Victory of Scipio and Flight of Hannibal
The space between the two armies that still remained
Final struggle between Hannibal's reserves, his "army of Italy," and the whole Roman infantry. |
in position was full of blood, wounded men, and
dead corpses; and thus the rout of the enemy
proved an impediment of a perplexing nature to
the Roman general. Everything was calculated
to make an advance in order difficult,—the
ground slippery with gore, the corpses lying
piled up in bloody heaps, and with the corpses arms flung
about in every direction. However Scipio caused the wounded
to be carried to the rear, and the
hastati to be recalled from
the pursuit by the sound of a bugle, and drew them up where
they were in advance of the ground on which the fighting had
taken place, opposite the enemy's centre. He then ordered
the
principes and
triarii to take close order, and, threading their
way through the corpses, to deploy into line with the
hastati on
either flank. When they had surmounted the obstacles and
got into line with the
hastati, the two lines charged each other
with the greatest fire and fury.
The battle is decided by the |
Being nearly equal in numbers,
spirit, courage, and arms, the battle was for a long time undecided, the men in their obstinate valour falling dead without
giving way a step; until at last the divisions of
Massanissa and Laelius, returning from the
pursuit, arrived providentially in the very nick
of time.
return of the Roman and Numidian cavalry. |
Upon their charging Hannibal's rear,
the greater part of his men were cut down in
their ranks; while of those who attempted to fly
very few escaped with their life, because the horsemen were
close at their heels and the ground was quite level. On the
Roman side there fell over fifteen hundred, on the Carthaginian over twenty thousand, while the prisoners taken were
almost as numerous.