Titus Livius (Livy), Ab urbe condita, Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor), 21.47

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[1]

Such was the first battle fought with ¹ Hannibal, in which it was clearly seen that the Phoenician was superior in cavalry and that consequently open plains, like those between the Po and the Alps, were ill-suited to the Romans for campaigning.

[2] Accordingly, the next night Scipio gave his men the order to pack up without making any noise, and quitting his camp on the Ticinus, marched swiftly to the Po, intending to use the bridge of boats which he had thrown across the river and had not yet broken up, in order to set his army over without confusion or interruption by the enemy.

[3] They were at Placentia before Hannibal was well aware that they were gone from the Ticinus; nevertheless some six hundred men, who were lingering on the northern bank and taking their time about casting off the raft, fell into Hannibal's hands. He was not able to cross the bridge, for when the end was cast off, the whole raft swung down stream with the current. ²

[4] Coelius states that Mago with the cavalry and the Spanish foot immediately swam the river, and that Hannibal himself led his army across the Po by an upper ford, after placing the elephants in a line to break the current of the river.

[5] Those who are acquainted with the Po will hardly credit this account; ³ for, in the first place, it is unlikely that the horsemen could have breasted so strong a current without the loss of arms or horses, even if all the Spaniards had swum over on inflated skins, and in the second place it would have needed a circuitous march of many days to reach fords on the Po by which an army encumbered with baggage could get across.

Those writers seem to me more worthy of belief ⁴ who relate that in two days' search a pace was scarcely found where the river could be spanned by a bridge of boats; by this the cavalry and light Spanish infantry were sent forward under Mago.

[7] While Hannibal, who had lingered on the northern bank to give a hearing to some Gallic embassies, was bringing over the heavy infantry, Mago and his horsemen advanced a day's march from the crossing of the river towards Placentia and the enemy.

[8] A few days later, Hannibal went into camp behind entrenchments, six miles from the town, and on the following day drew up his troops in sight of the enemy and offered battle.

Ab urbe condita. Titus Livius (Livy). Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor). Medford, MA. .

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

History of Rome (English) (Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Sage, Evan T.; Schlesinger, Alfred C., translators. Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press; William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959. (Loeb Classical Library))

Editions (3)

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Pars I-IV, Libri I-XL. Editio Stereotypica. Weissenborn, Wilhelm; Mueller, Moritz, editors. Leipzig: Teubner, 1884-1911.) — 21.47 focus

[1] hoc primum cum Hannibale proelium fuit; quo facile apparuit equitatu meliorem Poenum esse et ob id campos patentis, quales sunt inter Padum Alpesque, bello gerendo Romanis aptos non esse.

[2] itaque proxima nocte iussis militibus vasa silentio colligere castra ab Ticino mota festinatumque ad Padum est, ut ratibus, quibus iunxerat flumen, nondum resolutis sine tumultu atque insectatione hostis copias traiceret.

[3] prius Placentiam pervenere, quam satis sciret Hannibal ab Ticino profectos; tamen ad sescentos moratorum in citeriore ripa Padi segniter ratem solventes cepit. transire pontem non potuit, ut extrema resoluta erant, tota rate in secundam aquam labente. Coelius auctor est Magonem cum equitatu

[4] et Hispanis peditibus flumen extemplo tranasse, ipsum Hannibalem per superiora Padi vada exercitum traduxisse elephantis in ordinem ad sustinendum impetum fluminis oppositis. ea peritis amnis eius vix fidem fecerint;

[5] nam neque equites armis equisque salvis tantam vim fluminis superasse veri simile est, ut iam Hispanos omnis inflati travexerint utres, et multorum dierum circuitu Padi vada petenda fuerunt, qua exercitus gravis impedimentis traduci posset.

[6] potiores apud me auctores sunt, qui biduo vix locum rate iungendo flumini inventum tradunt; ea cum Magone equites et Hispanorum expeditos praemissos.

