began to recruit. Although they had
been half starved among the mountains, they had now plenty of
wholesome food. They repaired their tattered garments and their broken
weapons. They talked with one another about the terrific scenes
through which they had been passing, and the dangers which they had
surmounted, and thus, gradually strengthening their impressions of the
greatness of the exploits they had performed, they began soon to
awaken in each other's breasts an ambition to go on and undertake the
accomplishment of other deeds of daring and glory.

We left Scipio with his army at the mouth of the Rhone, about to set
sail for Italy with a part of his force, while the rest of it was sent
on toward Spain. Scipio sailed along the coast by Genoa, and thence to
Pisa, where he landed. He stopped a little while to recruit his
soldiers after the voyage, and in the mean time sent orders to all the
Roman forces then in the north of Italy to join his standard. He hoped
in this way to collect a force strong enough to encounter Hannibal.
These arrangements being made, he marched to the northward as rapidly
as possible. He knew in what condition Hannibal's army had descended
from the Alps, and wished to attack them before they should have time
to recover from the effects of their privations and sufferings. He
reached the Po before he saw any thing of Hannibal.

Hannibal, in the mean time, was not idle. As soon as his men were in a
condition to move, he began to act upon the tribes that he found at
the foot of the mountains, offering his friendship to some, and
attacking others. He thus conquered those who attempted to resist him,
moving, all the time, gradually southward toward the Po. That river
has numerous branches, and among them is one named the Ticinus. It was
on the banks of this river that the two armies at last came together.

Both generals must have felt some degree of solicitude in respect to
the result of the contest which was about to take place. Scipio knew
very well Hannibal's terrible efficiency as a warrior, and he was
himself a general of great distinction, and a _Roman_, so that
Hannibal had no reason to anticipate a very easy victory. Whatever
doubts or fears, however, general officers may feel on the eve of an
engagement, it is always considered very necessary to conceal them
entirely from the men, and to animate and encourage the troops with a
most undoubting confidence that they will gain the victory.