Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Volume I Part 1.djvu/518

500

CANNAE.

fought on the bonks of the Au£dns in its immodinto noighboarhood, much question has been raised as to the precise locality of the action, which some have placed on the N., some on the S. of the river : and the previous operations of the Boman and Cartha" ginian armies have been interpreted so as to suit either view. But if the narrative of Poljbius (who is much the most clear and definite upon this question) be carefuUj examined, it is difficult to see how any doubt can remain, and that of Livy, though less distinct, is in no respect contradictory to it. The other aocountA of the battle in Appian, Zonaras, and Plutarch afford no additional mfurmation on the topographical question.

Hannibal had wintered at Geranium, and it was not till early in the summer that he abandoned his quarters there, and by a sudden movement seized on Cannae. The town of that name had been destroyed the year before, but the citadel was preserved, and the Romans had collected there great magazines of com and other provisions, which fell into the power of the Carthaginians. Hannibal occupied the citadel, and established his camp in its immediate neigh- bourhood. (Pol. iii. 107; Liv. xxii. 43.) The Itoman generals, liaving received orders to risk a general engagement, followed Hannibal after some interval, and encamped at first about 50 stadia distant from the enemy : but the next day Varro insisted upon advancing still nearer, and the Romans now established two camps, the one on the same side of the Aufidtt<t, where they previously were, (that is evidently the S. side), and the other, con- taining a smaller division of the forces, on the op- posite bonk, a little lower down the river, about 10 stadia from the larger Roman camp, and the same distance from that of HannibaL (Pol. iii. 110.) The Aufidus at this season of the year* is readily ford- able at almost any point, and would therefore offer no obstacle to their free communication.

On the day of the battle we are distinctly told that Varro crossed ike river with the main body of his forces from the larger camp, and joining them to those from the smaller, drew up his whole army m a Ikte facing the south, Hannibal thereupon also crossed the river to meet him, and drew up his forces in a line, hanng its left wing resting on the river, where they were opposed to the Roman cavalry, forming the right wing of the consular army. (lb. 113; Liv. xxii. 45, 46.) From this account it seems perfectly clear that the battle was tbught on the north bank of the Aufidus, and this is the result arrived at by the most intelhgent tra- vellers who have visited the locality (Swinburne's TravelSy vol. i. pp. 167 — 172 ; Cliaupy, Dicouv, de la Maison dHorace^ vol. iii. p. 500), as well as by General Vaudoncourt, who has examined the question from a military point of view. (^Hisi, des Campagnes d'Annibal, vol ii. p. 9—34, 48—57.) The same conclusion appears clearly to result from the state- ment of Livy, that after the battle a body of 600 men forced their way firom the leaser camp to the greater, and from thence, in conjunction with a larger force, to Canusium (xxii. 50).

The only difficulty that remains arises from the

• The battle of Cannae was fought, as we learn

from Gellius (v. 17; Macrob. Sat i. 16), on the 2nd of August ; but it is probable that the Roman calendar was at this time much in advance of the trath, and that the action really took place early in the summer. (Fischer, Eom, Zeittafunf p. 89.)

CANNAE.

drcumstanoe that Polybins tells us distinctly that the Roman army £aoed the S., and the Carthaginian the N. (iii. 114): and this is confirmed by Livy, who adds that Hannibal thereby gained ihe ad- vantage cf having the wind, called the Vultumus, behind him, which drove clouds of dust into the face of the enemy (xxiL 47). There seems little doubt that the Vultumus b Uie same with the Eurus, or SE. wind, called in Italy the SciroccOf which often sweeps over the pluns of Apulia with the greatest violence: hence this circumstance (to which some Roman writers have attached very exaggerated importance) tends to confirm the statement of Polybins. Now, as the general course of the Aufidus is nearly from SW. to NE., it seems impossible that the R«nan sjrmy, resting its right wing on that river, could have &ced the S., if it had been drawn up on the N. bank, and Chaupy, in consequence, boldly rejects the statement of Polybins and Livy. But Swin- burne tells us that "exactly in that part of the plain where we know, with monl certainty, that the main effort of the battle lay, the Aufidus, after running- due E. for some time, makes a sudden turn to the S., and describes a very large semicircle." He sup- poses the Romans to have forded the river at the angle or elbow, and pkcing their right wing on its bank at that point, to have thence extended their line in the plain to the E., so that the battle was actually fought within this semicux^Ie. This bend of the river is imperfectly expressed on Zanncmi's map (the only tolerable one) of the locality ; and the space comprised within it would seem too con- fined for a battle of such magnitude : but there is no reason to doubt the accuracy of Swinburne, who took his notes, and made drawings of the country upon the spot. " The scene of action (he adds) is marked by the name of Pezzo di Sanguej the * Field of Blood ;' " but other writers assign a more recent origin to this appellation.

Notwithstanding the above ailments, the scene of the battle has been transferred by local anti- quarians and topographers to the S. side of the river, between Cannae and Canusium, and their authority has been followed by most modern historians, in- cluding Arnold. Niebnhr, on the contraiy, has adopted Swinbun^'s view, and represents the battle as taking phu» within the bend or sweep of the river above described. ( Vortrage uber R5m. Gea- chiehUf vol. iL pp. 99, 100.) It may be added that the objection arising from the somewhat confined space thus assigned as the scene of the battle, applies with at least equal force to the opposite view, for the plain on the right bank of the Aufidus is very limited in extent, the hills on which Canusium and Cannae both stand flanking the river at no great distance, so that the interval between them does not exceed half a mile in breadth. (Chaupy, 2. c; Swinburne, t c.) These hills are very slight eminences, with gently sloping sides, which would afford little obstacle to the movements of an army, but still the testlinony of all writers is dear, that the battle was fought m the plain.

The annexed plan has no pretensions to topographical accuracy, there being no good map of the locality in sufficient detail: it is only designed to assist the reader in comprehending the above narrative.

We have little other information concerning Cannae, which appears to have been, up to this time, as it is termed by Florus, "ApiUiae ignobilis vicus," and probably a mere dependency of Ca-