THE ELEPHANT'S EAR[1]
Hannibal, cum in praealti fluminis transitum elephantos non posset compellere … jussit ferocissimum elephantum sub aure vulnerari et eum qui vulnerasset tranato statim flumine procurrere: elephantus exasperatus ad persequendum doloris sui auctorem tranavit amnem et reliquis idem audendi fecit exemplum.
Julius Frontinus, STRATEGEMATICON, I, VII, 2.
"NOT another man," said Hannibal, "shall cross that river until those elephants are all safely over. We cannot afford to lose them, and we have none too many men on this side now."
He glowered at his brother with his domineering, preoccupied scowl, his dark face, small as it was between the low browpiece of his severe helmet and his tight curling sable beard, contracted still more in the concentration of his resolve, his black eyes glittering, his eyelids puckered, his brow knitted.
Mago smiled back his big, bland, blond, blue-eyed smile.
"Leave me a third of the cavalry," he said softly, "and I will hold off the Gauls until to-morrow night; yes, and until noon of day after to-morrow—hold them off without half trying. You won't lose an elephant."
- ↑ Originally published in The New York Herald.
