Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

equal distribution of lands conquered from the Gauls near Ariminum. Ten years later he was elected consul to command against the Gauls; and, after he had assumed his new functions, the Senate, fearing that he would propose a similar division of any lands he might then conquer, so worked on the superstitious fears of the people by the publication of terrible omens and prodigies as to procure his recall. Flaminius received the despatch ordering him back to Rome when on the eve of fighting a battle; but, guessing its import, he, in the spirit of Nelson who turned his blind eye to the signal to retreat, would not open it until after he had gained a complete victory; when he replied to the Senate that the gods themselves having solved their scruples and pronounced in his favour, it was no longer needful for him to return.

This incident alone stamps Flaminius as no ordinary man, and as being possessed of some of the very highest qualities of a general: impetuous indeed he was, overconfident it may be, and over-vehement, but still a man of great qualities both civil and military, to conquer whom was no small glory.

Flaminius now judging by past experience feared that his political enemies would endeavour to cancel his appointment by appealing to popular superstition; he therefore set out for the army he was destined to command even before the commencement of his term of office. Religion, although they themselves might not believe in it, was a powerful engine whose whole machinery was in the hands of the nobility, who used it freely by imposing on the ignorance of the vulgar to

the detriment of those whom they feared or hated. But the Roman aristocracy thought the present no fitting time to stir party animosities, and Flaminius was therefore permitted, without hindrance, to assume the command of the army of Etruria in succession to Sempronius.

The other consul, Servilius, succeeded Scipio at Ariminum; while the last-named general went to Spain, with proconsular power, to take the command of his original army and to oppose the progress of the Carthaginian arms in that country.

The forces which were commanded by Flaminius in Etruria, and by Servilius at Ariminum, were respectively reinforced by two newly raised legions; so that the numbers which would be opposed to Hannibal, on either line he might select for his advance into Italy, amounted to about 30,000 men.

Besides these, two legions were employed in Spain, one in Sicily, one in Sardinia, and another at Tarentum ; and the total forces which were maintained in the pay of the republic during this year, including Italian allies, amounted to the large number of 110,000

men.

Early in the spring, Hannibal with his army entered Etruria; leaving Lucca on his right, he advanced to the Arno and became entangled in the marshes of that river, where the sufferings of his troops were extreme, and where it is said that he himself lost the sight of one of his eyes, from the effects of hardship and exposure. Turning to his left, he at length reached firm ground near Fæsulæ, where his soldiers were repaid for

their privations by the rich plunder of the valley of the Upper Arno.

Flaminius, who had entrenched himself at Arretium, remained quietly in his camp, and was satisfied with sending to inform his colleague at Ariminum that Hannibal had entered Etruria.*

Hannibal crossed the Arno somewhere in the neighbourhood of Florence: it was a matter of necessity with him to accumulate plunder and to carry it along with his army, no less for the support than for the gratification of his troops; his marches were therefore short, and they were made deliberately past the left flank of the Romans, and almost within sight of their camp, in the hope of provoking Flaminius to follow and attack him.

It was on the impetuous element in the character of Flaminius that Hannibal relied for the success of his plan of operations. He hoped by ravaging the Etruscan territory to draw his enemy after him in hot and angry pursuit, and he was carefully prepared at all moments to turn upon his pursuer, and to take advantage of any error or imprudence into which his eagerness might betray him.

Hannibal, having crossed the Arno, continued his course along its left bank by Aquileia to the Clavis river, thence up the left bank of that river towards Clusium; but instead of approaching Clusium he turned suddenly to the left, crossed the Clavis, and climbing the hills which almost surround the Thrasymene Lake, descended to the north shore of that lake by the road

* See Observation 3.

which leads to Perusia, with the apparent design of ravaging the rich plain of Central Italy which extends from Perusia to Spoletum, and is traversed by the great road from Ariminum to Rome.

Here Hannibal, learning that Flaminius had at length quitted Arretium and was upon his trail, prepared an ambuscade for the Roman army. The ground on the north shore of the lake is peculiarly favourable to such a design. But the uncertainty which prevails as to the exact scene of the battle renders it unprofitable to enter into minute details which can, after all, be little more than imaginary.

The probability is that the battle was fought near the present village of Passignano. At that point, and for some 1500 yards eastward towards Perusia, as well as for 1000 yards westwards, the road runs close to the water's edge on the right, and is hemmed in on the left by cliffs which make it an absolute defile. At the Perusia end of the pass a streamlet falls into the lake from a mountain gorge on the left, and the defile terminates, but the road continues in a straight course over the hills to Perusia. At the end of the defile the lake shore turns to the south-west almost at right angles to the direction of the road, and the hills receding from the lake leave a small plain between them and the water. Here Hannibal placed his heavy Spanish and African infantry to stop the Roman march, while the heavy Gaulish cavalry was to charge the left flank of the advancing column when it emerged from the defile.

All the light infantry was ranged along the top of the

cliffs overlooking the pass, while the Gaulish infantry and Numidian cavalry, posted in rear of it, were with

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]

drawn from the road and concealed from sight by intervening high ground.

Flaminius, coming from Cortona, arrived late at night at the lake shore where he encamped, too late it is said to examine properly the ground on the line of his next day's march. He pictured to himself in lively colours the havoc which perhaps the foreigners were already making of one of the richest districts of Italy; and without making any reconnaissance he set forward early in the morning, eager to overtake the invader. The morning mist hung thickly over the lake and low grounds, leaving the heights comparatively clear, and Flaminius rejoiced in the friendly veil which would conceal his movements from the enemy's scouts. He pushed on rapidly, and hoped he might still be in time to fall on the rear of Hannibal's army while yet in

« AnteriorContinuar »