Appendix_A.
At the same time that Xanthippus gave the order for the elephants to advance and break the ranks of the enemy, and for the horse to surround and attack their wings, the Roman soldiers, clashing their arms, according to their custom, and raising a shout, rushed against their adversaries. The Roman horse were speedily put to flight on both wings, being so much inferior in number to the Carthaginians. Their foot soldiers, stationed on the left wing in order to avoid the onset of the elephants and because they despised the enemy’s mercenaries, dashed furiously against the Carthaginian right wing, broke it, and pursued them as far as their camp. The first who encountered the elephants were thrust aside by their momentum, or trampled down in heaps, and utterly destroyed, but the column, as a whole, remained unbroken for a considerable time by reason of the depth of the files. When those bringing up the rear were surrounded on all sides by the Carthaginian horse and compelled to turn and ward off this danger, and when those who had struggled through the line of elephants to the front encountered, in the rear of the beasts, the solid Carthaginian phalanx still in perfect order, and were slaughtered by them, the Romans were everywhere in difficulties. The greater part were trampled down by the enormous weight of the elephants and the rest fell in their very ranks under the javelins of the Carthaginian horse. Finally, a few took refuge in flight. As their line of retreat lay through an open country, most of these were destroyed by the enemy’s cavalry and elephants. About 500, who had escaped with their general, Marcus, were, after a little, overtaken and made prisoners. About 800 of the Carthaginian mercenaries, who were opposed to the Roman left wing, were killed, and the 2000 Romans who pursued them, being thus carried out of danger, were saved. All the rest were slain except Marcus and those who were retreating with him. Those who escaped found refuge unexpectedly in the city of Aspis. The Carthaginians, having stripped the dead, returned to the city rejoicing over their victory and bringing the Roman general and the prisoners captured with him. (Polybius I., 32-34.)