21.47
This
was the first battle with Hannibal, and the result made it quite clear that the
Carthaginian was superior in his cavalry, and consequently that the open
plains which stretch from the Po to the Alps were not a suitable battlefield
for the Romans. The next night accordingly, the soldiers were ordered to
collect their baggage in silence, the army moved away from the Ticinus and
marched rapidly to the Po, which they crossed by the pontoon bridge which
was still intact, in perfect order and without any molestation by the enemy.
They reached Placentia before Hannibal knew for certain that they had left
the Ticinus; however, he succeeded in capturing some 600, who were
loitering on his side of the Po, and were slowly unfastening the end of the
bridge. He was unable to use the bridge for crossing, as the ends had been
unfastened and the whole was floating down-stream. According to Caelius,
Mago with the cavalry and Spanish infantry at once swam across, whilst
Hannibal himself took his army across higher up the river where it was
fordable, the elephants being stationed in a row from bank to bank to break
the force of the current. Those who know the river will hardly believe this
for it is highly improbable that the cavalry could have stood against so
violent a river without damage to their horses and arms, even supposing that
the Spaniards had been carried across by their inflated skins, and it would
have required a march of many days to find a ford in the Po where an army
loaded with baggage could be taken across. I attach greater weight to those
authorities who state that it took them at least two days to find a spot where
they could throw a bridge over the river, and that it was there that Mago's
cavalry and the Spanish light infantry crossed. Whilst Hannibal was waiting
near the river to give audience to deputations from the Gauls, he sent his
heavy infantry across, and during this interval Mago and his cavalry
advanced a day's march from the river in the direction of the enemy at
Placentia. A few days later Hannibal entrenched himself in a position six
miles from Placentia, and the next day he drew out his army in battle order in
full view of the enemy and gave him the opportunity of fighting.
