the bank, lashed to trees and
covered with turf, so that they looked just like part of the land. The
rafts stretched a long way into the river, and the two furthest from the
bank were only tied lightly to the others, in order that their ropes
might be cut in a moment. By this means Hannibal felt that it would be
possible for the elephants to be led by their keepers as far as the
outermost rafts, when the ropes would be severed, and the floating
platform rowed towards the further shore. The elephants, seeing the
water all round them, would be seized with a panic, and either jump into
the river in their fright and swim by the side of the raft, guided by
their Indian riders, or else from sheer terror would remain where they
stood, trembling with fear. But though the rafts were to be built
without delay, the passage was on no account to be attempted till the
signal was given from Hannibal's camp.
* * * * *
Meanwhile the Numidians on their way down the left bank of the Rhone had
nearly reached the Roman headquarters when they met the party of cavalry
whom Scipio, on his side, had sent out to reconnoitre. The two
detachments at once fell upon each other and fought fiercely, and then,
as Hannibal had directed, the Numidians retreated, drawing the Romans
after them, till they were in sight of the Carthaginian entrenchments.
Here the cavalry pulled up, and returned unpursued to Scipio with the
news that they had defeated the famous Numidian horsemen in a hot
skirmish, and that Hannibal was entrenched higher up the river.
Immediately Scipio broke up his camp and began his march northwards,
which was just what Hannibal wanted.
But at sunrise that same morning the signal had been given for the
passage of the elephants, and the Carthaginians had started on their way
to the Alps, the heavy-armed infantry in front, with the cavalry in the
rear to protect them. Hannibal himself was determined not to stir till
the elephants were safely over, but everything fell out as he expected,
and the whole thirty-seven were soon safe beside him on dry land,
snorting and puffing with their trunks in the air.
Then he followed his main body, and when Scipio, thirsting to give
battle to the enemy he felt sure of conquering, arrived at the spot
where three days before the Carthaginian army had been encamped, he
found it empty.
[Illustration: Hannibal was determined not to stir until the elephants
were safely over.]
Nothing is so necessary to the success of a campaign as having correct
maps and information about the country through which your army has to
pass. Hannibal, who thought of everything, had thought of this also, and
had paid native guides well to lead him to the nearest passes over the
Alps. For four days the Carthaginians marched along the Rhone, till they
reached the place where the river Isère flows into it. The Gallic chief
of the tribes settled in this part of Gaul, being at war with his
brother, was easily gained over by some assistance of Hannibal's in
securing his rights, and in return he furnished the Carthaginians with
stores from the rich lands he ruled, with new clothes and strong leather
sandals, and, more precious than all, with fresh weapons, for their own
had grown blunted and battered in many a grim fight since the soldiers
left Carthagena.
At the foot of the pass leading over the Mont du Chat, or Cat Mountain,
in a lower range of the Alps, the chief bade them farewell, and returned
to his own dominions. It was then that Hannibal's real difficulties
began. His army consisted of many races, all different from each other,
with different customs and modes of warfare, worshippers of different
gods. There were Iberians from Spain, Libyans and Numidians from Africa,
Gauls from the south of France; but they one and all loved their
general, and trusted him completely, and followed blindly where he led.
Still, the plunge into those silent heights was a sore trial of their
faith, and in spite of themselves they trembled.
As they began their climb they found the pass occupied by numbers of
Gallic tribes ready to hurl down rocks on their heads, or attack them at
unexpected places. Perceiving this, Hannibal called a halt, while his
native scouts stole away to discover the hiding-places of the enemy,
and, as far as possible, how they intended to make their assault.
The guides came back bringing with them the important news that the
tribes never remained under arms during the night, but retired till
daylight to the nearest villages. Then Hannibal knew what to do. As soon
as it was dark he seized upon the vacant posts with his light-armed
troops, leaving the rest, and the train of animals, to follow at
sunrise.
* * * * *
When they returned and saw what had happened in their absence the Gallic
tribes were filled with rage, and lost no time in attacking the
baggage-horses, which were toiling painfully over the rough ground. The
animals, stung by their wounds, were thrown into confusion, and either
rolled down the precipice themselves or pushed others over. To save
worse disasters, Hannibal sounded a charge, and drove the Gauls out of
the pass, even succeeding in taking a town which was one of their
strongholds, and full of stores and horses.
