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92
CONDUCT OF T H E R O M A N S .
vivid image of tlle inanner in which tlie Rolnans viewed their
impending danger. \T'llen they heard that Hannibal had
passed through the country of the Allobrogians towards thc
Alps, thcy u~ldoubtedlythought hiln a fool, whose arllly must
perish by the elements. I t is, indeed, only by supposing that
this conviction was general among them, that we can account
for thcir inactivity and drowsiness. The col~sulScipio, who
was stationed at Marseilles, and had advanced into the interior
as fidr as Avignon, ought to have been in Lombardy beforc
I-Iannibal arrived at the top of the mountains1; but he did not
reach the Po until IIannibal had dcsceizdcd from the Alps,
and, to the amazement of the Romans, had defied and ovcrcome all the immense difficultics which nature had placcd
in his way. W e may wcll imagine what reports were
spread about thc losscs sustained by the Carthnginian army,
if we relnembcr the logic of tllc sensclesss among thc allics
in the war against the French Revolution. What the
Romans believed and said to one another was sometlling to
this effect: that it was madness in Hannibal to have lcd his
army to such a inonstrous undertaking; that he and his host
would be destroyed by discase, and by want of all the ncccssaries of life; and that not one indiviclual would survive to
return home across the Alps. I t has often caused me tlic
cleepest grief to hear such reasoning, whcn people consoled
thcmselves in this childish manncr, and neglected the most
necessary precautions. Had Hannibal becn an ordinary general, he would indeed have been in a precarious position; but
with an undaunted spirit he advanced with his army, which
aftcr its severc sufferings must indeed have bcen in a friglltful
condition, and may not have appeared much bcttcr than a
host of gypsies. Scipio had only two legions, a corrcsponcling numbcr of allies, and a snzall number of cavalry. The
Romans were in many respects slaves to custom, which they
oftcn did not know how to abandon whcn a danger presented
itself unexpectcdly. Thus such nn army had from early times
bcen deemed sufficient, and for this rcason they did not
send a largcr one. One part of the Gauls was in full insurrection; in the preccding summer the Boians had defeated one
W e saw the same slowness in thc year 1800, whcn the Austrians had it in
thcir power eithcr to prevent tlie passage over the Great St. Bern~rd,or to
render it fruitless. -- N.
BATTLE ON TIIE TICINUS.
93
Roman legion, and blockaded the rest in Afodena, for they
extended from Parma and Piacenza as far as the frontiers
of Rolnagna. They treacherously captured three Rolnans of
rallk, who had been seat as triumvirs to superintend the
establishment of the colony at Placentia, hoping that tllcreby
they might recover their own hostages. They sent ainbassadors to Hannibal when he was yet on the Bhone, to invite
lliln $0 colne to Italy. The Gauls north of the Po, the Insubrians, were anxious to get an opportunity to rise against the
IZomans,
but they did not venture to move until Bannilual
arrived, for tlle Romans kept them in submission. Hannibal
turned against the Tauriscans, and made himself master of
Turin. While he was there engaged, Scipio had arrived at
Genoa, and astonished at what he heard, had crossed the river
Po, and encamped on tlie Ticinus, probably in the neighbourhood of Pavia. Hannibal now turncd against him;
they met for the first time on the Ticinus, and to the great
astonishment of the liomans, Hanilibal still had a large
army. A n engagement with the Roman cavalry took place,
in which the Romans were beaten by the Spanish and Numidian
horsemen. In this sliirmish, the consul Scipio received a
dangerous wound, and it was only with great dificulty
that he was rcscued from the tumult, according to soine
writers by his own son2, afterwards the great P. Cornelius
Scipio Africanus.
The issue of this engagement, which would have created but
littlc sensation in other wars, at once convinced the Iionlans
of the delusion under which they had been labouring, and
that they must keep 011 tllc defensive. Scipio retreated across
the Po, gave up its northern banli, and pullccl clown too e : ~ r l ~
tlie bridge of rafts which 1le h:~d constructed. A portion of
the soltliers, intended to protect the bridge on tlle left Lanli,
thus fell into the hands of tllc Carthaginians. Hannibal Ilad
dlficulties in crossing the Po, and had to collect boats from
the rleighbouring rivers. I n the meanwhile the Insubrians
declared for him.
The oma ails now fixccl their hopcs on the support of Tib.
Sempronius, who had made a dcscent upon Malta, had tnlccn
some places on the African coast, and was now on his return
to .bill Scil1io. IJcrc we meet with a fine cxa~llpleof the
Llvy, xxi. 46; Poljhius, x. 3.