e swelling of the waters of the river by the
melting of the snows upon the mountains. The whole country was now, in
fact, a vast expanse of marshes and fens.

Still, Hannibal concluded to cross it, and, in the attempt, he
involved his army in difficulties and dangers as great, almost, as he
had encountered upon the Alps. The waters were rising continually;
they filled all the channels and spread over extended plains. They
were so turbid, too, that every thing beneath the surface was
concealed, and the soldiers wading in them were continually sinking
into deep and sudden channels and into bogs of mire, where many were
lost. They were all exhausted and worn out by the wet and cold, and
the long continuance of their exposure to it. They were four days and
three nights in this situation, as their progress was, of course,
extremely slow. The men, during all this time, had scarcely any sleep,
and in some places the only way by which they could get any repose was
to lay their arms and their baggage in the standing water, so as to
build, by this means, a sort of couch or platform on which they could
lie. Hannibal himself was sick too. He was attacked with a violent
inflammation of the eyes, and the sight of one of them was in the end
destroyed. He was not, however, so much exposed as the other officers;
for there was one elephant left of all those that had commenced the
march in Spain, and Hannibal rode this elephant during the four days'
march through the water. There were guides and attendants to precede
him, for the purpose of finding a safe and practicable road, and by
their aid, with the help of the animal's sagacity, he got safely
through.

[Illustration: CROSSING THE MARSHES.]

CHAPTER VIII.

THE DICTATOR FABIUS.

B.C. 216

Alarm at Rome.--The consul Flaminius.--Another stratagem.--Confidence
of Flaminius.--Complete rout of the Romans.--Effects of the
battle.--Panic of the Romans.--Their superstitious fears.--Omens and
bad signs.--Curious transformations.--Their influence.--Importance
attached to these stories.--Feverish excitement at Rome.--News of the
battle.--Gatherings of the people.--Arrival of stragglers.--Appointment
of a dictator.--Fabius.--Measures of Fabius.--Religious
ceremonies.--Minucius.--Supreme authority of a dictator.--Proclamation
of Fabius.--Progress of Hannibal.--Policy of Fabius.--He declines
fighting.--Hannibal's danger.--Stratagem of the fiery
oxen.--Unpopularity of Fabius.--Hannibal