After a day's rest he started again, this time accompanied by some of
the enemy, who came with presents of cows and sheep, pretending to wish
for peace, and offered themselves as guides over the next pass. But
Hannibal feared them 'even when they bore gifts,' and did not put much
faith in their promises. He determined to keep a close watch on them,
but guides of some sort were necessary, and no others were to be had.
However, he made arrangements to guard as far as possible against their
treachery, placing his cavalry and baggage train in front, and his heavy
troops in the rear to protect them.
The Carthaginian army had just entered a steep and narrow pass when the
Gauls, who had kept pace with them all the way, suddenly attacked them
with stones and rocks. Unlike their usual custom, they did not cease
their onslaughts, even during the dark hours, and did great harm; but at
sunrise they had vanished, and without much more trouble the
Carthaginians managed to reach the head of the pass, where for two days
the men and beasts, quite exhausted, rested amidst the bitter cold of
the November snows, so strange to many of the army, who had grown up
under burning suns and the sands of the desert.
* * * * *
Cold and tired though they were, hundreds of miles from their homes, one
and all answered to Hannibal's words, entreating them to put their trust
in him, and they should find ample reward for their sufferings in the
rich plains of Italy which could be seen far below them.
'You are now climbing,' he said, 'not only the walls of Italy, but also
those of Rome. The worst is past, and the rest of the way lies downhill,
and will be smooth and easy to travel. We have but to fight one, or at
most two, battles, and Rome will be ours.'
And so perhaps it might have been if Carthage had only supported the
greatest of her sons, and sent him help when he needed it so badly.
* * * * *
Hannibal was wrong when he told his soldiers that their difficulties
were over, for as all accustomed to mountain-climbing could have
informed him, it was much harder to go down the pass than it had been to
come up it. A fresh fall of snow had covered the narrow track, but
beneath it all was frozen hard and was very slippery. The snow hid many
holes in the ice or dangerous rocks, while landslips had carried away
large portions of the path. No wonder that men and beasts unused to such
ground staggered and fell and rolled down the sides of the precipice. At
length the path, barely passable before, grew narrower still; the army
halted, and an active, light-armed soldier offered to go forward, and
discover if the track became wider, and whether it was possible for even
the men to go on. But the further he went the worse matters seemed. For
some distance he managed, by clinging to a few small bushes which had
wedged themselves into clefts of the rock, to lower himself down the
side of the cliff, which was as steep as the wall of a house. Then he
found right in front of him a huge precipice nearly a thousand feet
deep, formed by a recent landslip, which entirely blocked what was once
a path. As long as this rock remained standing it was plain that no man,
still less an army, could get round it.
[Illustration: He found right in front of him a huge precipice.]
Climbing painfully back the way he had come, the soldier at once went
with his report to Hannibal, who instantly made up his mind what to do.
He carried supplies of some sort of explosive with him--what it was we
do not know--and with this he blew up the rocks in front till there was
a rough pathway through the face of the precipice. Then the soldiers
cleared away the stones, and after one day's hard work the oxen, bearing
the few stores left, and the half-starved, weary horses, were led
carefully along, and down into a lower valley, where patches of grass
could be seen, green amidst the wastes of snow. Here the beasts were
turned loose to find their own food, and a camp was pitched to protect
them.
Still, though the path had proved wide enough for horses and oxen, it
was yet far too narrow for the elephants, and it took the Numidian
troops three more days to make it safe for the great creatures which had
struck such terror into the hearts of the mountain tribes. But weak as
they were, the skin hanging loose over their bones, they made no
resistance, and soon the whole army was marching towards the friendly
Gauls, in the valley of the Po.
This was how in fifteen days Hannibal made the passage of the Little St.
Bernard five months after he had set out from Carthagena. But the
journey had been accomplished at a fearful cost, for of the fifty
thousand men whom he had led from the city there remained only eight
thousand Iberians or Spaniards, twelve thousand Libyans, and six
thousand cavalry, though, strange to say, not one elephant had been
lost.
It was well indeed for the Carthaginians that Scipio was not awaiting
them at the foot of the Alps, but was making his way northwards from
Pisa to the strong fortress of Placentia on the Po.
