- Source
- Titi Livi ab urbe condita libri editionem priman, Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
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- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0914.phi001.humanitext-lat2:21.47.1-21.47.8
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-23
After the defeat at the Ticinus, the Romans retreat to Placentia, and Hannibal crosses the Po to pursue them, with Livy examining the differing accounts among historians regarding the method of his crossing.
hoc primum cum Hannibale proelium fuit; quo facile apparuit equitatu meliorem Poenum esse et ob id campos patentis, quales sunt inter Padum Alpesque, bello gerendo Romanis aptos non esse.
This was the first battle with Hannibal; by which it easily appeared that the Carthaginian was superior in cavalry, and that for this reason the open plains, such as those between the Po and the Alps, were not suited to the Romans for waging war.
itaque proxima nocte iussis militibus vasa silentio colligere castra ab Ticino mota festinatumque ad Padum est, ut ratibus, quibus iunxerat flumen, nondum resolutis sine tumultu atque insectatione hostis copias traiceret.
Therefore, on the following night, the soldiers having been ordered to pack their baggage in silence, the camp was moved from the Ticinus and they hastened to the Po, so that he might transport his forces across while the raft-bridge with which he had joined the river was not yet dismantled, without confusion and pursuit by the enemy.
prius Placentiam pervenere, quam1 satis sciret Hannibal ab Ticino profectos; tamen ad sescentos moratorum2 in citeriore ripa Padi segniter ratem solventes cepit. transire pontem non potuit, ut extrema resoluta erant, tota rate in secundam aquam labente. Coelius auctor est Magonem cum equitatu et Hispanis peditibus flumen extemplo tranasse, ipsum Hannibalem per superiora Padi vada exercitum traduxisse elephantis in ordinem ad sustinendum impetum fluminis oppositis. ea peritis amnis eius vix fidem fecerint;3
They reached Placentia before Hannibal was sufficiently aware that they had set out from the Ticinus; nevertheless, he captured about six hundred of the stragglers on the hither bank of the Po who were sluggishly dismantling the raft. He could not cross the bridge, as its ends had been dismantled, and the whole raft was drifting down the stream. Coelius is the authority that Mago with the cavalry and Spanish infantry immediately swam across the river, and that Hannibal himself led the army across through the upper fords of the Po, with elephants opposed in a line to sustain the force of the river. These things will hardly find credit with those who are acquainted with that river;
nam neque equites armis equisque salvis tantam vim fluminis superasse veri simile est, ut iam Hispanos omnis inflati travexerint4 utres, et multorum dierum circuitu Padi vada petenda fuerunt, qua exercitus gravis impedimentis traduci posset.
for it is not likely that the cavalry, with their arms and horses safe, could have overcome so great a force of the river, even though inflated skins had already carried all the Spaniards across, and the fords of the Po, where an army heavy with baggage could be led across, had to be sought by a circuit of many days.
potiores apud me auctores sunt, qui biduo vix locum rate iungendo flumini inventum tradunt; ea5 cum Magone equites et Hispanorum expeditos praemissos.
More trustworthy in my view are those authors who relate that a place for joining the river with a raft was with difficulty found in two days; and that by this way the cavalry and the light-armed Spaniards were sent ahead with Mago.
dum Hannibal, circa flumen legationibus Gallorum audiendis moratus, traicit gravius peditum agmen, interim Mago equitesque ab transitu fluminis diei unius itinere Placentiam ad hostes contendunt.
While Hannibal, delayed near the river by hearing the embassies of the Gauls, was crossing the heavier body of infantry, in the meantime Mago and the cavalry, by a march of one day from the crossing of the river, hastened to Placentia to the enemy.
Hannibal paucis post diebus sex milia a Placentia castra communivit et postero die in conspectu hostium acie derecta potestatem pugnae fecit.
Hannibal, a few days after, fortified his camp six miles from Placentia, and on the following day, having drawn up his line in sight of the enemy, offered them the opportunity of battle.
- 21.47.3prius ... quam
The conjunction priusquam ("before") is split (tmesis) into prius in the main clause (with pervenere) and quam introducing the subordinate clause (with sciret).
- 21.47.3ad sescentos moratorum
Here, ad is not a preposition governing the accusative, but an adverb meaning "about" or "approximately." sescentos is the accusative direct object of cepit, and moratorum is a partitive genitive ("of the stragglers").
- 21.47.4fecerint
Third-person plural perfect subjunctive. It is used here as a potential subjunctive (subjunctivus potentialis) to express a polite or cautious assertion ("would hardly find credit" or "would scarcely convince").
- 21.47.5ut iam ... travexerint
The conjunction ut is used here in a concessive sense ("even granting that," "although"), taking the perfect subjunctive travexerint. Combined with iam, it introduces a hypothetical concession.
- 21.47.6ea
Feminine ablative singular of the demonstrative pronoun, modifying an implied feminine noun such as via ("way") or parte ("direction"), expressing the route ("by that way" or "thereby").