Ill] 



AND HISTORIC TIMES 



255 



charged with their wonted impetuosity, and a desperate en- 

 counter took place, but after some two hundred had fallen on 

 either side, the Romans eventually drove their assailants back 

 to Hannibal's camp 1 . 



As soon as he crossed the Alps and descended into Italy 

 the cavalry skirmish at the Ticinus (Ticino) demonstrated that 



FIG. 74. Carthaginian Coins (a and c Carthage, b Panormus). 



the Carthaginian cavalry was far superior to that of the 

 Romans and the Gallic cavalry serving with them, the latter 

 in turn being inferior to that of the Romans. 



Though Livy gives no description of the horses ridden by 

 the Numidians in Hannibal's army there can be no doubt 

 that they brought their own horses with them, as was the case 



1 Livy, xxi. 29. 



