Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life (23 page)

Hannibal himself rode the last surviving elephant on the march south. He must have cut quite a figure in the Etrurian spring, leading his multicultural multilingual army on an elephant. But the trek proved harsh for Hannibal too and he suffered an eye infection. The infection went untreated and was exacerbated by ‘sleep deprivation, the damp nights and the swampy atmosphere’ (Livy 22.2.10–11). As a result he lost the sight of one eye and suffered intensely from the pain but he could not stop and get treatment (Polyb. 3.79.12). The hardship of the march and the loss of an eye have only added to Hannibal’s legend, and both were perhaps emphasized for the benefit of the myth.
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A
one-eyed Hannibal fits well into the tradition of great warriors of the ancient world: ‘let us further add, that the most warlike commanders, and most remarkable for exploits of skilful stratagem, have had but one eye; as Philip, Antigonus, Hannibal, and Sertorius …’ (Plutarch,
Sert
. 1.4).
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The Roman consuls of 217
BCE
mobilized their troops and allies and even received help in the form of a contingent of Cretans and light infantry from King Hiero II of Syracuse (Polyb. 3.74.7).
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The Romans had an extremely large force active in the field by the spring of 217
BCE
, reflecting the immense resources they could draw upon. There were two legions and allied units in Iberia under Gn. Scipio and directly after Trebia they had sent legions to Sicily and Sardinia to defend the islands. Garrisons were posted to cities in the south, places like Tarentum, whose loyalty was far from assured (Polyb. 3.75.4). The new consul Servilius took up the troops of Publius Scipio, supplemented by new recruits. He established a base at Ariminum while Flaminius had Sempronius’ legions and went to Etruria (Livy 21.63.15).
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The Roman legions were positioned to guard the two main routes south that Hannibal might take.
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Flaminius pitched his camp near Arretium (modern Arezzo) close to the road that passed through Etruria and Umbria south to Rome.

As Hannibal approached the Roman base through the Arno valley he pitched camp near Faesulae (modern Fiesole about five kilometres north-east of Florence) which lies 60 kilometres from Arretium. The Carthaginian army rested after their long muddy march, which Polybius claimed took them four days and three nights across sodden ground. Hannibal sent out his scouts to reconnoitre the Roman positions. Although we cannot be sure of the numbers, estimates for Hannibal’s troops range from forty to fifty thousand soldiers by this point.
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This was double the number he had arrived in Italy with.

Hannibal’s scouts returned with some encouraging information about the Roman consul camped at Arretium. They told Hannibal about Flaminius who was an experienced commander and had fought in Cisapline Gaul in the 220s. Some of Hannibal’s new allies, having recently deserted from the Roman army, certainly had experience of Flaminius and had been able to provide some insight into his character. He was by reputation bullish and confident about his own abilities, and would be eager to take on the challenge represented by Hannibal. To Polybius, Flaminius was ‘a thorough mob-courtier and demagogue with no talent for the practical conduct of war and exceedingly self-confident’ (3.80.3).

Livy’s account is even more damning. He accuses Flaminius of scorning the auspices by refusing to perform the rituals associated with becoming
consul when he took up office. Flaminius had gone straight to meet his army and had assumed the consulship there, which meant that from 15 March he had been with his army in the north of Italy. Urgency rather than disrespect for the gods may have led Flaminius north before the official ceremony in Rome but the omens Livy goes on to describe were ‘frightful’: a calf he was sacrificing ‘charged from the hands of the celebrants, spattering the bystanders with blood’ (21.63.5–14). The Roman sources, with clear hindsight, lay the blame for the upcoming defeat entirely at the feet of Flaminius and historical tradition is extremely hostile towards him. Posterity remembers Flaminius with the damning judgement of Polybius: ‘cowardice and stupidity are vices which, disgraceful as they are in private … are, when found in a general, the greatest of public calamities’ (3.81.7).

It was June before Hannibal and his troops were encamped at Faesulae and had recovered from their march.
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The Carthaginian army left its base and moved south towards the Roman camp through the valley of the Arno and in passing taunted Flaminius by ‘invading the country in front of him’ (Polyb. 3.81.1–2). ‘All these factors led Hannibal to conclude that Flaminius would give the Carthaginian army plenty of opportunities to attack him’ (3.80.5). Hannibal was determined to provoke the Roman consul by tempting him with his army, flaunting it in front of his eyes. ‘He appreciated and anticipated Flaminius’ actions, his plan achieved the results he intended’ (3.81.12).