* * * * *
Among the friendly Gallic tribe of the Insubres, to whom Hannibal was
united by the bond of hate of Rome, the troops rested and slept, and the
horses and elephants grew fat once more. The men had had no time to
think of themselves during those terrible weeks, and their health had
suffered from the bitter cold and the wet clothes, which were often
frozen on them. To add to this, their food had been as scanty as their
labour had been hard, for most of their stores lay buried under the
snows of the Alps. But in the rich, well-watered plains of Italy, 'the
country and the inhabitants being now less rugged,' as the historian
Livy tells us, they soon recovered their strength, and besieged and took
by assault the city of Turin, capital of the territory of the Taurini,
who were always at war with the Gallic allies of Hannibal.
With two Roman armies so near at hand the Gauls did not dare to join him
in any great numbers, though they would gladly have flocked to his
standard. Rome itself was filled with consternation at the news that
Hannibal, whom they had expected to fight in Spain, was really in Italy,
and hastily recalled the troops intended for Carthage, which were still
at the Sicilian town of Lilybæum. On receipt of the order, the general
Tiberius instantly sailed with part of the men for Rome, and ordered the
rest of the legions to proceed to Rimini on the Adriatic, bidding each
man swear that he would reach the city by bedtime on a certain day.
If you look at the map and see the distance they had to go, you will be
amazed that they kept their oaths, and arrived at Rimini in four weeks,
marching daily sixteen miles.
* * * * *
Meanwhile Scipio was encamped in Placentia, and Hannibal, who had no
time to lose in besieging such a strong position, was doing his best to
tempt his enemy into the plain, where his own cavalry could have room to
manoeuvre. But instead of remaining in Placentia, and allowing
Hannibal to wear himself out in waiting, the Roman general left the
town, crossed the Po, and advanced towards the river Ticino, where he
ordered his engineers to build a bridge.
It was quite clear that with the two armies so near each other a battle
could not be long delayed, and both commanders took what measures they
thought necessary.
The way which Hannibal took to 'encourage' his army, as the Greek
historian Polybius calls it, was rather a curious one, and reminds us of
the manner in which lessons were taught in some of the old Bible
stories.
While crossing the Alps he had captured a number of young Gauls in the
very act of hurling rocks on the head of his army. Most commanders, both
in that age and for very long after, would have put them to death at
once, but Hannibal, unlike the Carthaginians, was never unnecessarily
cruel, though he put his prisoners in chains and took care they should
not escape. He now ordered these young men to be brought before him and
placed in the centre of his troops, which were drawn up all round. On
the ground near him lay some suits of armour, once worn by Gallic
chiefs, and a pile of swords, while horses were tethered close by.
Making a short speech, he then offered the young men a chance of saving
their lives with honour, or meeting an honourable death at each other's
hands. Would they take it, or would they rather remain prisoners?
A shout of joy answered him.
'Well, then,' said Hannibal, 'you will each of you draw lots which shall
fight with the other, and the victor of every pair shall be given
armour, a horse, and a sword, and be one of my soldiers.'
Pressing eagerly forward towards the urns which held the lots, the
captives stopped to hold up their hands, as was their custom, praying to
their gods for victory. After the lots were all drawn, they took their
places, and under the eyes of the army the combat began. And when it was
finished, and half the fighters lay dead on the field, it was they, and
not the victors, who were envied by the soldiers, for having gloriously
ended the misery of their lives. For in the old world death was welcomed
as a friend, and seldom was a man found who dared to buy his life at the
cost of his disgrace.
[Illustration: Under the eyes of the army the combat began.]
'The struggle between the captives,' said Hannibal to his army, 'is an
emblem of the struggle between Carthage and Rome. The prize of the
victors will be the city of Rome, and to those who fall will belong the
crown of a painless death while fighting for their country. Let every
man come to the battlefield resolved, if he can, to conquer, and if not
to die.'
* * * * *
It was in this spirit that Hannibal trained his troops and led them to
battle. He never made light of the difficulties that lay before him, or
the dogged courage of the Romans, who rose up from every defeat with
a fresh determination to be victorious. One advantage they had over
Hannibal, and it could hardly be valued too highly. Though the councils
of the senate who sent forth the troops might be divided, though the
consuls who commanded them might be jealous of each other, yet the great
mass of the army consisted of one nation, who together had fought for
years under the eagles of Rome.
