great man; an honour till then unknown, no person before him having assumed the name of a vanquished nation. Such was the conclusion of the second Punic war, after having lasted seventeen years.*

A SHORT REFLECTION ON THE government oF CARTHAGE, IN THE TIME OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

I SHALL Conclude the particulars which relate to the second Punic war, with a reflection of Polybius, which will show the difference between the two commonwealths. It may be affirmed, in some measure, that at the beginning of the second Punic war, and in Hannibal's time, Carthage was in its decline. The flower of its youth, and its sprightly vigour, were already diminished. It had begun to fall from its exalted pitch of power, and was inclining towards its ruin; whereas Rome was then, as it were, in its bloom and strength of life, and rapidly advancing to the conquest of the universe. The reason of the declension of the one, and the rise of the other, is taken by Polybius from the different form of government established in these commonwealths, at the time we are now speaking of. At Carthage, the common people had seized upon the sovereign authority with regard to public affairs, and the advice of their ancient men, or magistrates, was no longer listened to; all affairs were transacted by intrigue and cabal. Not to mention the artifices which the faction opposed to Hannibal employed, during the whole time of his command, to perplex him; the single instance of burning the Roman vessels during a truce, a perfidious action to which the common people compelled the senate to lend their name and assistance, is a proof of Polybius' assertion. On the contrary, at this very time, the Romans paid the highest regard to their senate, that is, to a body composed of the greatest sages; and their old men were listened to and revered as oracles. It is well known that the Roman people were exceedingly jealous of their authority, and especially in that part of it which related to the election of magistrates. A century of young men, who by lot were to give the first vote, which generally directed all the rest, had nominated two consuls. On the bare remonstrance of Fabius,§ who represented to the people, that in a tempest, like that with which Rome was then struggling, the most able pilots ought to be chosen to steer their common ship, the republic; the century returned to their suffrages, and nominated other consuls. Polybius, from this disparity of government, infers that a people, thus guided by the prudence of old men, could not fail of prevailing over a state which was governed wholly by the giddy multitude. And indeed, the Romans under the guidance of the wise counsels of their senate gained at last the superiority with regard to the war considered in general, though they were defeated in several particular engagements, and established their power and grandeur on the ruin of their rivals.

THE INTERVAL BETWEEN THE SECOND AND THIRD PUNIC WAR.

THE events relating to Carthage during this period, are not very remarkable, although it includes more than fifty years. They may be reduced to two heads, one of which relates to the person of Hannibal, and the other to some particular differences between the Carthaginians and Masinissa, king of the Numidians. We shall treat both separately, but not extensively.

SECTION 1.-CONTINUATION OF THE HISTORY OF HANNIBAL.

WHEN the second Punic war was ended, by the treaty of peace concluded with Scipio, Hannibal, as he himself observed in the Carthaginian senate, was

Liv. l. xxiv. n. 8, 9.

* A. M. 3804. A. Carth, 646. A. Rome, 548. Ant. J. C. 200. † Lib. vi. p. 493, 494. Quilibet nautarum rectorumque tranquillo mari gubernare potest; ubi sæva orta tempestas est, ac tur bato mari rapitur vento navis, tum viro et gubernatore opus est. Non tranquillo navigamus, sed jam ali quot procellis submersi pene sumus. Itaque quis ad gubernacula sedeat summa cura providendum ac præ Cavendum nobis est.

1

forty-five years of age. What we have further to say of this great man, includes the space of twenty-five years.

HANNIBAL UNDERTAKES AND COMPLETES THE REFORMATION OF THE COURTS OF JUSTICE, AND THE TREASURY OF CARTHAGE.

