e in
the height of their excitement, in attempting to drive back the
Carthaginians from the bank, they were thunderstruck at hearing the
shouts and cries of an enemy behind them, and, on looking around, they
saw the troops of Hanno pouring down upon them from the thickets with
terrible impetuosity and force. It is very difficult for an army to
fight both in front and in the rear at the same time. The Gauls, after
a brief struggle, abandoned the attempt any longer to oppose
Hannibal's landing. They fled down the river and back into the
interior, leaving Hanno in secure possession of the bank while
Hannibal and his forces came up at their leisure out of the water,
finding friends instead of enemies to receive them.

The remainder of the army, together with the stores and munitions of
war, were next to be transported, and this was accomplished with
little difficulty now that there was no enemy to disturb their
operations. There was one part of the force, however, which occasioned
some trouble and delay. It was a body of elephants which formed a part
of the army. How to get these unwieldy animals across so broad and
rapid a river was a question of no little difficulty. There are
various accounts of the manner in which Hannibal accomplished the
object, from which it would seem that different methods were employed.
One mode was as follows: the keeper of the elephants selected one more
spirited and passionate in disposition than the rest, and contrived to
teaze and torment him so as to make him angry. The elephant advanced
toward his keeper with his trunk raised to take vengeance. The keeper
fled; the elephant pursued him, the other elephants of the herd
following, as is the habit of the animal on such occasions. The keeper
ran into the water as if to elude his pursuer, while the elephant and
a large part of the herd pressed on after him. The man swam into the
channel, and the elephants, before they could check themselves, found
that they were beyond their depth. Some swam on after the keeper, and
crossed the river, where they were easily secured. Others, terrified,
abandoned themselves to the current, and were floated down, struggling
helplessly as they went, until at last they grounded upon shallows or
points of land, whence they gained the shore again, some on one side
of the stream and some on the other.

This plan was thus only partially successful, and Hannibal devised a
more effectual method for the remainder of the t