Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/349

Rh HANNIBAL. Cottian Alps, or Mont Genevre. (Liv. I. c; Strab. iv. p. 209.) But the main argument that appears to have weighed with Livy, as it has done with several modem writers on the subject, is the as- sumption that Hannibal descended in the first instance into the country of the Taurinians, Avhich is opposed to the direct testimony of Polybius, who says expressly that he descended among the Insubrians {^Karripe ToKix'qp&s els to. irepl rov HdBov TreSfa, kuI to twi/ 'lao/xSpoou eOvo^, iii. 56".), and suliscque?itli/ mentions his attack on the Tauri- nians. 4. That as according to Livy himself (xxi. 29) the Gaulish emissaries who acted as Hannibal's guides were Boians, it was natural that these should conduct him by the passage that led directly into the territory of their allies and brothers-in-arms, the Insubrians, rather than into that of the Tauri- nians, a Ligurian tribe, who were at this very time in a state of hostility with the Insubrians, (Polyb. iii. 60.) And this remark will serve to explain why Hannibal chose apparently a longer route instead of the more direct one of the Mont Genevre. Lastly, it is remarkable that Polybius, though he censures the exaggerations and absurdities with which earlier writers had encumbered their narra- tive (iii. 47, 48), does not intimate that any doubt Avas entertained as to the line of his march ; and Pompey, in a letter to the senate, written in 73 B. c. (ap. Sallust. Hist. Frag. lib. iii. ), alludes to the route of Hannibal across the Alps as something well known : hence it appears clear that the pas- sage by which he crossed them must have been one of those frequented in subsequent times by the Romans ; and this argument seems decisive against the claims of the Mont Cenis, which have been ad- vocated by some modern writers, that pass having apparently never been used until the middle ages. For a fuller examination of this much controverted subject, the reader may consult De hue, Histoi re du Passage des Alpes par Annibal, 8vo. Geneve, 2d edit. 1825 ; Wickham and Cramer, Dissertation on tlie Passage of Hannibal over the Alps, Lond, 1828, 2d edit. ; Ukert, Hannibafs Zug. iiber die Alpen, appended to the 4th vol. of his Geoyraphie d. Griech. u. Romer: in which works the earlier dissertations and scattered remarks of other writers are discussed or referred to. Of the latest histo- rians it may be noticed that Niebuhr {Led. on Rom. Hist, vol. i, p. 170) and Arnold {Hist, of Rome, vol. iii. p, 83 — 92, note m), as well as Bot- ticher {Gesch. d. Carthagcr, p. 261), have decided in favour of the Little St. Bernard ; while Michelet {Hist. Romaine, vol. ii. p. 10) and Thierry {Hist, des Gaidois, vol. i. p. 276), in common with almost all French writers, adopt the Mont Genevre or Mont Cenis. Five months had been employed in the march from New Carthage to the plains of Italy, of which the actual passage of the Alps had occupied fifteen days. (Polyb. iii. 56.) HannibaPs first care was now to recruit the strength of his troops, exhausted by the hardships and fatigues they had undergone : after a short interval of repose, he turned his arms against the Taurinians (a tribe bordering on, and hostile to, the Insubrians), whom he quickly re- duced, and took their principal city. The news of the approach of P. Scipio next obliged him to turn his attention towards a more formidable enemy. Scipio had sent on his own army from Massilia into Spain, while he himself, returning to Etruria, crossed the Apennines from thence into Cisalpine HANNIBAL. 335 Gaul, took the command of the praetor's army, which he found there, and led it against Hannibal. In the first action, which took place in the plains westward of the Ticinus, the cavalry and light- armed troops of the two armies were alone engaged ^ and the superiority of Hannibal's Numidian horse at once decided the combat in his favour. The Romans were completely routed, and Scipio him- self severely wounded; in consequence of which he hastened to retreat beyond the Ticinus and the Po, under the walls of Placentia. Hannibal crossed the Po higher up ; and advancing to Placentia, offered battle to Scipio ; but the latter declined the combat, and withdrew to the hills on the left bank of the Trebia. Here he was soon after joined by the other consul, Ti. Sempronius Longus, who had hastened from Ariminum to his support: their combined armies were greatly superior to that of the Carthaginians, and Sempronius was eager to bring on a general battle, of which Hannibal, on his side, Avas not less desirous, notwithstanding the great inferiority of his force. The result was decisive : the Romans were completely defeated, with heavy loss ; and the remains of their shattered army, together with the two consuls, took refuge within the walls of Placentia. (Polyb. iii. 60 — 74 ; Liv. xxi. 39 — 48, 52 — 56 ; Appian, Annih. 5 — 7 ; Zonar. viii, 23, 24.) The battle of the Trebia was fought late in the year, and the winter had already begun with un- usual severity, so that Hannibal's troops suffered severely from cold, and all his elephants perished, except one. But his victory had caused all the wavering tribes of the Gauls to declare in his favour ; and he was now able to take up his winter- quarters in security, and to levy fresh troops among the Gauls, while he awaited the approach of spring. According to Livy (xxi. 58), he made an unsuc- cessful attempt to cross the Apennines before the winter was well over, but was driven back by the violence of the storms that he encountered. But as soon as the season permitted the renewal of military operations (b. c. 217), he entered the country of the Ligurian tribes, who had lately de- clared in his favour, and descended by the valley of the Macra into the marshes on the banks of the Arno. He had apparently chosen this route in order to avoid the Roman armies, which, under the two consuls, Flaminius and Serviliiis, guarded the more obvious passes of the Apennines ; but the hardships and difficulties which he encountered in struggling through the marshes were immense, great numbers of his horses and beasts of burthen perished, and he himself lost the sight of one eye by a violent attack of ophthalmia. At length, however, he reached Faesulae in safety, and was able to allow his troops a short interval of repose. Flaminius, with his army, was at this time at Arretium ; and Hannibal ( whose object was always to bring the Roman commanders to a battle, in which the superior discipline of his veteran troops, and the excellence of his numerous cavalry, rendered him secure of victory), when he moved from Faesulae, passed by the Roman general, and ad- vanced towards Perugia, laying waste the fertile country on his line of march. Flaminius imme- diately broke up his camp, and following the traces of Hannibal, fell into the snare which was prepared for him. His army was attacked under the most disadvantageous circumstances, where it wag hemmed in between rocky heights previously occu-