182 IVORY AND THE ELEPHANT 



thaginian hero's recall to defend his native land, as many as 

 eighty elephants are said to have been engaged; but Scipio 

 prudently ordered that their onslaught on his centre should 

 not be directly opposed, and by allowing them to pass 

 through and closing up the ranks after their passage, he de- 

 prived the Carthaginians of any advantage they might have 

 derived from the overwhelming attack of these ponderous 

 beasts. On the conclusion of peace, after the defeat of 

 Zama, Carthage was obliged to surrender all her war ele- 

 phants and to engage that she would never use any of these 

 animals in her army in the future. 



In Caesar's African campaign during the Roman Civil War 

 his opponent Scipio and the latter's ally. King Juba, put con- 

 siderable trust in the war elephants forming part of their 

 army. As most of them had not yet received proper train- 

 ing, Scipio endeavoured to supply this deficiency by some 

 rather curious exercises. After placing the animals in order 

 of battle, he stationed in front of them a number of soldiers 

 who were to represent the enemy. These soldiers proceeded 

 to throw small stones at the elephants' heads, and the un- 

 trained beasts were soon put to flight; however, their rout 

 was checked by a larger body of soldiers armed with much 

 bigger stones, so that the bewildered elephants turned about 

 and charged in the original direction. Perhaps the possible 

 practical efficacy of such training may have been greater 

 than we should at first expect, since by frequent repetitions 

 the elephants would at last become impressed with the no- 

 tion that worse effects would follow a retrograde movement 

 than an advance. In this particular instance, however, we 

 have the definite statement, by Caesar himself or from his 

 information, that not much was accomplished thereby. 

 Indeed, he expresses the opinion that long years of training 

 were needed to produce a war elephant, and that at best 

 they were very uncertain auxiliaries, quite as likely to do 



