When morning broke, Hasdrubal was still but a short distance from the enemy’s camp, and the Romans, who were early astir, were soon able to overtake him.
Hasdrubal saw that he could not avoid a battle, although he would fain have done so until his troops had rested. He had not, indeed, time to throw up fortifications before the enemy was upon him.
But Hasdrubal was a brave soldier, and he made up his mind to fight to the death.
His army he arranged in the best possible position, and his elephants he hoped would prove of great service. They, however, grew restive, and, as often happened, did as much harm to their friends as to their foes.
After a fierce struggle, Claudius succeeded in attacking the brave Spanish soldiers both in the rear and in the flank, and they, overcome by the numbers that attacked them, fell, after a bold and desperate struggle.
When Hasdrubal saw that the Spaniards, on whom he chiefly relied, were being slaughtered, he knew that the day was lost.
For himself, he resolved neither to leave the field, nor to be taken alive. Putting spurs to his horse, he galloped wildly into the midst of the enemy and was slain, still grasping his sword in his hand.
Not only were ten thousand of Hasdrubal’s soldiers slain, but many were taken prisoner. The spoil was enormous, for Hasdrubal had plundered the country as he had passed through it, and he had also been carrying large sums of money to Hannibal.
Perhaps it was little wonder that the Romans felt that even the awful battle of Cannæ was now avenged.