The advancing Carthaginians continued south through the lush Val di Chiana. Hannibal may have intended Flaminius to think that they were heading towards Rome in order to get him to follow. Then Hannibal veered to the east, ‘keeping the city of Cortona and its hills on his left and Lake Trasimene on his right’ (Polyb. 3.82.9).
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As they marched the Carthaginian army burned crops and devastated the countryside, always with the object of luring the enemy into action. It may well be that when Flaminius was drawn out of his camp in pursuit of Hannibal he had originally planned to follow until the Carthaginian army was trapped between the two Roman armies, fully expecting Servilius’ legions to descend from the north (3.86.1–3).
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He could not have intended to engage in battle with only the two legions and allied troops he had under him, which probably numbered 25,000 in total. Hannibal’s army was, if we are to believe the numbers, almost twice as large. Speculation aside, we can never know exactly what Flaminius was thinking when he followed Hannibal along the north shore of Lake Trasimeno.

On 20 June Hannibal led his army through a narrow pass between the lake and the hills to the north. This defile opens up into a small plain surrounded by hills and sealed by the lake. Flaminius camped on the lake shore close by
‘at a very late hour’ that same night (Polyb. 3.83.7). Hannibal knew that the Roman army was close behind and set a trap. Whether this had always been his intention or was a last-minute improvisation due to the proximity of Flaminius we do not know. Polybius tells us that all Hannibal’s preparations were made during the night: ‘coasting the lake and passing through the defile’, Hannibal occupied the hill in front and there placed his Spanish and African forces. Polybius’ very specific description puts Hannibal’s ‘Balearic slingers and pikemen round to the front by a detour and stationed them in an extended line under the hills to the right of the defile, and similarly taking his cavalry and Celts … he placed them in a continuous line under these hills’ (3.83.1–4).
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At dawn the next day Flaminius led his two legions into the gap. He did not, it seems, send scouts ahead to reconnoitre or he might have realized what lay in store (Livy 22.4.4). Perhaps the idea that Hannibal had concealed a 50,000-strong force in the defile in the mist seemed almost beyond credibility (
Map 1
).
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Still today, a visit to Trasimeno on an early summer morning sees the mist sitting low on the lake, hiding the hills that surround it (Polyb. 3.84.1). As the Roman legions filed into the ambush the visibility was poor. Hannibal ‘led his vanguard along the lake’ to meet the advancing Romans and gave the signal when he was just in touch with their head. Then the Carthaginian army ‘swooped down, each [soldier] taking the shortest route to the enemy … the Romans felt they were surrounded before they could actually see it’ (Livy 22.4.5–7). The Roman commanders struggled to form their troops into battle lines and ‘fighting broke out at the front and on the flanks before the line could be drawn up’. With the enemy soldiers and commanders now in total disarray, the Carthaginian troops attacked at will. Livy’s graphic description gives a sense of the mayhem: ‘in such dense fog, ears were more useful than eyes. It was to sound that they turned their faces and eyes, to sounds of wounds being dealt, of blows falling on bodies and armour, and of the mingled cries of confusion and panic’ (22.5.3–4).
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The ambush had worked – and worked magnificently. Even Hannibal must have been surprised by how successful his strategy had been. They had not only killed the consul Flaminius but also roughly 15,000 of his men, with a large proportion of the survivors taken prisoner. The Carthaginians had lost between 1,500 and 2,500 soldiers, many of them Celts. Livy tries to portray a terrible situation slightly more positively by adding that many more died of their wounds (numbers in Polyb. 3.85.5; Livy 22.7.3).