[7] dum Hannibal, circa flumen legationibus Gallorum audiendis moratus, traicit gravius peditum agmen, interim Mago equitesque ab transitu fluminis diei unius itinere Placentiam ad hostes contendunt.

[8] Hannibal paucis post diebus sex milia a Placentia castra communivit et postero die in conspectu hostium acie derecta potestatem pugnae fecit.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Conway, Robert Seymour; Walters, Charles Flamstead; Johnson, Stephen Keymer, editors. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1914-1935. (Oxford Classical Texts)) — 21.47 focus

[1]

hoc primum cum Hannibale proelium fuit; quo facile apparuit et equitatu meliorem Poenum esse et ob id campos patentes, quales sunt inter Padum Alpesque, bello gerendo Romanis aptos non esse.

[2] itaque proxima nocte iussis militibus uasa silentio colligere castra ab Ticino mota festinatumque ad Padum est ut ratibus, quibus iunxerat flumen, nondum resolutis sine tumultu atque insectatione hostis copias traiceret.

[3] prius Placentiam peruenere quam satis sciret Hannibal ab Ticino profectos; tamen ad sescentos moratorum in citeriore ripa Padi segniter ratem soluentes cepit. transire pontem non potuit, ut extrema resoluta erant tota rate in secundam aquam labente.

[4] Coelius auctor est Magonem cum equitatu et Hispanis peditibus flumen extemplo tranasse, ipsum Hannibalem per superiora Padi uada exercitum traduxisse, elephantis in ordinem ad sustinendum impetum fluminis oppositis.

[5] ea peritis amnis eius uix fidem fecerint; nam neque equites armis equisque saluis tantam uim fluminis superasse ueri simile est—ut iam Hispanos omnes inflati trauexerint utres—, et multorum dierum circuitu Padi uada petenda fuerunt qua exercitus grauis impedimentis traduci posset.

[6] potiores apud me auctores sunt qui biduo uix locum rate iungendo flumini inuentum tradunt; ea cum Magone equites Hispanorum expeditos praemissos.

[7] dum Hannibal, circa flumen legationibus Gallorum audiendis moratus, traicit grauius peditum agmen, interim Mago equitesque ab transitu fluminis diei unius itinere Placentiam ad hostes contendunt.

[8] Hannibal paucis post diebus sex milia a Placentia castra communiuit et postero die in conspectu hostium acie directa potestatem pugnae fecit.

Ab urbe condita Perseus (Livy in Fourteen Volumes. Foster, Benjamin Oliver; Moore, Frank Gardener; Schlesinger, Alfred C., editors. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd., 1919-1959 (printing).) — 21.47 focus

[1]

hoc primum cum Hannibale proelium fuit, quo facile apparuit et equitatu meliorem Poenum esse et ob id campos patentes, quales sunt inter Padum Alpesque, bello gerendo Romanis aptos non esse.

[2] itaque proxima nocte iussis militibus vasa silentio colligere castra ab Ticino mota festinatumque ad Padum est, ut ratibus quibus iunxerat flumen nondum resolutis sine tumultu atque insectatione hostis copias traiceret.

[3] prius Placentiam pervenere quam satis sciret Hannibal ab Ticino profectos; tamen ad sescentos ¹ moratorum in citeriore ripa Padi segniter ratem solventes cepit. transire pontem ² non potuit, ut extrema resoluta erant tota rate in secundam aquam labente.

[4] Coelius auctor est Magonem cum equitatu et Hispanis peditibus flumen extemplo tranasse, ipsum Hannibalem per superiora Padi vada exercitum traduxisse elephantis in ordinem ad sustinendum impetum fluminis oppositis.

[5] ea peritis amnis eius vix fidem fecerint; nam neque ³ equites armis equisque salvis tantam vim fluminis superasse veri simile est, ut iam Hispanos omnes inflati travexerint utres, et multorum dierum circuitu Padi vada petenda fuerunt, qua exercitus gravis impedimentis traduci posset.

