t
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:

40. "If, soldiers, I were leading out that army to battle which I had
with me in Gaul, I should have thought it superfluous to address you;
for of what use would it be to exhort either those horsemen who so
gloriously vanquished the cavalry of the enemy at the river Rhone, or
those legions with whom, pursuing this very enemy flying before us, I
obtained in lieu of victory, a confession of superiority, shown by his
retreat and refusal to fight? Now because that army, levied for the
province of Spain, maintains the war under my auspices [Footnote:
Because Spain was his proper province as consul.] and the command of
my brother Cneius Scipio, in the country where the senate and people
of Rome wished him to serve, and since I, that you might have a consul
for your leader against Hannibal and the Carthaginians, have offered
myself voluntarily for this contest, few words are required to be
addressed from a new commander to soldiers unacquainted with him. That
you may not be ignorant of t