Hannibal, on the other hand, had to deal with soldiers of a number of
different races, and his latest recruits, the Gauls, though eager and
courageous, could not be depended upon in battle. When to this is added
the fact that Hannibal was in a country which he did not know, among a
people who feared Rome even while they hated her, and would desert him
at the first sign of defeat; that he had to provide daily for the wants
of both men and animals, and that for sixteen years he remained in Italy
with a dwindling army, striking terror into the hearts of the bravest of
the Romans, you may have some little idea of the sort of man he was.
Well may an historian say that the second Punic war was the struggle of
a great man against a great nation. Take away Hannibal, and the
Carthaginian forces were at the mercy of Rome.
We have no space to describe the various battles in the valley of the
Po, in which Hannibal was always the victor. At the river Trebia he
defeated Scipio in December 218, by aid of the strategy which never
failed, till he taught his enemies how to employ it against himself.
Hannibal was a man who never left anything to chance, and whether his
generals were trusted to draw the enemy from a strong position into the
open field, or to decoy it into an ambuscade, everything was foreseen,
and as far as possible provided against. He took care that his troops
and his animals should go into action fresh, well-fed, and well-armed,
and more than once had the wounds of both horses and men washed with
old wine after a battle. That tired soldiers cannot fight was a truth he
never forgot or neglected.
During the winter months following the victory of Trebia, Hannibal
pitched his camp in the territories of his Gallic allies, and busied
himself with making friendly advances to the Italian cities which had
been forced to acknowledge the headship of Rome. 'He had not come to
fight against them,' he said, 'but against Rome, on their behalf.' So
the Italian prisoners were set free without ransom, while the Roman
captives were kept in close confinement. He also sent out spies to
collect all the information they could as to the country through which
he had to travel. He was anxious, for other reasons, to break up his
camp as soon as he was able, as he saw signs that the Gauls were weary
and rather afraid of having him for a neighbour.
* * * * *
Therefore, in the spring of 217 B.C. he marched southwards, placing the
Spaniards and Libyans in front, with the baggage and stores behind them,
the Gauls, whom he never quite trusted, in the centre, and the Numidian
light horse and cavalry in the rear, under his brother Mago. There were
no elephants to be thought of now, for they had all died of cold after
the battle of Trebia. North of the Arno was a wide tract of marshland,
which had to be crossed before the Apennine mountains could be reached.
Never, during all his campaigns, did Hannibal's army have to undergo
such suffering. In many ways it was worse than the passage of the Alps,
for once in the midst of the morasses, swollen by the melting snows, it
was hardly possible to snatch a moment of sleep. Many of the oxen fell
and died, and when this happened the wearied men stretched themselves on
their still warm bodies, and closed their eyes for a short space.
At length, after three nights and four days of incessant marching, till
the troops were nearly numb with cold, firm ground was reached, and for
a while they rested in peace on the hill of Fiesole, above the Arno.
Here Hannibal formed his plans for the next campaign. He found out that
Flaminius the consul was a vain, self-confident man, with neither
experience nor skill in war. It would be easy, he thought, by laying
waste the rich country to the south, to draw the Roman general from his
camp at Arretium; and so it proved. Flaminius, greedy of glory he could
never gain, refused to listen to the advice of his officers and wait for
the arrival of the other consul, and set out in pursuit of Hannibal, who
felt that victory was once more in his hands.
The place which Hannibal chose for his battle was close to lake
Thrasymene, a reedy basin in the mountains not far from the city of
Cortona. At this spot a narrow valley ran down to the lake, with lines
of hills on both sides, and a very steep mountain at the opposite end of
the lake. At the lake end the hills came so close together that there
was only a small track through which a few men could pass at a time.
Making sure that his enemy was following in his footsteps, Hannibal
placed his steady heavy armed Spaniards and Libyans on the hill at the
end of the valley opposite the lake, in full view of anyone who might
approach them. His Balearic slingers and archers, and light-armed
troops, were hidden behind the rocks of the hills on the right, and the
Gauls and cavalry were posted in gorges on the left, close to the
entrance of the defile, but concealed by folds in the ground. Next day
Flaminius arrived at the lake, and, as Hannibal intended, perceived the
camp on the hill opposite. It was too late to attack that night, but the
next morning, in a thick mist, the consul gave orders for the advance
through the pass. Grimly smiling at the success of his scheme, Hannibal
waited till the Romans were quite close to him, and then gave the
signal for the assault from all three sides at once.