AFTER the conclusion of the peace, Hannibal, at least in the beginning, was greatly respected in Carthage, where he filled the first employments of the state with honour and applause. He headed the Carthaginian forces in some wars against the Africans: but the Romans, to whom the very name of Han nibal gave uneasiness, discontented at seeing him in arms, made complaints on that account, and accordingly he was recalled to Carthage.*

On his return he was appointed prætor, which seems to have been a very considerable employment, as well as of great authority.† Carthage is therefore, with regard to him, becoming a new theatre, as it were, on which he will display virtues and qualities of a quite different nature from those we have hitherto admired in him, and which will finish the picture of this illustrious man. Eagerly desirous of restoring the affairs of his afflicted country to their former happy condition, he was persuaded, that the two most powerful methods to make a state flourish were, an exact and equal distribution of justice to the people in general, and a faithful management of the public finances. The former, by preserving an equality among the citizens, and making them enjoy such a delightful, undisturbed liberty, under the protection of the laws, as fully secures their honour, their lives and properties, unites the individuals of the commonwealth more closely together, and attaches them more firmly to the state, to which they owe the preservation of all that is most dear and valuable to them. The latter, by a faithful administration of the public revenues, supplies punctually the several wants and necessities of the state, keeps in reserve a never-failing resource for sudden emergencies, and prevents the people from being burdened with new taxes, which are rendered necessary by extravagant profusion, and which chiefly contribute to make men harbour an aversion for government.

Hannibal saw with great concern, the irregularities which had crept equally into the administration of justice and the management of the finances. Upon his being nominated prætor, as his love for regularity and order made him uneasy at every deviation from it, and prompted him to use his utmost endeavours for its restoration; he had the courage to attempt the reformation of this double abuse, which drew after it a numberless multitude of others, without dreading either the animosity of the old faction that opposed him, or the new enmity which his zeal for the republic must necessarily create.

The judges exercised the most cruel rapine with impunity. They were so many petty tyrants, who disposed, in an arbitrary manner, of the lives and fortunes of the citizens, without there being the least possibility of putting a stop to their injustice. Because they held their commissions for life, and mutually supported one another. Hannibal, as prætor, summoned before his tribunal an officer belonging to the bench of judges, who openly abused his power. Livy tells us that he was a quæstor. This officer, who was in the opposite faction to Hannibal, and had already assumed all the pride and haughtiness of the judges among whom he was to be admitted at the expiration of his present office, insolently refused to obey the summons. Hannibal was not of a disposition to suffer an affront of this nature tamely. Accordingly, he caused him to be seized by a lictor, and brought him before the assembly of the people. There, not satisfied with levelling his resentment against this single officer, he impeached the whole bench of judges; whose insupportable and tyrannical pride was not restrained, either by the fear of the laws, or a reverence for the magistrates. And, as Hannibal perceived that he was heard with pleasure, and that the lowest and most inconsiderable of the people dis†A. M. 3810. A. Rome, 554.

*Corn. Nep. in Annib. c. 7.

Liv. 1. xxxiii. n. 46.

covered on this occasion that they were no longer able to bear the insolent pride of these judges, who seemed to have a design upon their liberties; he proposed a law, which accordingly passed, by which it was enacted, that new Judges should be chosen annually; with a clause that none should continue in office beyond that term. This law, at the same time that it acquired him the friendship and esteem of the people, drew upon him proportionably the hatred of the greatest part of the grandees and nobility.

He attempted another reformation, which created him new enemies, but gained him great honour.* The public revenues were either squandered away by the negligence of those who had the management of them, or were plundered by the chief men of the city, and the magistrates; so that money being wanted to pay the annual tribute due to the Romans, the Carthaginians were going to levy it upon the people in general. Hannibal, entering into a full detail of the public revenues, ordered an exact estimate to be laid before him, inquired in what manner they had been applied to the employments and ordinary expenses of the state; and having discovered by this inquiry, that the public funds had been in a great measure embezzled by the fraud of the offcers who had the management of them, he declared and promised, in a full assembly of the people, that without laying any new taxes upon individuals, the republic should hereafter be enabled to pay the tribute due to the Romans; and he was as good as his word. The farmers of the revenues, whose plunder and rapine he had publicly detected, having accustomed themselves hitherto to fatten upon the spoils of their country, exclaimed vehemently against these regulations, as if their own property had been forced out of their hands, and not the sums of which they had defrauded the public.

