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5.

nullum jusjurandum, nulla religio. Cum hac indole virtutum atque vitiorum triennio sub Hasdrubale imperatore meruit, nulla re, quæ agenda videndaque magno futuro duci esset, prætermissa.

Ceterum ex quo die dux est declaratus, velut Italia ei provincia decreta, bellumque Romanum mandatum esset, nihil prolatandum ratus, ne se quoque, ut patrem Hamilcarem, deinde Hasdrubalem', cunctantem casus aliquis opprimeret, Saguntinis inferre bellum statuit. Quibus oppugnandis quia haud dubie Romana arma movebantur, in Olcadum fines prius (ultra Iberum ea gens in parte magis, quam in ditione', Carthaginiensium erat) induxit exercitum, ut non petisse Saguntinos, sed rerum serie, finitimis domitis gentibus, jungendoques, tractus ad id bellum videri posset. Carteiam, urbem opulentam, caput gentis ejus, expugnat diripitque. Quo metu perculsæ minores civitates, stipendio imposito, imperium accepere. Victor exercitus, opulentusque præda, Carthaginem novam' in hiberna est deductus.

inferred from their actions. Han-
nibal has been frequently compared
to Napoleon I. The points of re-
semblance are, the great power of
will evinced by both, their great
administrative talent in war, great
readiness and fertility of resource, a
long course of signal success, prin-
cipally on the same scene, termi-
nating in decisive defeat; and the
deaths of both in exile. The dif-
ferences, however, are equally strik-
ing. While Hannibal was born in
the station which he occupied, and
above which he never sought to rise,
(for he was one of the very few success-
ful commanders who entertained no
ulterior personal views;) Napoleon,
on the contrary, was raised by cir-
cumstances which opened oppor-
tunities such as he could not have
originally contemplated, and which
probably only awakened his ambition
as they came. Though they both
died in exile, the one was banished
by his successful antagonists; the
other by his countrymen, instigated
by the restless enmity of the Ro-
mans, from which he escaped only
by suicide. Hannibal's character is
much more favourably drawn by
Polybius. (See lib. ix.)

5 Hamilcarem, deinde Hasdruba-
lem.] Both these generals died in
Spain; the former naturally, after

a command of nine years in the Peninsula; the latter, who succeeded, by the hand of an assassin. Hasdrubal was suspected of having designed the establishment of a sovereignty in Spain, in which he had been disappointed at home.

6 Ultra Iberum.] That is, south of the Ebro, below which the Carthaginian territories principally lay. The places mentioned in this chapter were situated in that part of Hispania Tarraconensis, now known as the districts of Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, which is divided from east to west by the Ebro.

7 In parte magis, quam in ditione.] "On the side, (i. e. within the geographical limits,) rather than under the dominion of."

8 Jungendo.] "By a process of annexation." This explains rerum serie," the succession of events.'

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9 Carteiam urbem.] There must have been two places of this name. That most generally known was near Gibraltar, (now St. Roque.) The name in Polybius is Althaea.

1 Carthaginem novam.] Carthagena, now the principal sea-port in Murcia, and a convict station, was built by Hasdrubal. It was taken by Scipio (Africanus) towards the close of the war.

Ibi large partiendo prædam, stipendio præterito cum fide exsolvendo, cunctis civium sociorumque animis in se firmatis, vere primo in Vaccæos promotum bellum. Hermandica et Arbocala urbes vi captæ. Arbocala et virtute et multitudine oppidanorum diu defensa. Ab Hermandica profugi, exsulibus Olcadum, priore æstate domitæ gentis, quum se junxissent, concitant Carpetanos: adortique Hannibalem, regressum ex Vaccæis, haud procul Tago flumine agmen grave præda turbavere. Hannibal prœlio abstinuit; castrisque super ripam positis, quum prima quies silentiumque ab hostibus fuit, amnem vado trajecit: valloque ita producto, ut locum ad transgrediendum hostes haberent, invadere eos transeuntes statuit. Equitibus præcepit, ut, quum ingressos aquam viderent, adorirentur.. Peditum agmen in ripa, elephantos ante quadraginta disposuit.

