It was hot and dusty, that August 2 in 216 BC. Rome's army was massed on the dusty plain, facing a badly outnumbered Carthaginian foe. The Romans were confident. While they had been beaten - repeatedly, and badly - by this Hannibal, they looked to have him cornered now. They had chased him across Italy to the southeast corner of the boot, and there wasn't anywhere he could run. And their Consuls, Lucius Aemilius Paullus and Gaius Terentius Varro, had chosen the battle site well. There were no obstructions on the plain for Rome's infantry legions, which outmatched any troops in the ancient world. But it was Hannibal who conquered that day at Cannae. The Roman army wasn't defeated - it was annihilated. A few thousand of the 70,000 legionaries - including Varro - made good their escape. Paullus stayed, and died, with his men. Paullus was enshrined in Roman lore as a hero, and Varro never lived his shameful survival down. At least, that's what the Romans said. Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori. This is an outstanding reenactment of how Hannibal turned the tables in perhaps the greatest tactical military victory of all time. Ultimately, Rome would beat him, by sailing an army to the gates of Carthage itself. Recalled from Italy by a panicked Carthaginian Senate, Hannibal would finally lose to the legions at Zama, under Publius Cornelius Scipio. Scipio earned himself undying fame, and the nickname "Africanus". A few decades later, Rome finally put an end to Carthage, storming the city and butchering its inhabitants. Not content, they pulled the walls and buildings down, and sowed the fields with salt. Hannibal was hunted down in Asia by Roman agents. Refusing to be paraded through the streets of Rome in chains, he killed himself, joining is old foe Paullus. Rome could finally sleep at night.