THE RETREAT AND DEATH OF HANNIBAL.

THIS double reformation of abuses raised great clamours against Hannibal. His enemies were writing incessantly to the chief men, or their friends, at Rome, to inform them, that he was carrying on a secret correspondence with Antiochus, king of Syria; that he frequently received couriers from him; and that this prince had privately despatched agents to Hannibal, to concert with him measures for carrying on the war he was meditating: that as some animals are so extremely fierce, that it is impossible ever to tame them; in like manner, this man was of so turbulent and implacable a spirit, that he could not brook ease, and therefore would, sooner or later, break out again. These informations were listened to at Rome; and as the transactions of the preceding war had been begun and carried on almost solely by Hannibal, they appeared the more probable. However, Scipio strongly opposed the violent measures which the senate were about to take on their receiving this intelligence, by representing it as derogatory to the dignity of the Roman people, to countenance the hatred and accusations of Hannibal's enemies; to support, with their authority, their unjust passions; and obstinately to pursue him even to the very heart of his country; as though the Romans had not humbled him sufficiently, in driving him out of the field, and forcing him to lay down his arms. But, notwithstanding these prudent remonstrances, the senate appointed three commissions to go and make their complaints to Carthage, and to demand that Hannibal should be delivered up to them. On their arrival in that city, though other things were speciously pretended, yet Hannibal was perfectly sensible that he only was the object. The evening being come, he conveyed himself on board a ship, which he had secretly provided for that purpose; on which occasion he bewailed his country's fate more than his own. Sæpius patriæ quam suos eventus miseratus. This was the eighth year after the conclusion of the peace. The first place he landed at was Tyre, where he was

*Liv. 1. xxxiii. r.. 46, 47.

Tum vero isti quos paverat per aliquot annos publicus peculatus, velut bonis ereptis, non furto eorum manibus extorto, incensi et irati, Romanos in Annibalem, et ipsos causam odii quærentes, instigabant.-Lir. Liv. 1. xxxiii. n. 15-19.

received as in his second country, and had all the honours paid him which were due to his exalted merit. After staying some days here, he set out for Antioch, which the king had lately left, and from thence waited upon him at Ephesus.* The arrival of so renowned a general gave great pleasure to the king, and did not a little contribute to determine him to engage in war against Rome; for hitherto he had appeared wavering and uncertain on that head. In this city, a philosopher, who was looked upon as the greatest orator of Asia, had the imprudence to harangue before Hannibal on the duties of a general, and the rules of the military art. The speech charmed the whole audience. But Hannibal, being asked his opinion of it, "I have seen," says he, "many old dotards in my life, but this exceeds them all."t

The Carthaginians, justly fearing that Hannibal's escape would certainly draw upon them the arms of the Romans, sent them advice that Hannibal was withdrawn to Antiochus.§. The Romans were very much disturbed at this news, and the king might have turned it extremely to his advantage, had he known how to make a proper use of it.

The first counsel that Hannibal gave him at this time, and which he fre quently repeated afterwards, was, to make Italy the seat of war. He required a hundred ships, eleven or twelve thousand land-forces, and offered to take upon himself the command of the fleet; to cross into Africa, in order to engage the Carthaginians in the war; and afterwards to make a descent upon Italy, during which the king himself should be ready to cross over with his army into Italy, whenever it should be thought convenient. This was the only thing proper to be done, and the king very much approved the proposal at first. Hannibal thought it would be expedient to prepare his friends at Carthage, in order to engage them the more strongly in his interest. The communication by letters is not only unsafe, but also gives an imperfect idea of things, and is never sufficiently particular. He therefore despatched a trusty person with ample instructions to Carthage. This man had no sooner arrived in the city, than his business was suspected. Accordingly, he was watched and followed; and at last orders were issued for his being seized. He, however, prevented the vigilance of his enemies, and escaped in the night; after having fixed, in several public places, papers, which fully declared the occasion of his coming among them. The senate immediately sent advice of this to the Romans.