2 Ab Herm. profugi.] "The refugees from Hermandica, after joining the exiles," &c.

3 Valloque ita producto.] "And withdrawing his entrenchments so far (sc. from the river), that the enemy," &c.

4 Elephantos.] The earliest his

torical allusions to the use of elephants in war are those of Herodotus, who mentions them in connexion with his visit to Babylon, (B. C. 450.) and of Ctesias, who wrote about half a century later. The practice of taming elephants was one of very remote antiquity in the East; but the Greeks never encountered them in war until the expedition of Alexander, when they met a few at the battle of Arbela, which were captured; (Arrian. lib. 3.) as were also great numbers of those subsequently brought into action by Porus on the banks of the Hydaspes. Of this engagement a detailed and interesting account is given by Q. Curtius, (lib. 7.) Alexander however appears not to have employed them in his own ranks, considering them, "at the best, but a dangerous resource," though he used them as jumenta, and appointed an officer, named λepavτápxos, for their superintendence. It was in the Tarentine war with Pyrrhus that the Romans first met them in battle, (at Heraclea, B.C. 280.) when four were

captured, and taken in triumph to Rome. In the first Punic war, Regulus took 18 elephants at the battle of Adis; and at the siege of Panormus, the Carthaginians are said to have had not less than 140, of which 100 were taken by Metellus, and conveyed on a large raft across the straits to Rhegium. Those employed by Hannibal on this occasion perished, as might have been expected in a climate so uncongenial to an animal naturally suited only to warmth and moisture, during or immediately after the crossing of the Alps, where

"The war-horse reared, and the towered elephant

Upturned his trunk into the murky sky; Then tumbled headlong, swallowed up, and lost." (Rogers.)

A fresh importation from Africa was afterwards employed at Cannæ; but the Romans had learned, before then, to take advantage of the dread with which the elephant regards fire, and to arm themselves with lighted brands, (as described by Silius Italicus.) They also wore corslets bristling with iron spikes, which the elephants could not encircle with their trunks. In the treaty of peace which followed the battle of Zama, the Carthaginians undertook to surrender all their elephants, and to discontinue the practice of taming them. Still the Romans never used them to any noticeable extent as an arm of war,

6

Carpetanorum cum appendicibus Olcadum Vaccæorumque centum millia fuere; invicta acies, si æquo dimicaretur campo. Itaque et ingenio feroces, et multitudine freti, et, quod metu cessisse credebant hostem, id morari victoriam rati, quod interesset amnis, clamore sublato, passim sine ullius imperio, qua cuique proximum est, in amnem ruunt. Et ex parte altera ripa vis ingens equitum in flumen immissa, medioque alveo haudquaquam pari certamine concursum; quippe ubi pedes instabilis, ac vix vado fidens, vel ab inermi equite, equo temere acto, perverti posset: eques, corpore armisque liber, equo vel per medios gurgites stabili, cominus eminusque rem gereret.. Pars magna flumine absumpta: quidam, vorticoso amni delati in hostes, ab elephantis obtriti sunt: postremi, quibus regressus in suam ripam tutior fuit, ex varia trepidatione quum in unum colligerentur, priusquam ex tanto pavore reciperent animos, Hannibal, agmine quadrato amnem ingressus, fugam ex ripa fecit: vastatisque agris, intra paucos dies Carpetanos quoque in deditionem accepit. Et jam omnia trans Ibe

until the time of Aurelian's memorable triumph over Zenobia; (A.D. 274.) though they had frequently formed a conspicuous object in triumphal processions, (e. g. in those of Pompey the Great and Metellus,) and in the exhibitions of the amphitheatre; for which Germanicus Cæsar is said to have had a troop of them so perfectly trained, that they performed a Pyrrhic dance in time to music, walked on tight ropes, played ball, and beat cymbals.

