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370 



Ccniir. milar effect through all the army, who, by this well* 

 -v timed pleasantry of their general, were at once relic- 



: i oin all thrir apprehensions. 



The disposition of Hannibal's army was regula- 

 trd, in a great measure, by the arrangement of 

 the enemy. On the left extremity of his line, 

 and nearest the river, were posted the Gaulish 

 and Spanish cavalry, as being best calculated to 

 cope with the Roman horse ; on the right extre- 

 mity were the Numulian cavalry, excellent in pur- 

 suit, though not firm enough for a shock, but al- 

 together proper antagonists to the social cavalry of 

 the Romans. Between these two wings extended his 

 main line of infantry, which was so arranged, that the 

 African foot, who were heavy-armed, composed both 

 its extremities ; while the Spanish and Gaulish infan- 

 try, who were not so regularly armed, occupied the 

 centre. The light troops were a little in advance, 

 before the main battle. By this disposition Hanni- 

 bal had two objects in view ; to oppose correspond- 

 ing descriptions of force to the Roman line, and to 

 break down and intermix his various nations, so as to 

 make them a check upon each other. Having as- 

 signed the left wing to Hasdrubal, and the right to 

 Maharbal, he himself, with his brother Mago, com- 

 manded the centre. Livy affords us a most lively 

 view of this various assemblage of nations, when 

 drawn up in line, and ready for battle. The Afri- 

 cans, he tells us, might well have been mistaken for 

 a Roman army, being equipped with the armour of 

 the Romans, vanquished in the battles of Trebia and 

 Trasimenus. The shields borne by the Gauls and 

 the Spaniards were nearly of the same form ; but the 

 swords of these nations were dissimilar. The swords 

 of the Gauls, like those of our own ancestors the Ca- 

 ledonians, were excessively long, and without point ; 

 while those of the Spaniards, who were accustomed 

 more to thrusting than to cutting, were remarkable 

 for their shortness and their sharp points. The ge- 

 neral appearance of these two nations, conspicuous 

 for the gigantic size of their bodies, and their bar- 

 barous aspect, was terrible to the view. The Gauls 

 were naked from the waist upwards ; the Spaniards 

 were dressed in linen habits of a surprising whiteness, 

 the effect of which was magnificently increased by a 

 rich border of purple. 



In the direction of his line, as well as in the choice 

 _ of his ground, Hannibal was evidently compelled, in 

 some degree, to conform to the arrangements of 

 Varro, who had first taken his station in the field. 

 This being the case, the left of the Carthaginians 

 touched the river, their line ran parallel to that of 

 the Romans, and their faces were turned to the north, 

 independently of the foresight of Hannibal, who yet 

 is mentioned by Plutarch as having drawn up his men, 

 so as to have the wind Vulturous to their back, while 

 that hot and suffocating wind blew clouds of dust in- 

 to the eyes of the Romans. The meridian sun, and 

 the wind Vulturnus, were indeed in his favour ; but 

 the merit was not his, for Varro, who had overlook- 

 ed and probably despised these advantages, had 

 forced them unavoidably upon his antagonist. Some 

 difficulties have been started by Chaupy, respecting 

 what quarter the armies faced, founded on topogra- 

 phical considerations, and the direction taken by the 



fugitives after the battle. But it is abundantly ob- 

 vious, that a rapid stream flowing through a sandy ' 

 plain, and restrained at present from changing it 

 course only by moles and embankments, must nave 

 occasioned, in the space of 2000 years, many altera- 

 tions in the aspect of the vicinity ; and alto that in a 

 tumultuary engagement, bodies of men may escape 

 in all directions. In our opinion, the expression of 

 Polybius is no more equivocal than that of Livy. As 

 the Aufidus runs generally in a north-easterly direc- 

 tion, we must suppose such a large elbow as Swin- 

 burne observed in the vicinity of Cannae, in order to 

 make the armies, while their faces are turned respec- 

 tively to the north and south, to have each of them 

 an extremity resting on the river. But the supposi- 

 tion of that traveller is altogether inadmissible, that 

 Hannibal, after fording the stream, drew up his men 

 within the bending of the river in front of the Ro- 

 mans, his trocps forming the chord, of which the 

 river in his rear was the arch. In this case, Hanni- 

 bal \?ould have had both his wings resting on the 

 river, a circumstance never before heard of ; and hie 

 danger, in the estimation of every military man, must 

 have been prodigiously increased by his entangled po- 

 sition. 



Both armies being drawn up as we have described 

 them, the light troops on either side raising, as usual, 

 a great shout, began the battle. Soon afterwards, 

 Hannibal ordered his Spanish and Gaulish horse, the 

 best in his army, and stationed as already mentioned 

 on his left wing, to attack the Roman knights. This 

 terrible conflict, as Livy observes, was not in the 

 usual style of equestrian engagements ; for confined 

 on one side by the river, and on the other by the in- 

 fantry, the horsemen were compelled to rush straight 

 forward against each other, and to fight man to man ; 

 and when the horses were so crowded and intermixed 

 that they could scarcely move, the soldiers pulled 

 each other from their seats, and continued the action 

 on foot. The veteran horsemen of Hannibal at last 

 prevailed. Most of the knights were slain upon the 

 spot, and the remainder pursued and dissipated by 

 Hasdrubal. This general immediately wheeled round 

 to the right wing, routed in a short time the cavalry 

 of the Roman allies, and dispatched the Numidian 

 horse in pursuit. 



While this awful prelude was going on, the regu- 

 lar infantry on both sides drew near to try their 

 strength. The Romans seem to have received the 

 onset, and to have continued with one straight front 

 till actually engaged. But Hannibal ordering his 

 heavy-armed Africans, who composed the extremi- 

 ties of his infantry, to stand still, moved forward in 

 person at the head of the main body, composed of 

 the Gaulish and Spanish infantry. The centre of 

 this body was considerably advanced beyond its flanks,, 

 which however still rested, like the extremities of a 

 great arch, on the heavy-armed Africans. The great 

 superiority of the Romans, who were nearly double 

 his numbers, had obliged Hannibal to extend, and 

 consequently to weaken his infantry. This weaken- 

 ing, however, of his line, we have reason to believe, 

 was confined exclusively to the prominent part of t 

 in the centre, the Africans being firm and compact 

 in their array. It was the singular glory of Hanni- 



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