Simplify the following text for a Grade 9 native English-speaking person.
Original: Even before news of the defeat at Ticinus had reached Rome , the Senate had ordered the Consul Sempronius Longus to bring his army back from Sicily to meet Scipio and face Hannibal .
Simplified: The senate had ordered Sempronius Longus to bring his army from Sicily to meet Scipio and face Hannibal .