To show what vague notions of the elephant the Romans had, they called the great creatures Lucanian oxen; and, according to Pliny, the Roman writers, in general, gave them this name, probably because they first saw them in Lucania.
King Pyrrhus was extremely unfortunate in the management of his elephants. At the siege of Argos, when his men had battered in the gates of the town, the mahouts lost control of the beasts in the excitement, and they attempted to rush through the low gates; but the tall towers struck them, and forced them back in great disorder, and many of their own soldiers and masters were trampled under foot, and killed. In describing this event, Plutarch relates that one of the elephants exhibited remarkable courage and affection for its rider; keeping a large number of enemies at bay when its master was dismounted, finally taking him in its trunk, and removing him to a place of safety. The animal doubtless received some instruction from its master.
The old writers were fond of accrediting to the elephant many more virtues, courage, generosity, and self-sacrifice, than they seem to possess to-day; and, undoubtedly, they often gave the animals credit for spontaneous actions, when they were really obeying a command of their mahout, or driver. I have referred particularly to this and the opinions of Sanderson in the chapter devoted to the intelligence of the elephant. Plutarch and Ælian both record the story of an elephant of Porus that drew darts from its master’s body. Such may have been the case; but I think, if true, it was at the direct order of Porus, and not actuated by compassion, as the old authors would have us believe.
It was fortunate that the Romans had acquired some experience with Asiatic elephants, as, soon after, they became involved in a series of wars in which the enemy employed large numbers of African elephants. Their familiarity with the Asiatic elephants did not always avail them. In the first Punic war, Regulus, the Roman consul, the Buonaparte of his time, captured a division of eighteen elephants in the battle of Adis; but on another occasion, Xantippus, the Lacedemonian, the general of the Carthaginian troops, used his elephant batteries, as we may call them, so judiciously, and with such marked skill, that the Romans were utterly routed. The elephants, under direction of their enraged riders, and infuriated themselves by their wounds, charged into the fleeing Romans, trampling them under foot, tossing them high in air, and goring them with their tusks; committing such frightful carnage, that for a long time the Romans dreaded to meet them.
The Carthaginians not only fought with elephants on their own soil, but they carried them into Sicily. At the siege of Panormus (Palermo), they employed one hundred and forty African elephants in a solid phalanx, a most impressive sight, and moved upon the city. But the Romans fired at them with darts from the city-walls, and turned the huge animals upon their own men. Then taking advantage of the confusion, Metellus, the Roman consul, who was in command, led his troops upon the Carthaginians, and utterly routed them, and captured one hundred or more of their finest war elephants.
Such a victory offered a rare opportunity to Metellus to exhibit his prowess and the spoils to his countrymen: so he commanded that an immense raft be built, composed of empty barrels covered with planks, and in turn packed with earth; and upon this the elephants were floated over the straits to Rhegium (Reggio). For some time the Romans kept the noble creatures on exhibition, and treated them with great indignity, driving them about the circus with blunted spears; all of which was undoubtedly done to convince the people that the elephant was not the terrible beast he had been pictured, and to erase from the public mind the terror they had inspired when Regulus was defeated. Again, it was the custom to parade captive kings before the populace in chains, and treat them with great indignity; and the elephants probably came under this head. When the Roman citizens were surfeited with the display, it occurred to the state that a herd of animals that could devour seventy-two thousand pounds of green food in twenty-four hours was a great luxury; and in a moment of economy, according to Verrius, who is cited by Pliny, the unfortunate captives were killed.
That the Romans overcame their fear of elephants did not prevent the Carthaginians from retaining them as an important branch of the service. Hannibal carried them into Spain; and after the capture of Saguntum (218 B.C.), we hear of him sending to Africa for a new supply.
In the second Punic war, which commenced about this time, Hannibal began operations on Roman soil with an army of fifteen thousand men, and, according to Appian and Eutropius, thirty-seven elephants. He crossed the Pyrenees, and the Rhone at Orange. Livy, Silius Italicus, and Polybius, all describe some of the events of this campaign; but that of the latter is the most comprehensive and valuable, giving, evidently, a correct account of the management of war elephants at this time. The Greek historian says,—
“Hannibal having posted his cavalry as a reserve on the side towards the sea, commanded the infantry to begin their march, while himself waited to receive the elephants, and the men that were left with them on the other side of the river. The passage of the elephants was performed in the following manner: When they had made a sufficient number of floats, they joined two together, and fastened them strongly to the ground, upon the bank of the river. The breadth of both together was about fifty feet. To the extremity of these they fixed two more, which were extended over into the water; and to prevent the whole from being loosened and carried down the river by the rapidity of the current, they secured the side that was turned against the stream, by strong cables, fastened to the trees along the bank. Having in this manner finished a kind of bridge, which was extended to the length of about two hundred feet, they then added to it two other floats of a much larger size, which were very firmly joined together, but were fastened in so slight a manner to the rest, that they might at any time be separated from them with little difficulty. A great number of floats were fixed to these last floats, by the help of which, the boats that were designed to tow them over might hold them firm against the violence of the stream, and carry them in safety with the elephants to the other side. They then spread a quantity of earth over all the floats, that their color and appearance might, as nearly as was possible, resemble the ground on shore. The elephants were usually very tractable upon land, and easy to be governed by their conductors, but were at all times under the greatest apprehensions whenever they approached the water. Upon this occasion, therefore, they took two female elephants, and led them first along the floats; the rest readily followed; but no sooner were they arrived upon the farthest floats, than, the ropes being cut which bound them to the rest, they were immediately towed away by the boats towards the other side. The elephants were seized with extreme dread, and moved from side to side in great fury and disorder. But when they saw that they were every way surrounded by the water, their very fears at last constrained them to remain quiet in their place. In this manner, two other floats being from time to time prepared and fitted to the rest, the greater part of the elephants were carried safely over. There were some, indeed, that were so much disordered by their fears, that they threw themselves into the river in the midst of their passage. This accident was fatal to the conductors, who perished in the stream: but the beasts themselves, exerting all their strength, and raising their large trunks above the surface of the river, were by that means enabled not only to breathe freely, but to discharge the waters also, as fast as they received them; and having, by long struggling, surmounted likewise the rapidity of the stream, they at last all gained the opposite bank in safety.”