The Carthaginian secret weapon failed miserably. Roman infantry and cavalry swarmed around the elephant squadrons commanded by General Hasdrubal and threw burning brands into their ranks. The frightened elephants began to trample the Carthaginian mercenaries instead of the Romans. In desperation, Hasdrubal ordered the stampeding elephants to be dispatched immediately by having sharp spikes driven into their foreheads. The riders, however, were too busy trying to jump safely from the elephants’ backs to attempt to spike a stampeding, living tank. So Lucius Caecitius Metellus defeated Hasdrubal’s elephant army at Panormus (now Palermo), Sicily, in 250 b.c. He captured all surviving elephants and led them triumphantly to Rome, where they were slain in the arena to the delight of screaming, blood-thirsty spectators.

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