open spot to the
left between the "Sanguinetto" and the hills, which, they say, was the
principal scene of slaughter. The other part of the plain is covered
with thick-set olive-trees in corn grounds, and is nowhere quite level,
except near the edge of the lake. It is, indeed, most probable that the
battle was fought near this end of the valley, for the six thousand
Romans, who, at the beginning of the action, broke through the enemy,
escaped to the summit of an eminence which must have been in this
quarter, otherwise they would have had to traverse the whole plain, and
to pierce through the main army of Hannibal.

The Romans fought desperately for three hours; but the death of
Flaminius was the signal for a general dispersion. The Carthaginian
horse then burst in upon the fugitives, and the lake, the marsh about
Borghetto, but chiefly the plain of the Sanguinetto and the passes of
the Gualandra, were strewed with dead. Near some old walls on a bleak
ridge to the left above the rivulet, many human bones have been
repeatedly found, and this has confirmed the pretensions and the name of
the "stream of blood."

Every district of Italy has its hero. In the north some painter is the
usual genius of the place, and the foreign Julio Romano more than
divides Mantua with her native Virgil.[624] To the south we hear of
Roman names. Near Thrasimene tradition is still faithful to the fame of
an enemy, and Hannibal the Carthaginian is the only ancient name
remembered on the banks of the Perugian lake. Flaminius is unknown; but
the postilions on that road have been taught to show the very spot where
_Il Console Romano_ was slain. Of all who fought and fell in the battle
of Thrasimene, the historian himself has, besides the generals and
Maharbal, preserved indeed only a single name. You overtake the
Carthaginian again on the same road to Rome. The antiquary, that is, the
hostler of the posthouse at Spoleto, tells you that his town repulsed
the victorious enemy, and shows you the gate still called _Porta di
Annibale_. It is hardly worth while to remark that a French travel
writer, well known by the name of the President Dupaty, saw Thrasimene
in the lake of Bolsena, which lay conveniently on his way from Sienna to
Rome.

24.

And thou, dread Statue! still existent in
The austerest form of naked majesty.
Stanza lxxxvii. lines 1 and 2.

The projecte