Zama, the Battlefield, Hannibal's camp.Enter Hannibal and Mago.
Hannibal: How goes the mood in the camps? Are the newly commissioned
elephants come?
Mago: They are come my liege; and are ready to do battle. The mood is
reserved, but men have high hopes.
Hannibal: So March, and call on my aid to dress me in battle attire.
Mago: I shallst.
[Exit Mago
Hannibal: This war doth give me an uneasy feel for strategies galore
have been thought. Thus ‘tis time for the actual war to be fought.
[Exit
Battlefield in Zama; Roman camp.Enter Scipio the Younger and other officers.
Scipio the Younger: Officers listen forth; remember our plans for their
elephant charge; and forget not that the Numidians fill our already sturdy
camps. Feel the beats of vengeance, gyrating to rhythms of these drums; the
time has come! This place shallst be our redemption of Cannae and salvation to
all those who fight hither, in this day, with me and for Rome! Brothers, thou
art not simple soldiers hither, thou art the personification of Rome’s will for
its everlasting reign!
Others: Rome! Rome! We will not forget Cannae! We will our dead comrades
avenge! To Victory!
[Exeunt
The two armies form up, and the battle begins. Carthaginians use their elephants, their shock weapon of war, and charge the Roman ranks. The Romans practised in the art of war step aside and let them pass between them. When the elephants have stopped, they are butchered with Roman spears.
The moral of the Carthaginians take a shattering blow, yet the two infantries engage in combat, along with their cavalries.
Action is both on and offstage.
Enter the Roman infantry fighting tooth and nail with the Carthaginian infantry, which is then attacked at the rear by the Numidian cavalry, now fighting for Rome!
Roman Officer: How doth thou feel when thou dost get the bitter and
torturous taste of thy own vile medicine?
Carthaginian Officer: Surrounded we are, may be, but aye, vanquished we
are not. We shallst not drop till our last breath leave our body.
Roman Officer: Thy vanity shallst fall to my valiant blade.
The fighting resumes and the Romans are victorious. The Carthaginians are all but obliterated and some are taken prisoner.
Another part of the battlefield.Enter Mago & Scipio fighting along with others.
Mago: Rally on men, rally on, this foe may not be crushed but it is
assailable. We can win!
Scipio the Younger: I am flummoxed by thy tomfoolery, ‘tis clear that
that yea canst never win. There can be no virtue in raising the moral of dead
men!
Mago: ‘Tis then yea that shallst to my blade fall.
They fight and after severe noteworthy swordsmanship from both parties, Scipio the Younger prevails and kills Mago. The Romans take the remaining Carthaginians prisoner, as the battle is overwhelmingly won by them!
Carthage, the city. Enter Hannibal and a few of his retreating troops and the citizens of Carthage from opposite ends.
Hannibal: With profound grief and heartfelt sorrow, I pronounce this
sad and terrible news, that the day we have well and truly lost. Friends have
perished and my tactics have been vanquished by those of the superior foe. They
have taken 20000 Carthaginian troops as prisoner and soon wouldst overrun &
plunder this city is truce isn’t immediately called. I beg thee, let not my
failure cost my beloved Carthage and its people, culture more than already
occurred. Prithee call for truce and agree to whatever the terms the Romans
offer.
Citizens: Aye, we shallst hie to tell the Council.
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