ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 183 



harm to the army of which they formed part as to the 

 enemy.* 



The thoroughness of Caesar's mihtary preparations, sug- 

 gestive of German efficiency in the close attention to the 

 smallest details, is illustrated in the steps he took at the 

 outset of the African campaign in his struggle for supremacy 

 in the Roman world. As above noted his enemies, Scipio 

 and King Juba, regarded the war elephants of their forces 

 as formidable assailants. Csesar, however, put little faith 

 in them; but, nevertheless, fully aware of the fact that his 

 soldiers might be thrown into confusion by the onset of such 

 unfamiliar adversaries, he took measures to familiarize them 

 with the sight of elephants and to instruct them in the best 

 means of putting them to flight. He therefore had a number 

 of elephants brought to his camp, so that the aspect of the 

 apparently dangerous beasts should no longer strike terror 

 into the hearts of his legionaries, and that the horses of his 

 cavalry should become accustomed to their appearance. He 

 also provided these trial elephants with the full panoply of 

 war and had his soldiers instructed as to the most vulnerable 

 parts of their bodies, making them throw javelins, with 

 blunted points, at these spots so that they might know just 

 what to do in real battle. In the decisive conflict at Thapsus 

 one of the legionaries displayed his natural courage, perhaps 

 fortified by these preliminary exercises. The elephants of 

 Scipio and Juba attacked boldly enough but were repulsed 

 by the Romans and driven off, trampling upon the troops 

 of their own army. In the heat of the encounter, however, 

 one of the elephants threw down a member of Caesar's forces 

 and crushed the life out of him; remarking the attack, a 

 brave Roman of the Fifth Legion hastened to give help but 

 came too late for this. Turning from the body of its victim 

 to this unexpected assailant, the elephant seized the legion- 



*C8esaris, "De Bello Civili." cap. 28, 30. 



