But to no one did it appear more important and just than to the consul himself.
He was transported with joy "that he had conquered with that part of the forces
with which the other consul had been defeated; that the spirits of the soldiers
were restored and revived; that there was no one, except his colleague, who
would wish an engagement delayed; and that he, suffering more from disease of
mind than body, shuddered, through recollection of his wound, at arms and battle.
But others ought not to sink into decrepitude together with a sick man. For
why should there be any longer protraction or waste of time? What third consul,
what other army did they wait for? The camp of the Carthaginians was in Italy,
and almost in sight of the city. It was not Sicily and Sardinia, which had been
taken from them when vanquished, nor Spain on this side of the Iberus, that
was their object, but that the Romans should be driven from the land of their
fathers, and the soil in which they were born. How deeply," he continued, "would
our fathers groan, who were wont to wage war around the walls of Carthage, if
they should see us their offspring, two consuls and two consular armies, trembling
within our camps in the heart of Italy, while a Carthaginian had made himself
master of all the country between the Alps and the Apennine!" Such discourses
did he hold while sitting beside his sick colleague, and also at the head-quarters,
almost in the manner of an harangue. The approaching period of the elections
also stimulated him, lest the war should be protracted till the new consuls
were chosen, and the opportunity of turning all the glory to himself, while
his colleague lay sick. He orders the soldiers, therefore, Cornelius in vain
attempting to dissuade him, to get ready for an immediate engagement. Hannibal,
as he saw what conduct would be best for the enemy, had scarce at first any
hope that the consuls would do any thing rashly or imprudently, but when he
discovered that the disposition of the one, first known from report, and afterwards
from experience, was ardent and impetuous, and believed that it had been rendered
still more impetuous by the successful engagement with his predatory troops,
he did not doubt that an opportunity of action was near at hand. He was anxious
and watchful not to omit this opportunity, while the troops of the enemy were
raw, while his wound rendered the better of the two commanders useless, and
while the spirits of the Gauls were fresh; of whom he knew that a great number
would follow him with the greater reluctance the farther they were drawn away
from home. When, for these and similar reasons, he hoped that an engagement
was near and desired to make the attack himself, if there should be any delay;
and when the Gauls, who were the safer spies to ascertain what he wished, as
they served in both camps, had brought intelligence that the Romans were prepared
for battle, the Carthaginian began to look about for a place for an ambuscade.
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