Liv. 21.22.1Neque Hispāniam neglegendam ratus, atque id eō minus, quod haud ignārus erat circumitam ab Rōmānīs eam lēgātīs ad sollicitandōs prīncipum animōs, Hasdrubalī frātrī, virō inpigrō, eam prōvinciam dēstinat firmatque Āfricīs maximē praesidiīs, peditum Āfrōrum ūndecim mīlibus octingentīs quīnquāgintā, Liguribus trecentīs, Baleāribus quīngentīs.Thinking that Spain too should not be neglected, and all the less so because he was well aware that it had been visited by Roman envoys to tempt the minds of its chiefs, he assigns that province to his brother Hasdrubal, an energetic man, and strengthens it chiefly with African troops: eleven thousand eight hundred and fifty African infantry, three hundred Ligurians and five hundred Balearians. Liv. 21.22.3Ad haec peditum auxilia additī equitēs Libyphoenīcēs, mīxtum Pūnicum Āfrīs genus, quadringentī quīnquāgintā et Numidae Maurīque accolae Oceanī ad mīlle octingentī et parva Ilergetum manus ex Hispāniā, trecentī equitēs, et, nē quod terrestris dēesset auxiliī genus, elephantī vīgintī ūnus.To these infantry auxiliaries were added four hundred and fifty Libyphoenician horsemen, a race of Carthaginians mixed with Africans, and about eighteen hundred Numidians and Moors who dwell by the Ocean, and a small band of Ilergetes from Spain, three hundred horsemen, and, so that no kind of land force should be lacking, twenty-one elephants.
Liv. 21.22.4Classis praetereā data tuendae maritumae ōrae, quia, quā parte bellī vīcerant, eā tum quoque rem gestūrōs Rōmānōs crēdī poterat, quīnquāgintā quīnquerēmēs, quadrirēmēs duae, trirēmēs quīnque;A fleet was also given him to protect the sea coast, because it could be believed that the Romans would then too wage war in the arm in which they had been victorious: fifty quinqueremes, two quadriremes and five triremes; Liv. 21.22.4sed aptae īnstrūctaeque rēmigiō trīgintā et duae quīnquerēmēs erant et trirēmēs quīnque.but only thirty-two quinqueremes and five triremes were fitted out and equipped with oarsmen. Liv. 21.22.5Ab Gādibus Carthāginem ad hīberna exercitus redit;From Gades the army returns to its winter quarters at Carthage; Liv. 21.22.5atque inde profectus praeter Onūsam urbem ad Hibērum per maritumam ōram dūcit.and setting out from there he leads it past the city of Onusa to the Ebro along the sea coast. Liv. 21.22.6Ibi fāma est in quiēte vīsum ab eō iuvenem dīvīnā speciē, quī sē ab Ioue dīceret ducem in Ītaliam Hannibalī missum: proinde sequerētur neque usquam ā sē dēflecteret oculōs.There, the story goes, he saw in his sleep a young man of godlike appearance, who said that he had been sent by Jupiter as Hannibal's guide into Italy: so he should follow and never turn his eyes away from him.
Liv. 21.22.7Pavidum prīmō nūsquam circumspicientem aut respicientem secūtum;At first, it is said, he followed in fear, looking neither around nor behind him; Liv. 21.22.7deinde cūrā ingeniī hūmānī cum, quidnam id esset, quod respicere vetitus esset, agitāret animō, temperāre oculīs nequīvisse;then, with the curiosity of human nature, as he turned over in his mind what it could be that he had been forbidden to look back at, he could not control his eyes; Liv. 21.22.8tum vīdisse post sēsē serpentem mīrā magnitūdine cum ingentī arborum ac virgultōrum strāge ferrī, ac post īnsequī cum fragōre caelī nimbum.then he saw behind him a serpent of wondrous size moving along with an immense destruction of trees and thickets, and behind it a storm cloud following with a crash of thunder. Liv. 21.22.9Tum, quae mōlēs ea quidve prōdigiī esset, quaerentem audīsse, vāstitātem Ītaliae esse: pergeret porrō īre nec ultrā inquīreret sineretque fāta in occultō esse.Then, when he asked what that great mass was and what the portent meant, he heard that it was the devastation of Italy: he should go on his way and ask no further, and let the fates remain hidden.