1 B.C. 216
2 Polybius says (III. cxv. 6) that “they had crowded up from the wings to the centre, where the fighting was going on.” Consequently their line was much deeper than that of their adversaries.
3 This is called by Polybius (III. cxiii. 8) , “a crescent-shaped convexity.” Kromayer rightly insists that this expression must not be taken literally, and understands it of a formation in echelon (see Schlachten-Atlas I., columns 23 and 26, and his map reproduced as No. 7 in this volume.)
4 in mediam aciem is a puzzling phrase, as it ought to mean the same thing as the projecting wedge which constituted the Carthaginian centre. But the Romans had already driven in this wedge. Livy perhaps means that the Romans have now reached a point where they are level with the two flanks (consisting of Africans) and midway between them.
5 Polybius (III. cxv. 9) gives a somewhat different account of this manœuvre. According to him the Africans [9] —who must have been drawn up in a line so deep as to be more like a column —merely faced inward, as the Romans pursued the fleeing Gauls and Spaniards, and charged them on both flanks.
6 B.C. 216
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