Book 23
29
These were the dispositions on each side, and whilst the two armies were standing ready to engage, their commanders felt almost equally confident of victory, for neither side was much superior to the other either in the numbers or the quality of the troops. With the men themselves it was far otherwise. Though the Romans were fighting far away from their homes their generals had no difficulty in making them realise that they were fighting for Italy and for Rome. They knew that it hung upon the issue of that fight whether they were to see their homes again or not, and they resolutely determined either to conquer or to die. The other army possessed nothing like the same determination, for they were most of them natives of Spain and would rather be defeated in Spain than win the victory and be dragged to Italy. At the first onset, almost before they had hurled their javelins, the centre gave ground, and when the Romans came on in a tremendous charge they turned and fled. The brunt of the fighting now fell upon the wings; the Carthaginians pressed forward on the right, the Africans on the left, and slowly wheeling round attacked the advancing Roman infantry on both flanks. But the whole force had now concentrated on the centre, and forming front in both directions beat back the attack on their flanks. So two separate actions were going on. The Romans, having already repulsed Hasdrubal's centre, and having the advantage as regarded both the numbers and the strength of their men, proved themselves undoubtedly superior on both fronts. A very large number of the enemy fell in these two attacks, and had not their centre taken to hasty flight almost before the battle began, very few would have survived out of their whole army. The cavalry took no part whatever in the fighting, for no sooner did the Moors and Numidians see the centre of the line giving way than they fled precipitately, leaving the wings exposed, and even driving the elephants before them. Hasdrubal waited to see the final issue of the battle and then escaped out of the slaughter with a few followers. The camp was seized and plundered by the Romans. This battle secured for Rome all the tribes who were wavering and deprived Hasdrubal of all hopes of taking his army to Italy or even of remaining with anything like safety in Spain. When the contents of the despatch from the Scipios was made known in Rome, the gratification felt was not so much on account of the victory as that Hasdrubal's march into Italy was at an end.
