University of Virginia Library

Scene XIII.

—The space between the two armies covered with corpses of men and horses.
Enter Scipio, &c.
Scip.
Sound the recall for the Hastati! Ha!
Here come they, all triumphant from pursuit!
Hence to Octavius! Bid him halt his men,
And form, on that side of the heaps of slain.—
My gallant soldiers! nobly have you fought
To-day for Rome; but there is more to do;
For Hannibal, with all his veterans,
Th'unpunished ravagers of Italy,
The insolent affronters of our pride,
Waits yonder with his last presumptuous sneer,
With his last hope, to unsheath his last sword!
On, then, and double your renown on him!
But, first, ere we can spring to the attack,
These corpses that encumber so the ground
Must be thrust hence, to leave our charge free space.
Undo the work your own good steel hath done,
And push these gory heaps to either side.

A Trib. of the Principes.
My sword already cleaves to my right hand.

A Centurion.
Oh, 'twas no child's play! Hannibal's soul had breathed
Such rage and hate into those savages,
You would have thought they were the Carthaginians,
The Carthaginians were the mercenaries.

A Princeps.
Till Hannibal appeared!

Another.
And then, indeed,
We saw the sorcerer's power!

Cent.
Oh, yes, and felt it—
As on the Punic faint-hearts rushed at last—
By the new fury kindled in ourselves!
To know that every blow we struck was seen
By those proud eyes, and thrilled in that proud soul,
Doubled the ardour caught from Scipio's voice.

A Dec.
'Twas good to see how, in their headlong flight,
They got from Hannibal no better comfort
Than levelled spears to turn them back again!
And yet they had fought well.

Scip.
[Examining one of the corpses.]
Ha! this is he—
This is Maharbal! Yesterday we saw him,
Well I remember, at the conference.

Trib.
The very same! A grim and grisly face—
The dying rage still glaring! Little thought he,
When hotly spurring o'er Italian plains,
His fate reserved him from so many fields,
To bite the dust of Zama!

Scip.
Even so.
A very gallant general was he,
Nor did a nobler band of cavalry
Ride after any man into the field.
Now are they scattered to the winds of heaven,
Never to meet again; or stretched, like him,
Beside their horses, on that field which soon
Ravens and vultures shall dispute with silence.—
Now for the struggle! Now for victory!

[Hannibal, at the head of his reserve, advances to meet Scipio.]
Han.
Now, if you need a war-cry, I will give it!
When you charge Rome, remember Hasdrubal!

[His troops close with the Romans, shouting “Remember Hasdrubal!” The two armies fight furiously.]