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EPILEGOMENA.

THE leading facts of the history of the Punic wars, from the point to which it is brought down by Livy, at the close of 1. xxv, may be concisely stated as follows. The last important event recorded in 1. xxv, is the defeat and death of the two Scipios, and the reorganization of the wreck of the divided army by Marcius, who assumed a provisional command. The next book opens with an account of Hannibal's daring march upon Rome; undertaken rather for the purpose of reviving the courage of his Italian friends, than with any reasonable hope of intimidating the city. This is followed by the reduction of Capua, and the defeat of Hasdrubal at the Metaurus. In the mean time, in the absence of any more experienced General willing to accept the province of Spain, young Scipio (son of Publius) had offered himself as the successor and avenger of his father and uncle. And here it may be remarked, as an interesting historical parallel, that at the same age, and under very similar circumstances, Scipio was appointed to the command of the Roman army in Spain, and General Buonaparte (Napoleon I.) was appointed, in 1796, to take the command of the French army in Italy. Scipio's startling proposal to carry the war into Africa, after he had permitted Hasdrubal to escape towards the Alps, was so coldly received by the Senate-principally, it is supposed, in consequence of the opposition of old Fabius, who had always dreaded the ambitious and mysterious youth—that he found it necessary to submit it to the popular assembly. The Senate acquiesced ungracefully in their approval, giving him but thirty-some say but ten-galleys, and forbidding him to levy troops. The Italian towns, however, those of Etruria especially, in their anxiety to see the war, by which they had been so long impoverished, removed to a safe distance,

liberally compensated the deficiency with contributions of men, provisions, and transports; so that, after some inconsiderable delay, he landed in Africa, while the Carthaginians were still questioning travellers respecting the movements and intentions of the Consul.

Here he met Syphax, with whom it will be remembered that he had on a former occasion, during a short visit to Africa, held a conference; but the impression left on the mind of the Numidian by that interview had been in the mean time effaced, by his marriage with the beautiful and ambitious Sophonisba, the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco; one of those fair and insinuating Phoenicians, who had so often drawn away the kings of Judah into the sensual and captivating idolatry of their nation. At her instigation, Syphax aspired to the position of mediator between the hostile parties, and in that character entered into negociations with Scipio. These conferences the Consul protracted with all the usual artifices of diplomacy, until he had obtained full and particular information respecting the united camp of the enemy; and then suddenly cut short all negociation, by destroying in one night the huts in which 93,000 of the forces of Carthage were encamped. Of all their inhabitants, not more than 2000 escaped alive.

Scipio had brought back with him from Spain the young Numidian, Masinissa, originally the ally of Carthage, whom Syphax had not only expelled from his kingdom, but had also supplanted in the affections of Sophonisba, to whom he had, at an early age, been affianced; and the time was now come when, after many adventures and many escapes, he was to enjoy a retaliation, which, however, he had scarcely tasted, when it recoiled upon himself. While flying from the pursuit of Syphax, he had been often—like Mohammed in the cave of Thor-unseen and unheard, within sight and hearing of his enemies: he was now to enjoy the exciting revenge of possessing himself of the capital, the wife, and even the person of his rival. Sophonisba's peace, it may be supposed, was easily made. plea, that her own inclinations had been overruled by political exigencies, was sufficient to satisfy her first lover; and they were immediately united. The Roman, however,

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feared the dangerous power of Sophonisba: probably, those fears were prompted by Syphax, who made, through them, a last and dying blow at his enemy and the woman to whom he attributed all his errors and misfortunes. Scipio claimed her as a portion of the forfeited property of Syphax. Masinissa withdrew to his tent, and, after giving vent to a burst of sorrow, which, though unseen, was not unheard by his attendants, summoned a faithful domestic, who had charge of the poison usually kept for emergencies, and sent the fatal cup to Sophonisba. "Tell her," said he, "that I have ever been true to her from the first; never more true than now, when I would save her from the hands of the Romans." She drank the poison calmly, saying only, "It is my bridal gift; and not unwelcome, if he can send nothing better!" Such was the price paid by Masinissa for that alliance with Rome, to which, during his life, he proved sincere.