In Asiatic India, from the very earliest times, through all the wars of the Hindu and Mohammedan princes, down to the time of Tippoo Sahib, they formed a principal arm of war, as well as a conspicuous element in all solemn pageantry. Their service in the field was nearly analogous to that of artillery, in breaking large masses of troops, and breaching fortifications, which they accomplished by blows of their foreheads armed for the purpose. In battle they were frequently covered with plates of metal; their tusks pointed with iron spikes, and swords tied on their trunks: and of elephants thus equipped, the native Indian armies contained troops of 12,000 to 20,000; but their fury,

when galled by missiles, was SO frequently turned upon their own party, that they could never be considered a safe dependence. It is unnecessary to add, that they have been altogether superseded by firearms, and are now used in India only for the transport of the heavy baggage that usually accompanies an army in the East. From the fall of the Western Empire to the establishment of European settlements in India, the elephant was so totally unknown in Europe, that one which was sent as a present by Haroun al Raschîd to Charlemagne, was regarded as the great wonder of the time.

The name of this animal is so like a Greek word, that some absurd etymologies have been suggested by the supposition. The word, however, is oriental, and signifies literally, "child of the sun.'

5 Cum appendicibus.] "With the contingents."

6 Et quod metu cessisse.] "And, as they believed the enemy to have retreated through fear, imagining the interposition of the river to be the only impediment to victory."

7 Fugam ex ripa fecit.] i. e. fugavit.

Cum

6.

A. C. 218.

rum, præter Saguntinos, Carthaginiensium erant. Saguntinis bellum nondum erat: ceterum jam belli causa certamina cum finitimis serebantur, maxime Turdetanis. Quibus quum adesset idem, qui litis erat sator, nec certamen juris, sed vim quæri appareret; legati a Saguntinis Romam missi, auxilium ad bellum jam haud dubie imminens orantes. Consules tunc Romæ erant P. Cornelius Scipio et Ti. Sem- U. C. 536. pronius Longus. Qui quum, legatis in senatum introductis, de republica retulissent, placuissetque mitti legatos in Hispaniam, ad res sociorum inspiciendas; quibus si videretur digna causa, et Hannibali denuntiarent, ut ab Saguntinis, sociis populi Romani, abstineret, et Carthaginem in Africam trajicerent, ac sociorum populi Romani querimonias deferrent: hac legatione decreta, necdum missa, omnium spe celerius Saguntum oppugnari allatum est. Tunc relata ex integro res ad senatum. Alii, provincias consulibus Hispaniam atque Africam decernentes, terra marique rem gerendam censebant: alii totum in Hispaniam Hannibalemque intendebant bellum'. Erant, qui non temere movendam rem tantam, exspectandosque ex Hispania legatos censerent. Hæc sententia, quæ tutissima videbatur, vicit: legatique eo maturius missi, P. Valerius Flaccus et Q. Bæbius Tamphilus, Saguntum ad Hannibalem, atque inde Carthaginem, si non absisteretur bello, ad ducem ipsum in pœnam fœderis rupti deposcendum.

Dum ea Romani parant consultantque, jam Saguntum

8 Quibus quum adesset idem &c.] "For, as he was approaching them, who was, himself, the promoter of the quarrel; and as it was evident that the object was not a question of right, but an outrage," &c. The Turdetani inhabited that part of Spain now known as Andalusia.

9 Qui quum.] The absence of an apodosis to the conjunction renders this long sentence an anacoluthon: the epitasis is repeated below in hac legatione decretâ, and the apodosis at last begins at omnium: thus in English, "And when they, introducing the ambassadors to the senate, called attention to the position of the government, and when it was resolved that ambassadors be sent into Spain, to examine the condition of the allies, and that they might, &c. &c.—when this embassy was sanctioned, but not yet sent; intelligence arrived," &c.

