In The Italian Peninsula
Hannibal included Mago among the Carthaginian officers who accompanied him to the Italian Peninsula. Among them were his brother Hasdrubal, Maharbal, Hanno the Elder, Muttines and Carthalo.
Mago fought at the side of Hannibal in the invasion of Italy, and played a key role in many battles. At the Battle of the Trebia he commanded the detachment that ambushed the Romans, breaking down their battle array. After the battle, Mago commanded the rearguard of the Carthaginian column as it marched south towards Latinum through the marshes of Aino. In the Battle of Cannae, Mago and Hannibal took position with the Galic infantry at the center, in the most vulnerable and crucial position of the formation.
After the victory of Cannae, Hannibal sent Mago with a detachment to Bruttium (southern Italy). While marching through Lucania and Bruttium, Mago subdued several towns and brought over several to the Carthaginian side. From Bruttium Mago sailed to Carthage, leaving Hanno the Elder in command of the Carthaginian garrison. Mago presented the golden rings of Roman equites fallen at Cannae to the Carthaginian Senate, requesting reinforcements for Hannibal at the end of his speech. This prompted the supporters of the Barcid party in the senate to taunt their opponents, who had bitterly opposed any aid to Hannibal. In response, Hanno the Great, leading opponent of the Barcids, placed several questions to Mago, which took most of the gloss off Mago's presentation. Still, the Senate members were impressed enough to vote the raising of an army, made up of 12,000 infantry, 1,500 cavalry and 20 elephants, as reinforcements for Hannibal.
However, when the news of the disastrous Battle of Dertosa reached Carthage, Mago and his army were sent to Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula) as reinforcements for Hasdrubal instead. But the Carthaginian Senate did not entirely ignore the Italian front for once. A force of 4,000 Numidian cavalry and 40 elephants was sent to Locri in Bruttium, escorted by the Punic fleet under Bomilcar. This is the only significant reinforcements Hannibal was to receive from his government.
Read more about this topic: Mago (Barcid)
Famous quotes containing the word italian:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)