評(píng)論
打印
The Senate promised the help of the Latin armies, but the preparation for this expedition took some time, and meanwhile Saguntum had been taken and had been destroyed. This had been done in direct opposition to the will of Rome. The Senate decided upon war. One Roman army was to cross the African sea and make a landing on Carthaginian soil. A second division was to keep the Carthaginian armies occupied in Spain to prevent them from rushing to the aid of the home town. It was an excellent plan and everybody expected a great victory. But the Gods had decided otherwise.
元老院承諾派遣軍隊(duì)。不過組織遠(yuǎn)征軍花費(fèi)了一段時(shí)間，在此期間，薩貢特陷落，整個(gè)城市被迦太基人焚毀。此舉大大激怒了羅馬人，元老院決定向迦太基宣戰(zhàn)。他們派出一支羅馬軍隊(duì)越過阿非利加海，在迦太基本土附近登陸。另一支軍隊(duì)則負(fù)責(zé)牽制占據(jù)西班牙的迦太基部隊(duì)，阻止他們?nèi)ゾ仍＿@是個(gè)絕妙的計(jì)劃，人人都期待著大獲全勝，甚至己經(jīng)有人在談?wù)搼?zhàn)后的狂歡和分享戰(zhàn)利品了。不過，諸神卻不愿讓羅馬人如此順利。
It was the fall of the year 218 before the birth of Christ and the Roman army which was to attack the Carthaginians in Spain had left Italy. People were eagerly waiting for news of an easy and complete victory when a terrible rumour began to spread through the plain of the Po. Wild mountaineers, their lips trembling with fear, told of hundreds of thousands of brown men accompanied by strange beasts "each one as big as a house," who had suddenly emerged from the clouds of snow which surrounded the old Graian pass through which Hercules, thousands of years before, had driven the oxen of Geryon on his way from Spain to Greece. Soon an endless stream of bedraggled refugees appeared before the gates of Rome, with more complete details. Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, with fifty thousand soldiers, nine thousand horsemen and thirty-seven fighting elephants, had crossed the Pyrenees.
時(shí)間正好是公元前218年秋天，負(fù)責(zé)攻擊駐守西班牙的迦太基軍隊(duì)的羅馬軍團(tuán) 啟程離開了意大利，羅馬的人們正急切期盼著一個(gè)輕松愉快的勝利消息。不過等來的卻是另一個(gè)可怕的謠言，它們很快便在整個(gè)波河平原蔓延開來。先是一些粗野的山民，他們傳布了一個(gè)匪夷所思的故事。他們講，幾十萬棕色人帶著一種奇怪的野獸，"每一只都有房子那么大"，突然從比利牛斯山的云朵之中浮現(xiàn)。他們現(xiàn)身的地方是在古格瑞安山隘，幾千年前赫爾克里斯曾趕著他的格爾揚(yáng)公牛途經(jīng)此地，從西班牙前往希臘。不久，一眼望不到盡頭的逃難人群便涌到了羅馬城前，他們個(gè)個(gè)衣衫檻樓，面有菜色。從他們口中，得知了更多、更具體的細(xì)節(jié)。哈米爾卡的偉大兒子漢尼拔，統(tǒng)率著9萬步兵、9000騎兵及37頭威風(fēng)凜凜的戰(zhàn)象，已經(jīng)跨過了比利牛斯山。