[6] potiores apud me auctores sunt qui biduo vix ⁴ locum rate iungendo flumini inventum tradunt; ea cum Magone equites et Hispanorum ⁵ expeditos praemissos.

[7] dum Hannibal citra ⁶ flumen legationibus Gallorum audiendis moratus traicit gravius peditum agmen, interim Mago equitesque ab transitu fluminis diei unius itinere Placentiam ad hostes contendunt.

[8] Hannibal paucis post diebus sex milia a Placentia castra communivit et postero die in conspectu hostium acie derecta potestatem pugnae fecit.

Translations (2)

History of Rome Perseus (Spillan, D.; Edmonds, Cyrus; McDevitte, William A., translators. London: Henry G. Bohn, 1849-1868. (Bohn's Classical Library)) — 21.47 focus

[1]

This was the first battle with Hannibal; from which it clearly appeared that the Carthaginian was superior in cavalry; and on that account, that open plains, such as lie between the Po and the Alps, were not suited to the Romans for carrying on the war.

[2] On the following night, therefore, the soldiers being ordered to prepare their baggage in silence, the camp broke up from the Ticinus, and they hastened to the Po, in order that the rafts by which the consul had formed a bridge over the river, being not yet loosened, he might lead his forces across without disturbance or pursuit of the enemy.

[3] They arrived at Placentia before Hannibal had ascertained that they had set out from the Ticinus. He took, however, six hundred of those who loitered on the farther bank, who were slowly unfastening the raft; but he was not able to pass the bridge, as the whole raft floated down the stream as soon as the ends were unfastened.

[4] Cœlius relates that Mago, with the cavalry and Spanish infantry, immediately swam the river; and that Hannibal himself led the army across by fords higher up the Po, the elephants being opposed to the stream in a line to break the force of the current.

[5] These accounts can scarcely gain credit with those who are acquainted with that river; for it is neither probable that the cavalry could bear up against the great violence of the stream, without losing their arms or horses, even supposing that inflated bags of leather had transported all the Spaniards; and the fords of the Po, by which an army encumbered with baggage could pass, must have been sought by a circuit of many days' march.

[6] Those authors are more credited by me, who relate that in the course of two days a place was with difficulty found fit for forming a bridge of rafts across the river, and that by this way the light-armed Spanish cavalry was sent forward with Mago.

[7] Whilst Hannibal, delaying beside the river to give audience to the embassies of the Gauls, conveys over the heavy-armed forces of infantry, in the mean time Mago and the cavalry proceed towards the enemy at Placentia one day's journey after crossing the river.

[8] Hannibal, a few days after, fortified his camp six miles from Placentia, and on the following day, having drawn up his line of battle in sight of the enemy, gave them an opportunity of fighting.

History of Rome Perseus (Volumes 1-2. Roberts, Canon, Rev, translator. London, New York: J. M. Dent and Sons; E. P. Dutton and Co., 1912.) — 21.47 focus

[1]

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.

[2] 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.

[3] 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.

[4] 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.

[5] 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.

[6] 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.

[7] 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.

[8] 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.

Notes on the current edition

Ab Urbe Condita With An English Translation, books 1-10, 21-45, with periochae 11-20

1. B.C. 218

2. Polybius (III. lxvi) makes Hannibal pursue Scipio only as far as the Ticinus (where Polybius places the episode of the six hundred), then turn back and march W. along the Po two days, till he found a place where he could bridge it. See Map 2, Operations on the Po.

3. One of the very few places where Livy implies a firsthand acquaintance with the scene of events described.

4. B.C. 218

Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 21.47

Benjamin Oliver Foster, Ph.D. (Editor), Frank Gardener Moore (Editor), Evan T. Sage, Ph.D. (Editor), Alfred C. Schlesinger, Ph.D. (Editor)

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