§30.33.1non confertas autem cohortes ante sua quamque signa instruebat, sed manipulos aliquantum inter se distantes, ut esset spatium, qua elephanti hostium acti nihil ordines turbarent.
He did not, however, draw up the cohorts in close array before their respective standards, but the maniples at some distance from one another, so that there might be space through which the enemy's elephants, when driven forward, might pass without throwing the ranks into any confusion.
§30.33.2Laelium, cuius ante legati, eo anno quaestoris extra sortem ex senatus consulto opera utebatur, cum Italico equitatu ab sinistro cornu, Masinissam Numidasque ab dextro opposuit.
Laelium, whose services he had used formerly as lieutenant, and in that year, by a decree of the senate, as quaestor without drawing lots, he posted with the Italian cavalry on the left wing, and Masinissa and the Numidians on the right.
§30.33.3vias patentes inter manipulos antesignanorum velitibus — ea tunc levis armatura erat — complevit, dato praecepto, ut ad impetum elephantorum aut post directos refugerent ordines aut in dextram laevamque discursu applicantes se antesignanis viam, qua inruerent in ancipitia tela, beluis darent.
The open passages between the maniples of the vanguard he filled with the velites—this was the light-armed infantry at that time—giving orders that, upon the charge of the elephants, they should either retreat behind the straight ranks or, dispersing to the right and left and aligning themselves with the vanguard, leave a passage for the beasts, through which they might rush onto missiles coming from both sides.
§30.33.4Hannibal ad terrorem primos elephantos — octoginta autem erant, quot nulla umquam in acie ante habuerat — instruxit, §30.33.5deinde auxilia Ligurum Gallorumque Baliaribus Maurisque admixtis; in secunda acie Carthaginienses Afrosque et Macedonum legionem; §30.33.6modico deinde intervallo relicto subsidiariam aciem Italicorum militum — Bruttii plerique erant, vi ac necessitate plures quam sua voluntate decedentem ex Italia secuti — instruxit.
Hannibal, to strike terror, drew up his elephants in the front—there were eighty of them, a greater number than he had ever before had in any battle-line; then the auxiliaries of the Ligurians and Gauls, with Balearians and Moors intermingled; in the second line, the Carthaginians and Africans, and a legion of Macedonians; then, leaving a moderate interval, he drew up a reserve line of Italian soldiers—mostly Bruttians, more of whom had followed him as he departed from Italy by force and necessity than of their own free will.
§30.33.7equitatum et ipse circumdedit cornibus; dextrum Carthaginienses, sinistrum Numidae tenuerunt.
He himself also flanked the wings with cavalry; the Carthaginians held the right, the Numidians the left.
Varia adhortatio erat in exercitu inter tot homines, §30.33.8quibus non lingua, non mos, non lex, non arma, non vestitus habitusque, non causa militandi eadem esset.
The exhortation in an army of so many men was various, since they did not have the same language, custom, law, arms, dress and appearance, nor the same reason for fighting.
auxiliaribus §30.33.9et praesens et multiplicata ex praeda merces ostentatur; Galli proprio atque insito in Romanos odio accenduntur; Liguribus campi uberes Italiae deductis ex asperrimis montibus in spem victoriae ostentantur; §30.33.10Mauros Numidasque Masinissae inpotenti futuro dominatu terret; §30.33.11aliis aliae spes ac metus iactantur.
To the auxiliaries both present pay and a manifold increase from plunder were held out; the Gauls were inflamed by their own innate hatred against the Romans; to the Ligurians, brought down from their rugged mountains, the fertile plains of Italy were displayed in the hope of victory; the Moors and Numidians he terrified with the future tyrannical rule of Masinissa; to others, other hopes and fears were tossed about.
Carthaginiensibus moenia patriae, di penates, sepulcra maiorum, liberi cum parentibus coniugesque pavidae, aut excidium servitiumque aut imperium orbis terrarum, nihil aut in metum aut in spem medium, ostentatur.
To the Carthaginians, the walls of their native city, their household gods, the tombs of their ancestors, their children with their parents, and their trembling wives, either destruction and slavery or the empire of the world—nothing intermediate between fear or hope—were displayed.
cum maxime haec imperator apud Carthaginienses, §30.33.12duces suarum gentium inter populares, pleraque per interpretes inter immixtos alienigenas agerent, tubae cornuaque ab Romanis cecinerunt, tantusque clamor ortus, §30.33.13ut elephanti in suos, sinistrum maxime cornu, verterentur, Mauros ac Numidas.
Just when the commander was doing these things among the Carthaginians, and the leaders of their respective nations were discussing them among their countrymen, for the most part through interpreters among the intermingled foreigners, the trumpets and horns sounded from the Romans, and so great a shout arose that the elephants were turned upon their own men, especially on the left wing, the Moors and Numidians.
addidit facile Masinissa perculsis terrorem nudavitque ab ea parte aciem equestri auxilio.
Masinissa easily added terror to those who were already stricken, and stripped the battle-line on that side of its cavalry support.
§30.33.14paucae tamen bestiarum intrepidae in hostem actae inter velitum ordines cum multis suis vulneribus ingentem stragem edebant.
A few of the beasts, however, driven fearlessly against the enemy, caused great slaughter among the ranks of the velites, while themselves receiving many wounds.
§30.33.15resilientes enim ad manipulos velites, cum viam elephantis, ne obtererentur, fecissent, in ancipites ad ictum utrimque coniciebant hastas, §30.33.16nec pila ab antesignanis cessabant, donec undique incidentibus telis exacti ex Romana acie hi quoque in suos dextrum cornu, ipsos Carthaginienses equites, in fugam verterunt.
For the velites, retreating to the maniples, having made a way for the elephants lest they should be trampled, hurled their javelins from both sides against the beasts, which were exposed to blows from either direction; nor did the javelins from the vanguard cease, until, driven out of the Roman battle-line by the missiles falling upon them from all sides, these also turned upon their own right wing, the Carthaginian cavalry itself, and put them to flight.
Laelius ut turbatos vidit hostes, addidit perculsis terrorem.
Laelius, when he saw the enemy thrown into confusion, added terror to those who were already stricken.