Very opportunely for the commencement of his operations, a war had broken out
with the Taurini, the nearest nation, against the Insubrians; but Hannibal could
not put his troops under arms to assist either party, as they very chiefly felt
the disorders they had before contracted, in remedying them; for ease after
toil, plenty after want, and attention to their persons after dirt and filth,
had variously affected their squalid and almost savage-looking bodies. This
was the reason that Publius Cornelius, the consul, when he had arrived at Pisa
with his fleet, hastened to the Po, though the troops he received from Manlius
and Atilius were raw and disheartened by their late disgraces, in order that
he might engage the enemy when not yet recruited. But when the consul came to
Placentia, Hannibal had already moved from his quarters, and had taken by storm
one city of the Taurini, the capital of the nation, because they did not come
willingly into his alliance; and he would have gained over to him, not only
from fear, but also from inclination, the Gauls who dwell beside the Po, had
not the arrival of the consul suddenly checked them while watching for an opportunity
of revolt. Hannibal at the same time moved from the Taurini, thinking that the
Gauls, uncertain which side to choose, would follow him if present among them.
The armies were now almost in sight of each other, and their leaders, though
not at present sufficiently acquainted, yet met each other with a certain feeling
of mutual admiration. For the name of Hannibal, even before the destruction
of Saguntum, was very celebrated among the Romans; and Hannibal believed Scipio
to be a superior man, from the very circumstance of his having been specially
chosen to act as commander against himself. They had increased too their estimation
of each other; Scipio, because, being left behind in Gaul, he had met Hannibal
when he had crossed into Italy; Hannibal, by his daring attempt of crossing
the Alps and by its accomplishment. Scipio, however, was the first to cross
the Po, and having pitched his camp at the river Ticinus, he delivered the following
oration for the sake of encouraging his soldiers before he led them out to form
for battle:
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