27.49
More
elephants were killed by their drivers than by the enemy. They had a
carpenter's chisel and a mallet, and when the maddened beasts rushed among
their own side the driver placed the chisel between the ears just where the
head is joined to the neck and drove it home with all his might. This was the
quickest method that had been discovered of putting these huge animals to
death when there was no hope of controlling them, and Hasdrubal was the
first to introduce it. Often had this commander distinguished himself in other
battles, but never more than in this one. He kept up the spirits of his men as
they fought by words of encouragement and by sharing their dangers; when,
weary and dispirited, they would no longer fight, he rekindled their courage
by his entreaties and reproaches; he rallied those in flight and often revived
the battle where it had been abandoned. At last when the fortune of the day
was decisively with the enemy he refused to survive that great army which
had followed him, drawn by the magic of his name, and setting spurs to his
horse dashed against a Roman cohort. There he fell fighting -a death worthy
of Hamilcar's son and Hannibal's brother. Never during the whole of the war
had so many of the enemy perished in a single battle. The death of the
commander and the destruction of his army were regarded as an adequate
repayment for the disaster of Cannae. 56,000 of the enemy were killed, 5400
taken prisoners, and a great quantity of plunder was secured, especially of
gold and silver. Above 3000 Romans who had been captured by the enemy
were recovered, and this was some consolation for the losses incurred in the
battle. For the victory was by no means a bloodless one; about 8000 Romans
and allies were killed. So satiated were the victors with bloodshed and
carnage that when it was reported to Livius on the following day that the
Cisalpine Gauls and Ligurians who had taken no part in the battle or had
escaped from the field were marching off in a body without general or
standards or any one to give the word of command, and that a single
squadron of cavalry could wipe out the whole lot, the consul replied: "Let
some survive to carry the news of their defeat and our victory."
