ion of the Roman state to the limits attained in 340 B. C. This
purpose is apparent from the plan of campaign which he followed after his
arrival in Italy.

*Hannibal's march into Italy.* Hannibal's preparations were more advanced
than those of the Romans and, early in the spring of 218 B. C., he set out
from New Carthage for the Pyrenees. Forcing a passage there, he left the
passes under guard and resumed his march with a picked army of Spaniards
and Numidians. His brother Hasdrubal was left in Spain to collect
reinforcements and follow with them. Hannibal arrived at the Rhone and
crossed it by the time that Scipio reached Massalia on his way to Spain.
The latter, failing to force Hannibal to give battle on the banks of the
Rhone, returned in person to Italy, but decided to send his army, under
the command of his brother, to Spain, a decision which had the most
serious consequences for Carthage. Meanwhile Hannibal continued his march
and, overcoming the opposition of the peoples whose territory he
traversed, as well as the more serious obstacles of bad roads, dangerous
passes, cold, and hunger, he crossed the Alps and descended into the plain
of North Italy in the autumn of 218, after a march of five months.(7) His
army was reduced to 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Practically all his
elephants perished.

Hannibal at once found support and an opportunity to rest his weary troops
among the Insubres and the Boii, the latter of whom had already taken up
arms against the Romans. At the news of his arrival in Italy Sempronius
was at once recalled from Sicily, but Scipio who had anticipated him
ventured to attack Hannibal with the forces under his command. He was
beaten in a skirmish at the river Ticinus, and Hannibal was able to cross
the Po. Upon the arrival of Sempronius, both consuls attacked the
Carthaginians at the Trebia, only to receive a crushing defeat (December,
218).

*Hannibal invades the peninsula: 217 B. C.* Hannibal wintered in north
Italy and in the spring, with an army raised to 50,000 by the addition of
Celtic recruits, prepared to invade the peninsula. The Romans divided
their forces, stationing one consul at Ariminum and the other at Arretium
in Etruria. Hannibal chose to cross the Apennines and the marshes of
Etruria, where he surprised and annihilated the army of the consul
Flaminius at the Trasimene Lake (217 B. C.). Flaminius himself was among
the slain. This victory was soon followed by a seco