Battle
Metellus Scipio's army circled Thapsus in order to approach the city by its northern side. Anticipating Caesar's approach, it remained in tight battle order flanked by its elephant cavalry. Caesar's position was typical of his style, with him commanding the right side and the cavalry and archers flanked. The threat of the elephants led to the additional precaution of reinforcing the cavalry with five cohorts.
One of Caesar's trumpeters sounded the battle. Caesar's archers attacked the elephants, causing them to panic and trample their own men. The elephants on the left flank charged against Caesar's center, where Legio V Alaudae was placed. This legion sustained the charge with such bravery that afterwards they wore an elephant as a symbol. After the loss of the elephants, Metellus Scipio started to lose ground. Caesar's cavalry outmaneuvered its enemy, destroyed the fortified camp, and forced its enemy into retreat. King Juba's allied troops abandoned the site and the battle was decided.
Roughly 10,000 enemy soldiers wanted to surrender to Caesar, but were instead slaughtered by his army. This action is unusual for Caesar, who was known as a merciful victor. Some sources contend Caesar had an epileptic seizure during the battle and was not fully conscious for its aftermath. Scipio himself escaped, only to commit suicide months later in a naval battle near Hippo Regius.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Thapsus
Famous quotes containing the word battle:
“No battle is worth fighting except the last one.”
—J. Enoch Powell (b. 1912)
“It is a pleasure to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea: a pleasure to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a battle and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to standing upon the vantage ground of truth ... and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
“War consisteth not in battle only, or the act of fighting; but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)