28.15
The
struggle had now become a very one-sided one in all parts of the field. Not
only were untrained Balearics and raw Spanish levies face to face with the
Roman and Latin legionaries but as the day went on, the physical strength of
Hasdrubal's army began to give way. Surprised by the sudden attack in the
early morning they had been compelled to go into battle before they could
strengthen themselves with food. It was with this view that Scipio had
deliberately delayed the fight till late in the day, for it was not until the
seventh hour that the attack began on the wings, and it was some time after
that before the battle reached the centre, so that, what with the heat of the
day, the fatigue of standing under arms, and the hunger and thirst from
which they were suffering, they were worn out before they closed with the
enemy. Thus exhausted they leaned on their shields as they stood. To
complete their discomfiture the elephants, scared by the sudden onsets of the
cavalry and the rapid movements of the light infantry, rushed from the wings
into the centre of the line. Wearied and depressed, the enemy began to
retreat, keeping their ranks however, just as if they had been ordered to
retire. But when the victors saw that matters were going in their favour they
made still more furious attacks in all parts of the field, which the enemy were
almost powerless to withstand, though Hasdrubal tried to rally them and
keep them from giving way by calling out that the hill in their rear would
afford them a safe retreat if they would retire in good order. Their fears,
however, got the better of their sense of shame, and when those nearest to
the enemy gave way, their example was suddenly followed by all and there
was a universal flight. Their first halt was on the lower slope of the hill, and
as the Romans hesitated about mounting the hill, they began to re-form their
ranks, but when they saw them steadily advancing they again fled and were
driven back in disorder to their camp. The Romans were not far from the
rampart and would have carried the camp in their onset had not the brilliant
sunshine which often glows between heavy showers been succeeded by such
a storm that the victors could hardly get back to their camp, and some were
even deterred by superstitious fears from attempting anything further for the
day. Although the night and the storm invited the Carthaginians, exhausted
as they were by their toil and many of them by their wounds, to take the rest
they so sorely needed, yet their fears and the danger they were in allowed
them no respite. Fully expecting an attack on their camp as soon as it was
light they strengthened their rampart with large stones collected from all the
valleys round, hoping to find in their intrenchments the defence which their
arms had failed to afford them. The desertion of their allies, however,
decided them to seek safety in flight rather than risk another battle. The first
to abandon them was Attenes, chief of the Turdetani; he went over with a
considerable body of his countrymen, and this was followed by the surrender
of two fortified towns with their garrisons to the Romans. For fear of the
evil spreading and the spirit of disaffection becoming general, Hasdrubal
shifted his camp the following night.