Once more Hannibal was gracious in victory to the Italian allies, whom he set free after the battle, repeating that ‘he had not come to fight with the
Italians but with the Romans for the freedom of Italy’. The captured Roman soldiers were so numerous that he had to ‘distribute them among his troops to keep guard over’. He buried his dead, paying honours to those of the ‘highest rank among the fallen’ (Polyb. 3.85.3–5) and ‘also made every effort to seek out Flaminius’ body for burial but he failed to find it’ (Livy 22.7.5). It has been suggested that one of the Celtic warriors had cut Flaminius’ head off as a trophy.
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The Carthaginian forces combed the battlefield collecting the armour and weaponry of the fallen soldiers. This Roman armour was eventually distributed to Hannibal’s Libyan infantry, whose equipment was apparently inferior to that of the Roman infantry – especially the shields. At Cannae the following year, Livy would note that ‘one might have taken the Africans to be a Roman battle line, for they were armed with captured weapons … most taken at Trasimeno’ (Livy 22.46.4).
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A few days after the slaughter at Trasimeno Hannibal, always well informed, heard that the remaining consul Servilius was close at hand. He sent his chief cavalry commander Maharbal out to meet any advanced guard. Servilius had set out for the south as soon as he had news that Hannibal was in Etruria. His advance group of cavalry was sent on under the leadership of the praetor Gaius Centenius (Polyb. 3.86.3). Maharbal’s Numidians (and pikemen) encountered 4,000 Roman cavalry somewhere in Umbria and killed about half the force, capturing the rest (Livy 22.8.1). The victory was complete and without cavalry Servilius could advance no further on Hannibal.

Hannibal now had to make his next move and choose the direction of his march. He left Etruria, dismissing ‘the idea of approaching Rome for the present’, and moved southwards through Umbria. He then crossed over to the Adriatic via Picenum (modern Le Marche).
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It took him ten days. ‘At this time he sent messengers to Carthage by sea with news of what had happened, this being the first time he had come in touch with the sea since he invaded’ (Polyb. 3.86.8–9). The ability to communicate more straightforwardly with Carthage meant that for the first time in eighteen months Hannibal had direct contact with his home city. Carthage’s response to the victory at Trasimeno is under-reported but we can assume that ‘the news was received with great rejoicing by the Carthaginians’, as Polybius claims. There were vows to send more aid to their young general in the field and promises to step up the Carthaginian side of the operations. Carthage would ‘give every possible support to the conduct of the war both in Italy and in Iberia’ (Polyb. 3.87.5).
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Hannibal was now in contact with Carthage but a clear and detailed account of the specific measures he took after Trasimeno eludes us. A
Carthaginian fleet captured Roman ‘transport vessels carrying supplies from Ostia to the army in Iberia’ in the summer of 217
BCE
(Livy 22.11.6). The appearance of a Carthaginian fleet off the Etruscan port of Cosa might suggest that the old Carthage–Etruscan alliance had been revived. Hannibal would have found support for his invasion in the region and perhaps he originally intended to link up with the fleet in Etruria before an attack on Rome.
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Polybius suggests that there had been a pre-arranged meeting for Carthaginian ships off Etruria but that they were forced to depart quickly once a much larger Roman fleet approached (3.96.7–9). Plans for resupply and a link with the Carthaginian navy may well have been part of Hannibal’s original overall strategy but our sources do not reveal enough detail to allow for a coherent reconstruction. A coordinated land and sea operation makes sense in this context but the superiority of the Roman fleet, and the lack of a friendly port from which the Carthaginians could operate, made this policy less effective than it might have been. It would keep Hannibal distant from Carthage.
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The lack of tangible support from Carthage meant that Hannibal had to supply his army by taking what he needed from the countryside. Loot was in no short supply and there was ‘so large an amount of booty that his army could not drive or carry it all’ (Polyb. 3.86.10). Food supplies, shelter and the continued upkeep of his forces were his main concerns and this created its own set of problems. Winning the Italian allies over would have been much easier without having to pillage their crops to supply his army. As he moved east the army camped near the Adriatic. Livy claims that Hannibal spent time restoring his tired and battle-worn troops, and ‘paid great attention to the health of his men as well as his horses by proper treatment’ (3.87.1). The state of his troops must have been a cause for concern. His horses had mange and his men had spent over fourteen months either on the march or in battle. ‘By bathing the horses in old wine’ he was able to cure their mange. This was perhaps an old Carthaginian veterinary trick not known elsewhere. The rich and fertile lands of Picenum made certain the men were well fed (Polyb. 3.88.2).
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