The father of the great Scipio met Hannibal in the plains
west of the Ticinus, and was routed, retreating to the west bank of the
Trebia, where the Romans, with a larger force, were again defeated,
though the December cold caused the invading army great suffering and
killed all the elephants but one. The success of the Carthaginians led
the Gauls to flock to their standard, and Hannibal found himself able
to push forward with increasing vigor.
[Illustration: TERENCE, THE LAST ROMAN COMIC POET.]
Taking the route toward the capital, he met the Romans at Lake
Trasimenus, and totally routed them, killing the commander, Caius
Flaminius, who had come from Arretium to oppose him. The defeat was
accounted for by the Romans by the fact that Flaminius, always careless
about his religious observances, had broken camp at Ariminum, whence he
had come to Arretium, though the signs had been against him, and had
also previously neglected the usual solemnities upon his election as
consul before going to Ariminum. The policy of Hannibal was to make
friends of the allies of Rome, in order to attract them to his support,
and after his successes he carefully tended the wounded and sent the
others away, often with presents. He hoped to undermine Rome by taking
away her allies, and after this great success he did not march to the
capital, though he was distant less than a hundred miles from it,
because he expected to see tokens that his policy was a success.
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