Thus the year 218 B.C. drew to a close, while signs of evil omen added to the anxiety of the citizens of Rome.
Rain fell; no gentle, refreshing showers, but rain of red-hot stones. In the market-place a bull ran up the third story of a house and leapt from thence into the street. And who ever heard of a child of six months old being able to speak! Yet one of just such tender age was heard to shout ‘Triumph.’
Even the least superstitious saw in these strange portents the hand of the gods, and they trembled for what might next befall.
CHAPTER LX
THE BATTLE OF LAKE TRASIMENUS
Early in 217 B.C. Hannibal broke up his camp in the valley of the Po.
The Gauls in large numbers were still with him, but he had lost many of his own loyal soldiers, since he had crossed the Rhone a year earlier.
Now, with the first sign of spring, he marched to the river Arno. Here his difficulties began.
The country through which Hannibal wished to take his army was in a state of flood. As the snow melted on the mountains, streams of water poured down into the valley, and these streams, along with the heavy rains of spring, had made the ground like a vast swamp.
Many of the Carthaginians sank deep into the marsh, and they and their beasts perished.