A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

HANNIBAL. HANNIBAL. 335
Cottian Alps, or Mont Genbvre. (Liv. I. c.; Strab;. Gaul, took the command of the praetor's army,
iv. p. 209.) But the main argument that appears which he found there, and led it against Hannibal.
to have weighed with Livy, as it has done with In the first action, which took place in the plains
several modern writers on the subject, is the as- westward of the Ticinus, the cavalry and lightsumption that Hannibal descended in the first armed troops of the two armies were alone engaged;
instance into the country of the Taurinians, which and the superiority of Hannibal's Numidian horse
is opposed to the direct testimony of Polybius, at once decided the combat in his favour; The
who says expressly that he descended among the Romans were completely routed, and Scipio himInsubrians (KcaTrj.pe oOAu-pcas ELS r& 7repl niov self severely wounded; in consequence of which he
rIdov 7re6Sa, Kal o'Ta cv'Io6Uepwv EOvo0, iii. 56.), hastened to retreat beyond the Ticinus and the Po,
and subsequently mentions his attack on the Tauri- under the walls of Placentia. Hannibal crossed
nians. 4. That as according to Livy himself (xxi. the Po higher up; and advancing to Placentia,
29) the Gaulish emissaries who acted as Hannibal's offered battle to Scipio; but the latter declined the
guides were Boians, it was natural that these should combat, and withdrew to the hills on the left bank
conduct him by the passage that led directly into of the Trebia. Here he was soon after joined by
the territory of their allies and brothers-in-arms, the other consul, Ti. Sempronius Longus, who had
the Insubrians, rather than into that of the Tauri- hastened from Ariminum to his support: their
nians, a Ligurian tribe, who were at this very time combined armies were greatly superior to that of
in a state of hostility with the Insubrians. (Polyb. the Carthaginians, and Sempronius was eager to
iii. 60.) And this remark will serve to explain bring on a general battle, of which Hannibal, on
why Hannibal chose apparently a longer route his side, was not less desirous, notwithstanding
instead of the more direct one of the Mont Gendvre. the great inferiority of his force. The result was
Lastly, it is remarkable that Polybius, though he decisive: the Romans were completely defeated,
censures the exaggerations and absurdities with with heavyloss; and the remains of their shattered
which earlier writers had encumbered their narra- army, together with the two consuls, took refuge
tive (iii. 47, 48), does not intimate that any doubt within the walls of Placentia. (Polyb. iii. 60-74;
was entertained as to the line, of his march; and Liv. xxi. 39-48, 52-56; Appian, Annib. 5-7;
Pompey, in a letter to the senate, written in 73 Zonar. viii.. 23, 24.)
B. c. (ap. Sallust. Hist. Frag. lib. iii. ), alludes to the The battle of the Trebia was fought late in the
route of Hannibal across the Alps as something year, and the winter had already begun with unwell known: hence it appears clear that the pas- usual severity, so that Hannibal's troops suffered
sage by which he crossed them must have been one severely from cold, and all his elephants perished,
of those frequented in subsequent times by the except one. But his victory had caused all the
Romans; and this argument seems decisive against wavering tribes of the Gauls to declare in his
the claims of the Mont Cenis, which have been ad- favour; and he was now able to take up his wintervocated by some modern writers, that pass having quarters in security, and to levy fresh troops among
apparently never been used until the middle ages. the Gauls, while he awaited the approach of spring.
For a fuller examination of this much controverted According to Livy (xxi. 58), he made an unsucsubject; the reader may consult De Luc, Histoire du cessful attempt to cross the Apennines before the
Passage des Alpes par Annibal, 8vo. Geneve, 2d winter was well over, but was driven back by the
edit. 1825; Wickham and Cramer, Dissertation violence of the storms that he encountered. But
on the Passage of Hannibal over the Alps, Lond, as soon as the season permitted the renewal of
1828, 2d edit.; Ukert, Hannibal's Zug. iber die military operations (B. c. 217), he entered the
Alpen, appended to the 4th vol. of his Geographie country of the Ligurian tribes, who had lately ded. Griech. u. Romer: in which works the earlier dared in his favour, and descended by the valley
dissertations and scattered remarks of other writers of the Macra into the marshes on the banks of the'
are discussed or referred to. Of the latest histo- Arno. He had apparently chosen this route in
rians it may be noticed that Niebuhr (Lect. on order to avoid the Roman armies, which, under the
Rom, Hist, vol. i. p. 170) and Arnold (Hist. of two consuls, Flaminius and Servilius,!guarded the
Rome, vol. iii. p. 83-92, note M), as well as Bdit- more obvious passes of the Apennines; but the:
ticher (Gesch. d. Carthager, p. 261), have decided hardships and difficulties Which he encountered in
in favour of the Little St. Bernard; while Michelet struggling through the marshes were immense,
(Hist. Romaine, vol. ii. p. 10) and Thierry (Hist. great numbers of his horses and beasts of burthen
des Gaulois, vol. i. p. 276), in common with almost perished, and he himself lost the sight of one eye
all French writers, adopt the Mont Genvre or by a violent attack of ophthalmia. At length,
Mont Cenis. however, he reached Faesulae in: safety, and was
Five months had been employed in the march able to allow his troops a short interval of repose.
from New Carthage to the plains of Italy, of which Flaminius, with his army, was at this time at
the actual passage of the Alps had occupied fifteen Arretiuim; and Hannibal (whose object was always
days. (Polyb. iii. 56.) Hannibal's first care was to bring the Roman commanders to a battle, in
now to recruit the strength of his troops, exhausted which the superior discipline of his veteran troops,
by the hardships and fatigues they had undergone: and the excellence of his numerous cavalry, rendered
after a short interval of repose, he turned his arms him secure of victory), when he moved from
against the Taurinians (a tribe bordering on, and Faesulae, passed by the Roman general, and adhostile to, the Insubrians), whom he quickly re- vanced towards Perugia, laying waste the fertile
duced, and took their principal city. The news of country on his line of march. Flaminius immethe approach of P. Scipio next obliged him to turn diately broke up his camp, and following.the traces
his attention towards a more formidable enemy. of Hannibal, fell into the snare which was prepared
Scipio had sent -on his own army from Massilia for him. His army was attacked under the most
into Spain, while he himself, returning to Etruria, disadvantageous. circumstances,. where it was
crossed the Apennines from thence into Cisalpine hemmed in between rocky heights previously occu