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Livy Book 30 chapter 33 - notes

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Index	Introduction			People
Chapter 3 Chapter 3 notes Chapter 4 Chapter 4 notes Chapter 5 Chapter 5 notes	Chapter 6 Chapter 6 notes Chapter 12 Chapter 12 notes Chapter 13 Chapter 13 notes	Chapter 14 Chapter 14 notes Chapter 15 Chapter 15 notes Chapter 30 Chapter 30 notes	Chapter 31 Chapter 31 notes Chapter 32 Chapter 32 notes Chapter 33 Chapter 33 notes	Scipio Laelius Syphax Masinissa Sophonisba

Animation of the Battle

non confertas autem cohortes ...: The three ranks had been drawn up conventionally, but not with the cohorts (each of 300 to 400 men) confertas, close together. Each maniple (the word literally means a handful; a maniple was a third of a cohort) left a space between itself and its neighbours. Against another line of infantry this would have been madness, because a broken line could be cut to pieces by an unbroken line, each man covering his neighbour with half his shield. But the Romans were facing elephants, and they called for special tactics.

ante sua quamque signa: each one (cohort) in front of its own standard. The legion had its eagle as a standard, and each cohort had its own standard. Examples, such as a boar's head, can be seen stamped on roof tiles or carved on stone at various Roman sites in Britain. The standard was a focus of loyalty to one's army unit, and a rallying point in the confusion of battle.

aliquantum: a little way - either an adverb, ar an accusative of extent of space.

qua ... turbarent: Relative with subjunctive = purpose. qua, where, was originally the ablative feminine singular of qui, quae, quod.

nihil: Adverbial accusative - in no way.

Laelium: See note on Laelius at the top of the page. The construction is: He placed (opposuit) Laelius, whose effort (opera, ablative singular) he used previously as legatus, that year as quaestor .... A legatus was second in command. A quaestor was officially a financial officer, but was in fact the lowest rung on the political ladder, the cursus honorum. Unlike the higher ranks (aedile, praetor, consul) who served their year in Rome and only afterwards went to a province as pro-praetor etc., the quaestors, of which there were eventually 40 per annum, mainly served abroad.

extra sortem: Quaestors were allotted their provinces by casting lots (sortes). On this occasion the senate stepped in and ensured that the good commander went where he was vitally needed.

equitatu ... ab sinistro cornu: Throughout history the cavalry has normally been placed on the wings of an army. Horses need space to manoeuvre and charge. The Roman army relied increasingly as time went by, on specialist troops from particular parts of the Empire. In Scipio's time there were still cavalry units from Italy. Conventionally, armies placed their stronger cavalry on their right flank.

uias patentes ... compleuit: Now comes the special tactic, designed to deal with Hannibal's elephants. Gaps left between the maniples (three maniples, meaning literally handfuls, made up a cohort) were hidden by 'uelites' just as a pit dug as an elephant trap would be hidden by brushwood. The uelites could disappear as quickly as the brushwood collapses, leaving the elephants caught.

antesignanorum: antesignani who fought in front of the standards had the job of trying to discomfit the enemy ranks before the main armies clashed together, shield-wall against shield-wall. They would have had to get away fast once their job was done, or they would be crushed between the two killing machines that were the legionary troops and their enemy equivalents.

uelitibus: The word comes from the same root as uolare, to fly. These soldiers had to move quickly. Evidently the word was in Livy's source, but had gone out of use by his own time, and so Livy needed to explain it using the modern term leuis armatura, light armed troops.

ad impetum elephantorum:
At the charge of the elephants; ad is used in expressions of time, often meaning 'up to', 'until', but here meaning 'at the moment of', as also in ad horam destinatam, at the appointed hour.
post directos ordines: behind the straight lines; There is a contrast between the light-armed skirmishers, who would fight as individuals, and the regular troops in their straight lines.

uiam qua inruerent: The subjunctive is used because this is a subordinate clause in indirect speech, depending on dato praecepto ut and also because it has something of a purpose clause about it: for the elephants to rush into ...

ancipitia tela: literally 'two-headed weapons'. This is a striking extension of usage, to mean 'thrown from two sides'.

ad terrorem: A compact phrase, for the purpose of inspiring terror.

primos elephantos: Not 'the first elephants' but 'the elephants as the front line of battle'. Romans were used to hearing about the 'prima acies, secunda acies ...' Here, in fact, there was a double first line of battle, elephants and auxiliaries.

Ligurum Gallorumque, Baliaribus Maurisque admixtis: The Ligurians came from the north of Italy around Genoa, part of cisalpine Gaul. 'Gauls' is a less localised name, their territory including modern France. The Balearic islands are near the east coast of Spain, and produced experts in the slingshot. The Mauri came from Mauretania, the north African coast opposite Spain. Hannibal had crossed, probably from Mauretania, into Spain at the beginning of his war against Rome, and had marched through southern Gaul and crossed the Alps into Liguria, so he probably collected soldiers from all these places who stayed with him.

Afros: The Romans at first thought of the region around Carthage as 'Africa'. Later the province of Africa extended to the east; but when writing of the continent as a whole, they were just as likely to call it Libya.

Macedonum legionem: Philip, King of Macedon, supported Hannibal in this Second Punic War. He was defeated by the Roman general Flamininus five years after the Battle of Zama.

Bruttii: They lived in the 'toe' of Italy, and apparently claimed they had been forced to join Hannibal when he finally was summoned home from Italy to defend Carthage. By putting them at the back of his army, Hannibal was not showing great faith in their loyalty to him.

et ipse: He, too, - like Scipio.

equitatum ... cornibus: with horns of cavalry; the cavalry were normally placed at each end of the battle line, and as they rode forward they would look like the horns of a huge beast sticking out on either side of the army.

non arma: Hannibal, like the Romans, allowed troops from different nations to fight the way they knew best; we have already noticed the Balearic slingers. In the British army the Gurkhas have their own type of weapon.

non causa militandi ...: The following sentences suggest the reasons that different branches of Hannibal's army had for serving with him, sometimes hope, sometimes fear or hatred: riches for the auxiliaries, hatred of the Romans for the Gauls, fertile plains for the mountain-dwelling Ligurians, fear of King Masinissa for those who lived in or near his kingdom.

impotenti: Not 'impotent' but 'uncontrolled'.

aliis aliae spes ac metus iactantur: Literally, other hopes and fears are thrown about for other (people). Some hopes and fears were held up to some sections of the army, other ones to other sections. aliae (feminine) agrees with the nearer noun, spes, although metus is masculine. Incidentally, bother spes and metus could (judging purely by their form) be either singular or plural, but the plural aliae shows that they are both plural.

Carthaginiensibus moenia ... nihil ...medium ostentatur.: The structure of the sentence is simple: To the Carthaginians (a number of things) were held up. This was the conventional list: you are fighting for your city, your gods, your ancestors' tombs, your children, your parents, your wives. Then Hannibal makes clear the stark alternatives. Victory will bring world domination; defeat will bring death and slavery. There is no middle possibility. Note that the verb after this list of subjects is singular, because the last on the list is singular (nihil medium).

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