Immagini della pagina
PDF
ePub

we do not prefer to attribute to him the bold and original design-subsequently effected by Alaric and Attila-of overwhelming the rich and sunny plains of the south with a deluge of fierce and needy barbarians. It will also explain his otherwise unaccountable reluctance to march upon Rome directly from the field of Cannæ. Knowing that he would not be adequately supported at home in an enterprise, which must appear at a distance so wild and desperate; he naturally fell back upon the surer, though slower, policy of isolating Rome amid her own revolted allies.

It was, however, when he revisited Carthage, after an absence of half a life, in order to urge an acquiescence in the terms proposed by Scipio after the battle of Zama, that his estrangement from all national habits and feelings exhibited itself most plainly. When the Senate gave way to tears on the payment of the first instalment of the indemnity, the veteran soldier, in bitter contempt of their cowardly avarice, mocked them with a laugh: "You have seen," said he, "your country humbled, your fleet burned in your own harbour before your eyes, your very functions as a government circumscribed, and you have borne all patiently and humbly: but, when you come to part with your money, you burst into tears!" A man accustomed to the sudden and opposite vicissitudes of a warrior's life—the quick alternations of triumph and defeat, of abundance and privation-and to regard money only as one of the several means to an end, was but ill-prepared to sympathise with men, who considered its accumulation as the great end and purpose of human life.

It was after this unpromising introduction to his fellowcitizens, that Hannibal first began to take part in the civil administration, and in this sphere of action he succeeded so creditably, that in the twelfth year after the treaty, the Punic ambassadors offered in the Roman Senate the full and immediate payment of the remaining balance of the ten thousand talents named by Scipio. In the mean time, however, the old aristocratic party, who had lost much of their patronage and other emoluments in the sweeping reforms which he had introduced, incited each other to the blind

and suicidal policy of sacrificing him to the Romans. In pursuance of a secret understanding to this effect, a Roman embassy, consisting of C. Servilius, Cl. Marcellus, and Ter. Culleo, arrived in Carthage, ostensibly for the purpose of accommodating some differences with Masinissa, but in reality to contrive the ruin of their old enemy.

The means chosen was an accusation-which was most probably true-of a secret correspondence with Antiochus, with a view to consolidating an alliance, and commencing hostilities against Rome. The disguise in which this scheme was enveloped, was too thin to deceive the practised eye of Hannibal. He showed himself abroad through the city, during the day, in all the apparent unconsciousness of an unsuspecting victim; and, under the shade of nightfall, passing the gates in a foreign dress, mounted the first of a relay of horses which he had prepared along the road, and travelling all night, arrived at a castle of his own, near Thapsus. Crossing thence to Cercina, and representing himself there as an ambassador to Tyre, he embarked immediately for that city; and, after a short sojourn, set out for Antioch, where he met the son of Antiochus. Arriving at length in Ephesus, he was received with much distinction by the king himself.

The advice which he uniformly impressed upon Antiochus was, to regard Italy as the proper and legitimate seat of war: and, accordingly, he volunteered, if the king would place a fleet and an army at his disposal, to return to Carthage, and obtain the cooperation of his country. Had this suggestion been adopted, the Syrian war would have proved a more obstinate struggle than it eventually did; but the magnitude of the project exceeded the comprehension of Antiochus: he hesitated, and wasted time in timid expedients, until he was anticipated by the quick and intuitive sense of danger that always guided the movements of Rome. By the king's advice, however, Hannibal sent a confidential envoy to Carthage, to communicate with such friends as still continued sincere. Aristo was suspected, and brought before the Senate; but, while they were deliberating whether they should regard him as a spy, or as a harmless visitor, the prudent

Tyrian decided the question by making his escape in the night, after placarding in the Agora a statement of his mission.

The result of the announcement of these events in Rome was the arrival of an embassy in Ephesus, who held many and apparently confidential interviews with Hannibal. It is said, that his late antagonist Scipio was of the number; and even the substance of an interesting conversation between them, on the relative merits of themselves and other eminent commanders, is recorded. The object of these conferences, into which Hannibal was too easily ensnared, was-if not to allay his own suspicions to impress Antiochus with a doubt of his sincerity. Such at least was the result; and there arose, in consequence, a temporary estrangement, reconciled only by an earnest and solemn explanation, in the course of which Hannibal appealed to the oath which his father had dictated at the altar. Confidence being thus restored, he was entrusted with the command of some forces, with which he was able to achieve only some partial success. Antiochus, drawn into Greece by the promises and representations of the Etolians, and defeated at Thermopyla and Magnesia, eventually submitted to the Scipios-Asiaticus and Africanus-and signed a treaty of peace, one of the conditions of which was the extradition of Hannibal. Escaping into Crete, the Carthaginian relieved his host from the alternative of exasperating the now universally victorious Romans, or, violating the sanctity of hospitality. Here he was compelled to resort to stratagem, in order to save the small remainder of his personal property from the hands of his greedy protectors, and feeling himself insecure among men of such principles, took sanctuary with the king of Bithynia. But the enmity of Rome was too implacable to be disarmed by any degree of helplessness to which an enemy could be reduced. The arm of her power was now too long to allow a hope of safety any where on earth. There was but one desperate expedient for placing himself beyond her reach, and that-as Paullus Æmilius reminded Perseus-was "in his own power." Seeing, then, no further prospect of attaining the great object of his life, or of preserving life itself, even without

any thing that could make that life endurable, he cast it away with his own hand. He died by poison, at the age of seventy; an age at which his enemies could have had neither much to fear, nor long to wait.

[blocks in formation]

Cælius Antipater, 63.

Cannæ, position of the armies, 148.
movements of the battle, 152. date
of battle, 155. not decisive, 160,
161. conduct of Hiero on the oc-
casion, 163.

Capitol, 246, 348.
Campus Martius, 52.

Capua, 11. effect on the Cartha-
ginian troops, 195.
Carales, 221.
Carthagena, 18.

Carthage, foreign dependencies, 14.
magistrates, 17. first treaty with
Rome, 28. senate of, 186. treat-
ment of generals, 171. description
of, 359. destruction of, 360. re-
stored by Augustus, &c. 361. taken
by Genseric and by Belisarius, 361.
Carteia, 18.

Casilinum, (massacre at,) 193.

Croton, 236.

Curia, 263.

Cyrenaica, 183.

Decius, in Samnite war, 168.

Demetrius Pharius, 135.

Democracy, character of, 264.
Denarius, 247.

Dictator, not permitted to mount a
horse, 188.

Dreams and clairvoyance, 41.

Dubitare (Syntax), 161.

Edere (special meaning), 92.

Elephants used in war,

Emphasis, Introd. 8.

Emporium, 86.

Enimvero (idiom),
Epipolæ, 326.
Euryalus, 258.
Excidere, 115.

271.

19.

Exigere, (meaning of,) 155.
Exsistere, (meaning of,) 323.

Fabius Maximus (name), 106. his
tactics, 115.

Fæsulæ, 99.

Falarica, 25.

Financial effects of war, 199.
Foreigners in Roman armies, 140,293.

Galeagra, 326.

Generalship, ancient and modern, 74.
Genius, 93.

Gracchus, character of, 251. death
of, 318.

Græcism in Syntax, 127.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]
« IndietroContinua »