June 207 BC, night
The second trumpet
The next morning the Romans draw up for battle in front of Hasdrubal’s camp. Hasdrubal sees that the Roman army has grown overnight and has more cavalry, and he remembers hearing the trumpet sound twice in the Roman camp the night before, the signal for a second consul. Judging that he faces two consular armies, he leads his men back into camp.
The lower Metauro near its mouth at Fano, the ancient Fanum FortunaeWikimedia Commons, Wikiubik, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Mangroviacomiomachia al Ponte Metauro Fano 03.jpg)
At nightfall he slips out of the camp to retreat towards Gaul, making for a ford on the Metaurus. His guides desert him, and the army loses its way along the river bank in the dark. Morning finds it tired and disordered on the south bank, many of the Gauls drunk, with the Roman cavalry close behind and the legions following.
Sources
- Livy, History of Rome, book 27, 46 to 47.
- Bernard W. Henderson, The Campaign of the Metaurus, in English Historical Review (1898).
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