For a short time he held back, watching the effect of the cavalry charge; but seeing that they were unable to come to blows with the Carthaginians because of the chariots which careered about in front of their ranks, and that they constantly had to fall back to avoid their array being broken, and then to make short rushes as occasion served, he himself took his shield, and called to the infantry to follow him and be of good cheer.  It seemed to them that his voice was more than man’s, and louder than was his wont, either from their faculties being strained by the excitement of the contest, or else because, as most of them believed, some god shouted with him.  Quickly they raised their war-cry in answer, and begged him to lead them on and wait no longer.  Ordering the cavalry to ride round the line of chariots and attack the infantry in flank, he closed up the foremost ranks, and with the trumpet sounding the charge, attacked the Carthaginians.

XXVIII.  They manfully encountered his first assault, and being armed with iron cuirasses and brass helmets, and protected with large shields, they were able to withstand the thrust of the Greek spears.  But when the struggle came to be decided with swords, where skill as well as strength was employed, there suddenly broke upon them from the mountains a terrible storm of thunder with vivid flashes of lightning.  The mist, which had hitherto hung about the mountain peaks, now rolled down on to the field of battle, with violent gusts, hail, and rain.  The Greeks received it on their backs, while the rain beat into the faces of the barbarians, and the lightning dazzled their eyes, as the storm swept violently along with frequent flashes from the clouds.  These were great disadvantages, especially to inexperienced men, as the thunder and the pattering of the rain and hail on their armour prevented their hearing the commands of their officers.  The Carthaginians, not being lightly equipped, but, as has been narrated, in complete armour, slipped on the muddy ground and were encumbered by the wet folds of their dress, which rendered them less active in the fight, and easily overcome by the Greeks, since when they fell in the slippery mud they could not rise again with their shields.  The river Krimesus, which had been held up by the multitudes that were crossing it, was now swollen to a torrent by the rain, and the plain through which it runs, lying as it does under many steep glens and ravines, was now covered with streams not running in the ordinary channels, in which the Carthaginians stumbled and were hard bested.

At last, from the violence of the storm, and the Greeks having cut to pieces their front rank, a chosen body of four hundred men, the great mass turned and fled.  Many were overtaken and slain on the plain, and many more perished in the river, while the light-armed troops prevented most of them from gaining the shelter of the mountains.  It was said that among the myriads of slain there were three thousand citizens of Carthage—­a great loss and grief to that city, for they belonged to the noblest and richest classes; nor do we ever hear of so many native Carthaginians having perished in any one battle before this, as they generally make use of Libyan, Spanish and Numidian troops, so that in case of defeat the loss falls upon other nations.