1 Intendebant bellum.] Observe the force of the imperfect: "Others wished to direct (were for directing) hostilities exclusively against Han nibal."

2 Si non absisteretur bello.] "In case the war were not discontinued."

Chap. vii. The sieges of antiquity, many of which are memorable for the desperate obstinacy of the defenders and the ingenuity of the assailants, present on the average more features of romantic interest, than those of modern warfare. Individual heroism, daring experiments, and lucky accidents, more frequently influenced and diversified the results; while, as we approach our own times, the various applications of science, and the observance of certain fixed rules, render the capture of any stronghold a matter of eventual certainty; and a timely surrender, in the absence of external aid, more advisable, than that per

7.

U.C. 536. summa vi oppugnabatur. Civitas ea longe opulentissima A. C. 218. ultra Iberum fuit, sita passus mille ferme a mari. Oriundi

severance, amid extreme sufferings and privations, which the uncertainty of the issue suggested to the garrisons of ancient times.

Among the ancients, the usual course of operation was a cordon of circumvallation, whenever the features of the ground rendered it practicable, and the garrison declined a battle. Of this process, the most remarkable instance will be found in Cæsar's account of the siege of Alesia. (B. G. vii. 72.) Battering engines are said to have been first used either by Pericles at the siege of Samos, or by the Carthaginians at Gades; if they were not employed many centuries previously by Sesostris the Egyptian in his extensive conquests; and before the general use of these and rolling towers, assaults were frequently made over unbroken ramparts; while long mines, or tunnels, were sometimes carried, from points outside the walls, even into the citadels of invested towns, (as by the Romans at the siege of Veii.) The invention of gunpowdera altered the whole system: low bastions and curtains, and still more recently, immense earth-works, have superseded the high walls and towers of former times; and extensive devastation can be now effected inside, without even approaching fortifications.

A review of a few of the most memorable sieges on record, will illustrate the gradual progress of military science, from the original tediousness and uncertainty of such operations, to the expedition and accurate calculations of the present system.

The sieges of Troy, Eira, and Ithome, which lasted several years, and terminated either in mutual exhaustion, accident, or compromise,

proved, that, in the infancy of war, strong walls were insuperable obstacles. Of the sieges recorded by Herodotus, the most remarkable are those of Phocæa and Babylon. From the former, the inhabitants, despairing of relief against Harpagus, embarked in the night with their families and movable property, and committed the choice of a new home to the accidents of waves and winds. Into the latter, Cyrus effected an entrance by drawing off the waters of the Euphrates into an artificial channel, and passing his troops through the shallow bed, which ran under the walls, and intersected the city. In this case, it was the security of the inhabitants that caused their capture; for, had they only closed the gates that opened from the ends of the streets upon the banks, they might have destroyed the Persian army.

The siege of Platæa, as described by Thucydides, (ii. 71; iii. 52.) presents the earliest instance of an attempt on the part of the besiegers to out-build the besieged. The Spartans raised a wall, consisting of a double line of planks, filled in with clay, all round the town walls. This the Platæans undermined, and withdrew the clay, so that the filling sank as fast at it was thrown in; but, as this operation could not be indefinitely continued, the circumvallation was at last raised to a commanding height; and an attempt made to set fire to the city so alarmed the defenders, that 300 men, out of the 500 composing the garrison, escaped in a stormy night over both walls, and joined their friends in Athens. The rest surrendered, and were massacred in cold blood by the assailants; an act paralleled only by the massacre of the Athenians at

a Powder had been used, from a very remote era, in the East, especially in China, for ornamental and engineering fire works. In Europe, its use in military operations began early in the fourteenth century; it was introduced by the Moors, and used by the King of Grenada at the siege of Boza, (A.D. 1312.) The Genoese first used it in mines, at the siege of Seranessa, (A. D. 1487.) Shells and mortars were first used by Malatesta of Rimini, (A.D. 1467.)

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