Liv. 21.5.1Cēterum ex quō diē dux est dēclārātus, velut Ītalia eī prōvincia dēcrēta bellumque Rōmānum mandātum esset, nihil prōlātandum ratus, nē sē quoque, ut patrem Hamilcarem, deinde Hasdrubalem, cūnctantem cāsus aliquis opprimeret, Saguntīnīs īnferre bellum statuit.From the day he was declared commander, however, as if Italy had been assigned to him as his province and the war with Rome entrusted to him, thinking that nothing should be put off, lest he too, like his father Hamilcar and then Hasdrubal, should be overtaken by some mishap while he delayed, he decided to make war on the Saguntines. Liv. 21.5.3Quibus oppugnandīs quia haud dubiē Rōmāna arma movēbantur, in Olcadum prius fīnēs — ultrā Hibērum ea gēns in parte magis quam in diciōne Carthāginiēnsium erat — indūxit exercitum, ut nōn petīsse Saguntīnōs, sed rērum seriē fīnitimīs domitīs gentibus iungendōque trāctus ad id bellum vidērī posset.Because an attack on them would without doubt set Roman arms in motion, he first led his army into the territory of the Olcades — that people lived beyond the Ebro, within the sphere rather than under the rule of the Carthaginians — so that he might seem not to have aimed at the Saguntines but to have been drawn into that war by the sequence of events, as the neighbouring peoples were subdued and annexed.
Liv. 21.5.4Cartalam urbem opulentam, caput gentis eius, expugnat dīripitque;Cartala, a wealthy city, the capital of that people, he storms and plunders; Liv. 21.5.4quō metū perculsae minōrēs cīvitātēs stīpendiō inpositō imperium accēpēre.struck with fear at this, the smaller communities accepted his rule and had a tribute imposed on them. Liv. 21.5.4Victor exercitus opulentusque praedā Carthāginem Novam in hīberna est dēductus.The victorious army, rich with plunder, was led into winter quarters at New Carthage. Liv. 21.5.5Ibi lārgē partiendō praedam stīpendiōque praeteritō cum fidē exsolvendō cūnctīs cīvium sociōrumque animīs in sē firmātīs vērē prīmō in Vaccaeōs prōmōtum bellum.There, by sharing out the plunder generously and faithfully paying the arrears of pay, he made the loyalty of all, citizens and allies alike, firm towards himself, and at the beginning of spring the war was carried forward against the Vaccaei. Liv. 21.5.5Hermandica et Arbocala, eōrum urbēs, vī captae.Hermandica and Arbocala, their cities, were taken by storm. Liv. 21.5.6Arbocala et virtūte et multitūdine oppidānōrum diū dēfēnsa.Arbocala was defended for a long time by both the courage and the numbers of its townspeople.
Liv. 21.5.7Ab Hermandicā profugī exulibus Olcadum, priōre aestāte domitae gentis, cum sē iūnxissent, concitant Carpetānōs, adortīque Hannibalem regressum ex Vaccaeīs haud procul Tagō flūmine agmen grave praedā turbāvēre.Fugitives from Hermandica, having joined the exiles of the Olcades, the people subdued the summer before, stir up the Carpetani; and attacking Hannibal on his return from the Vaccaei not far from the river Tagus, they threw his column, heavy with plunder, into confusion. Liv. 21.5.9Hannibal proeliō abstinuit, castrīsque super rīpam positīs, cum prīma quiēs silentiumque ab hostibus fuit, amnem vadō trāiēcit vallōque ita prōductō, ut locum ad trānsgrediendum hostēs habērent, invādere eōs trānseuntēs statuit.Hannibal refrained from battle, and having pitched camp on the bank, as soon as quiet and silence had settled on the enemy, he crossed the river by a ford, and laying out his rampart in such a way that the enemy would have room to cross, he decided to attack them as they crossed. Liv. 21.5.10Equitibus praecēpit, ut, cum ingressōs aquam vidērent, adorīrentur inpedītum agmen;He instructed the cavalry to attack the encumbered column when they saw them entering the water; Liv. 21.5.10in rīpā elephantōs — quadrāgintā autem erant — dispōnit.on the bank he posts the elephants — there were forty of them.
Liv. 21.5.11Carpetānōrum cum adpendicibus Olcadum Vaccaeōrumque centum mīlia fuēre, invicta aciēs, sī aequō dīmicārētur campō.The Carpetani, with the contingents of the Olcades and Vaccaei, numbered a hundred thousand, an army invincible if the fight were on level ground. Liv. 21.5.12Itaque et ingeniō ferōcēs et multitūdine frētī et, quod metū cessisse crēdēbant hostem, id morārī victōriam ratī, quod interesset amnis, clamōre sublātō passim sine ūllīus imperiō, quā cuique proximum est, in amnem ruunt.And so, fierce by nature and relying on their numbers, and thinking, since they believed the enemy had withdrawn out of fear, that only the river in between was delaying their victory, they raised a shout and rushed into the river everywhere, without anyone's command, wherever was nearest to each man. Liv. 21.5.13At ex parte alterā rīpae vīs ingēns equitum in flūmen inmissa, mediōque alveō haudquāquam parī certāmine concursum, quippe ubi pedes īnstabilis ac vix vadō fīdēns vel ab inermī equite equō temerē āctō pervertī posset, eques corpore armīsque līber, equō vel per mediōs gurgitēs stabilī, comminus ēminusque rem gereret.But from the other bank a huge force of cavalry was sent into the river, and in mid-stream they clashed in a far from equal contest, since there the foot-soldier, unsteady and hardly trusting the ford, could be knocked over even by an unarmed horseman driving his horse at random, while the horseman, free in body and arms, his horse steady even in the middle of the eddies, could fight at close quarters and at a distance.
Liv. 21.5.15Pars magna flūmine absūmpta;A large part were swallowed up by the river; Liv. 21.5.15quīdam verticōsō amnī dēlātī in hostīs ab elephantīs obtrītī sunt.some, carried by the swirling stream towards the enemy, were trampled by the elephants. Liv. 21.5.16Postrēmī, quibus regressus in suam rīpam tūtior fuit, ex variā trepidātiōne cum in ūnum colligerentur, priusquam ā tantō pavōre reciperent animōs, Hannibal agmine quadrātō amnem ingressus fugam ex rīpā fēcit vāstātīsque agrīs intrā paucōs diēs Carpetānōs quoque in dēditiōnem accēpit.The last of them, for whom retreat to their own bank was safer, were gathering together after their scattered panic, when, before they could recover their courage from so great a fright, Hannibal entered the river in square formation, drove them in flight from the bank, and after laying waste their fields received the surrender of the Carpetani too within a few days. Liv. 21.5.17Et iam omnia trāns Hibērum praeter Saguntīnōs Carthāginiēnsium erant.And now everything beyond the Ebro, apart from the Saguntines, belonged to the Carthaginians.