Xanthippus of Sparta
Now it happened that just about this time one of their
note
recruiting agents, who had some time before
been despatched to Greece, arrived home.
brought a large number of men with him, and
among them a certain Lacedaemonian named Xanthippus, a
man trained in the Spartan discipline, and of large experience
in war. When this man was informed of their defeat, and of
how it had taken place, and when he had reviewed the military
resources still left to the Carthaginians, and the number of
their cavalry and elephants, he did not take long to come to
a decided conclusion. He expressed his opinion to his friends
that the Carthaginians had owed their defeat, not to the
superiority of the Romans, but to the unskilfulness of their
own commanders. The dangerous state of their affairs caused
the words of Xanthippus to get abroad quickly among the
people and to reach the ears of the generals; and the men in
authority determined to summon and question him. He
appeared, and laid his views before the magistrates; in which
he showed to what they owed their present disasters, and that
if they would take his advice and keep to the flat parts of the
country alike in marching, encamping, and giving battle, they
would be able with perfect ease to secure safety for themselves
and to defeat their opponents in the field. The generals
accepted the suggestion, resolved to follow his advice, and
there and then put their forces at his command. Among the
multitude the observation of Xanthippus was passed from
mouth to mouth, and gave rise, as was to be expected, to
a good deal of popular rumour and sanguine talk. This
was confirmed when he had once handled the troops. The
way in which he got them into order when he had led them
outside the town; the skill with which he manœuvred the
separate detachments, and passed the word of command
down the ranks in due conformity to the rules of tactics, at
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once impressed every one with the contrast to the blundering
of their former generals. The multitude expressed their
approbation by loud cheers, and were for engaging the enemy
without delay, convinced that no harm could happen to them
as long as Xanthippus was their leader. The generals took
advantage of this circumstance, and of the extraordinary
recovery which they saw had taken place in the spirits of
the people. They addressed them some exhortations befitting the occasion, and after a few days' delay got their
forces on foot and started. Their army consisted of twelve
thousand infantry, four thousand cavalry, and nearly a hundred
elephants.
