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the Roman cavalry returned and began to attack the Carthaginians from behind (Hist.
15.14).
Livy has some slight, but significant, differences. Hannibal had eighty war elephants,
more than ever before: octoginta autem erant, quot nulla unquam in acie ante habuerat
(Livy, 30.33.3). Of these elephants, it was those stationed on the left-wing that panicked
at the sound of the Roman war trumpets, and turned against their own side. Masinissa
defeated and chased off the Numidian cavalry on the left wing while the other elephants
continued their charge. This elephant charge was largely ineffective because Scipio had
trained the Roman velites to step aside from each other and create passages for the
elephants to run through without harming anyone. The Romans attacked the remaining
elephants and (somehow) succeeded in driving them toward the Carthaginian cavalry.
Laelius, like Masinissa, took advantage of the moment and drove off the Carthaginian
cavalry leaving Hannibal‟s wings exposed (Livy, 30.34).
Appian follows a more dramatic version of events that brought Hannibal and Scipio
together in single combat. On the other hand, Appian‟s description of the battle scene
better explains how the Numidian cavalry (on the Roman side) succeeded in causing the
elephants on both wings to panic and be taken out of the battle by their drivers; Appian
also gives more information about Hannibal‟s tactics. In this version the elephants in the
centre continued their charge and trampled the heavy armoured Roman infantry, until
Scipio ordered the Roman cavalry to dismount and attack these elephants. In this
version, there is no mention of the Roman infantry smartly stepping aside to allow the
elephants to pass. Once the elephants had gone, the battle continued, fought by men and
horses (Appian, Pun. 8.7.43). Scipio shadows Hannibal‟s moves in terms of reinforcing
the battle-lines, but more dramatically, Hannibal and Scipio are in the same part of the
battlefield at the same time. Tension mounts as each throws a spear at the other;
Hannibal‟s shield is pierced but he is not injured whereas Scipio‟s horse is hit, as it took
Scipio to the rear, Scipio hurls a second spear at Hannibal but missed. Appian then
brings Masinissa and Hannibal together in an encounter that echoes the one between
Hannibal and Scipio. A spear pierces Hannibal‟s shield and he, in turn, wounds his
opponent‟s horse; Masinissa also throws a second spear at Hannibal, but misses
(Appian, Pun. 8.7.44-6). When Hannibal leaves the field to bring in another body of
Spaniards and Gauls some of his men misinterpret the move and believe he is retreating
and start to do the same; nontheless Hannibal prepares another battle line and so, too,
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