So the
Carthaginians were afraid, they were fleeing! A tremendous hooting broke
out from among the Barbarian troops, and Spendius exclaimed from the top
of his dromedary: "Ah! I knew it! Forward! forward!"
Then javelins, darts, and sling-bullets burst forth simultaneously. The
elephants feeling their croups stung by the arrows began to gallop more
quickly; a great dust enveloped them, and they vanished like shadows in
a cloud.
But from the distance there came a loud noise of footsteps dominated by
the shrill sound of the trumpets, which were being blown furiously.
The space which the Barbarians had in front of them, which was full
of eddies and tumult, attracted like a whirlpool; some dashed into it.
Cohorts of infantry appeared; they closed up; and at the same time
all the rest saw the foot-soldiers hastening up with the horseman at a
gallop.
Hamilcar had, in fact, ordered the phalanx to break its sections, and
the elephants, light troops, and cavalry to pass through the intervals
so as to bring themselves speedily upon the wings, and so well had he
calculated the distance from the Barbarians, that at the moment when
they reached him, the entire Carthaginian army formed one long straight
line.
In the centre bristled the phalanx, formed of syntagmata or full squares
having sixteen men on each side.
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