§22.4.1Hannibal quod agri est inter Cortonam urbem Trasumennumque lacum omni clade belli pervastat, quo magis iram hosti ad vindicandas sociorum iniurias acuat.
Hannibal laid waste to all the land that lies between the city of Cortona and Lake Trasumennus with every calamity of war, so that he might the more sharpen the enemy's anger to avenge the wrongs done to their allies.
§22.4.2et iam pervenerat ad loca nata insidiis, ubi maxime montes Cortonenses Trasumennus subit.
And already he had arrived at places naturally suited for ambushes, where Lake Trasumennus especially approaches the foot of the Cortonian mountains.
via tantum interest perangusta, velut ad id ipsum de industria relicto spatio; deinde paulo latior patescit campus; inde colles adsurgunt.
Only a very narrow path lies between, as if a space had been left on purpose for that very object; then a somewhat wider plain opens up; thence the hills rise.
§22.4.3ibi castra in aperto locat, ubi ipse cum Afris modo Hispanisque consideret; Baliares ceteramque levem armaturam post montis circumducit; equites ad ipsas fauces saltus tumulis apte tegentibus locat, ut, ubi intrassent Romani, obiecto equitatu clausa omnia lacu ac montibus essent.
There he pitched camp in the open, where he himself with only the Africans and Spaniards might take up position; the Balearians and the rest of the light-armed troops he led round behind the mountains; the cavalry he posted at the very entrance of the pass, where the hills conveniently concealed them, so that when the Romans had entered, once the cavalry stood in their way, everything would be closed off by the lake and the mountains.
§22.4.4Flaminius cum pridie solis occasu ad lacum pervenisset, inexplorato postero die vixdum satis certa luce angustiis superatis, postquam in patentiorem campum pandi agmen coepit, id tantum hostium, quod ex adverso erat, conspexit; ab tergo ac super caput haud detectae insidiae.
When Flaminius had reached the lake at sunset on the previous day, without reconnoitering, he passed through the defile on the following day while the light was still scarcely clear; after the column began to deploy into the wider plain, he saw only that part of the enemy which was directly opposite him; the ambush behind his back and above his head was not detected.
§22.4.5Poenus ubi, id quod petierat, clausum lacu ac montibus et circumfusum suis copiis habuit hostem, signum omnibus dat simul invadendi.
When the Carthaginian had the enemy, as he had desired, shut in by the lake and the mountains and surrounded by his own forces, he gave the signal to all to attack at the same time.
§22.4.6qui ubi, qua cuique proximum fuit, decucurrerunt, eo magis Romanis subita atque inprovisa res fuit, quod orta ex lacu nebula campo quam montibus densior sederat, agminaque hostium ex pluribus collibus ipsa inter se satis conspecta eoque magis pariter decucurrerant.
When they ran down, each by the nearest way, the matter was all the more sudden and unexpected to the Romans because a mist rising from the lake had settled thicker on the plain than on the mountains, and the columns of the enemy, being sufficiently visible to each other from the various hills, had run down all the more in concert.
§22.4.7Romanus clamore prius undique orto quam satis cerneret, se circumventum esse sensit, et ante in frontem lateraque pugnari coeptum est, quam satis instrueretur acies aut expediri arma stringique gladii possent.
The Roman, before he could see clearly, felt that he was surrounded by the shout that arose from all sides, and the fighting began in front and on the flanks before the line could be properly formed or weapons prepared and swords drawn.