In this position, deprived of the aid of Syphax, and of the vast army that perished in the camp, and maintaining an unsuccessful struggle almost at their gates, the Carthaginian government recalled Hannibal and Mago from Italy, in the sixteenth year of the war. Their departure (still commemorated by the name Torre di Annibale, given to the spot, between Catanzara and Cortona, on which they last stood) was marked by circumstances of such horror and cruelty, as falsified all past pretensions to clemency. The properties of many persons in the revolted towns were confiscated. The Italian soldiers in the Carthaginian army were either massacred, or presented as slaves to their African comrades.

In a few days after his arrival, Hannibal encamped at the hot wells of Zama; and, after an ineffectual attempt to negociate with Scipio, prepared for action. His foreign mercenaries he opposed, as usual, to the first assault of the enemy, placing them immediately behind his formidable line of eighty elephants, and keeping his own more personal comrades, among whom were many of the veterans of Hamilcar, in reserve. When his front line gave wayafter a harmless charge of the elephants through the open intervals of the Roman manipuli-and fell back upon the second, by whom they were thrust forward again upon the

Romans, so frightful a carnage ensued, that the mere heaps of dead prevented Scipio from reaching the Carthaginian reserve; and the latter would have escaped untouched, had not the same African cavalry, by whose desperate charge the field of Cannæ had been decided, and who were now on the Roman side, and led by the fiery Masinissa, fallen upon the Carthaginian rear, and made Zama one of the most decisive battles in history; a battle which, as Michelet says, decided the question, whether the world should, for some centuries following, be subject to an Indo-Germanic, or a Shemitic race.

There was nothing in the intrinsic circumstances of the battles of Canna and Zama to render one more decisive than the other; but the Roman government understood the secret of never yielding to a defeat, and never suffering a victory to be thrown away; they never "assumed diplomatic attitudes;" they never entered into "complications," or sought "solutions:" when they were beaten in the field, they merely marked the day in the calendar as being unlucky for serious enterprises, and went on as before: when they were successful, they always followed up their blow promptly and sternly; and never permitted a diplomatist to undo in the cabinet, what their soldiers had done in the field. In short, they left in history many lessons which modern politicians would do wisely to bear in mind.

Carthage was spared, for the present, on the conditions dictated by Scipio; that she should surrender all that she had ever won from Rome; all her elephants, and all her war-galleys except ten; that she should reinstate Masinissa in all the rights of his ancestors, with the addition of the dominions of Syphax; pay an indemnity of ten thousand talents, to be distributed over fifty years; and undertake to engage in no hostilities without the permission of the Roman people. Thus ended the second Punic war.

When Hannibal entered Carthage after an absence of thirty-six years, he found that the presence of his army, beaten as it had been, was an influence sufficient to place him at the head of the civil government. He found also every department of the administration-especially the financial-overlaid with those corruptions which an irre

sponsible oligarchy had naturally encouraged; and prepared to exert his personal authority for their removal, in order to pay the indemnity promised to Rome without imposing any additional taxation, and so make preparations for resuming, at a favourable opportunity, the struggle in which he still hoped to organize a large and formidable confederacy against Rome.

After an interval, during which the Romans had successfully concluded wars with Philip, Perseus, and Antiochus, proved their ingratitude to the Scipios, and hunted Hannibal to the death, Carthage fell on the same day with Corinth; and was followed immediately by Numantia. The Romans became thus the masters of the western world, and soon began to quarrel with each other for the spoil. They had taken care, on the conclusion of the second act of the war, to establish in Africa a vigilant and implacable enemy of Carthage. Masinissa was the great and incessant plague of the Carthaginians; and when they found him living beyond the average duration of human life, and still retaining the activity and vigour of his youth, they became superstitious, and began to fear that an evil genius had come in a human body to dwell beside them for ever. The repeated remonstrances with the Roman senate, which his encroachments provoked, resulted at last in the mission of Scipio, and subsequently of Cato; but from these, as might be expected, the sufferers obtained but slight redress. Still, during all this time, the Punic government adhered with a servile and scrupulous fidelity to the terms of their oppressive treaty. When Hannibal effected his sudden and well-contrived escape, under apprehension of the combined intrigues of the Roman ambassadors and his old enemies the Hannos; and when he sent a trusty agent from Ephesus to his friends at home, to arrange a cooperation with Antiochus, they forwarded intelligence, on both occasions, to the Roman senate.

It may be easily supposed, however, that, under all the wrongs and indignities to which Carthage was helplessly exposed, and the restrictions imposed by the treaty, her patience was sorely tried during this interval of seeming peace. The immediate provocation of the third Punic

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