Villius, one of the deputies who had been sent into Asia, to inquire into the state of affairs there, and, if possible, to discover the real designs of Antiochus, found Hannibal in Ephesus.** He had many conferences with him, paid him several visits, and speciously affected to show him a particular esteem on all occasions. But his chief aim, by all this artificial behaviour, was to make him be suspected, and to lessen his credit with the king, in which he succeeded but too well.ft

Some authors affirm, that Scipio was joined in this embassy; and they even relate the conversation which that general had with Hannibal.‡‡ They tell us

*A. M. 3812. A. Rome, 556.

† Cic. de Orat. 1. ii. n. 75, 76.

Hic Pœnus libere respondisse fertur, multos se deliros senes sæpe vidisse: sed qui magis quam Phormio deliraret vidisse neminem. Stobæus, Serm. lii. gives the following account of this matter: 'AvvíCar ἀκούσας Στοϊκό τίνος ἐπιχειρῶντος ὅτι ὁ σοφὸς μόνος στρατηγος ἐστὶν, ἐγέλασι, νομίζων ἀδύνατον εἶναι ἐκτὸς τῆς δὲ ἔργων ἐμπειρίας τὴν ἐν τούτοις ἐπιστήμων ἔχειν i. e. Hannibal, hearing a Stoic philosophe undertake to prove that the wise man was the only general, laughed, as thinking it impossible for a man to have any skill in war, without being long practised in it.

They did more, for they sent two ships to pursue Hannibal, and bring him back; they sold off his goods, razed his house, and, by a public decree, declared him an exile. Such was the gratitude the Car thaginians showed to the greatest general they ever had.-Corn. Nep. in Vita Annib. c. 7. Ibid. n. 61.

Liv. 1. xxxiv. n. 60.

**A. M. 3813. A. Rome, 557. Liv. 1. xxxv. n. 14, Polyb. I. iii. p. 166, 167.

tt Polybius represents this application of Villius to Hannibal, as a premeditated design, in order to render him suspected to Antiochus, because of his intimacy with a Roman. Livy owns, that the affair succeeded as if it had been designed; but, at the same time, he gives, for a very obvious reason, another turn to this conversation, and says that no more was intended by it than to sound Hannibal, and to remove any fears or apprehensions he might be under from the Romans.

‡‡ Liv. 1. xxxv. n. 24. Plutarch. in Vita. Flamin. &c.

that the Roman having asked him, who, in his opinion, was the greatest cap tain that had ever lived; he answered, Alexander the Great, because, with a handful of Macedonians, he had defeated numberless armies, and carried his conquests into countries so very remote, that it seemed scarcely possible for any man only to travel so far. Being afterwards asked, to whom he gave the second rank; he answered, to Pyrrhus, for this king, says Hannibal, first understood the art of pitching a camp to advantage; no commander had ever made a more judicious choice of his posts, was better skilled in drawing up his forces, or was more happy in winning the affection of foreign soldiers; insomuch that even the people of Italy were more desirous to have him for their governor than the Romans themselves, though they had s long been subject to them. Scipio proceeding, asked him next, whom he looked upon as the third captain; on which decision Hannibal made no scruple to give the preference to himself. Here Scipio could not forbear laughing: "but what would you have said," continued Scipio, "had you conquered me ?"-" I would,” replied Hannibal, "have ranked myself above Alexander, Pyrrhus, and all the generals the world ever produced." Scipio was not insensible to so refined and delicate a flattery, which he by no means expected; and which, by giving him no rival, seemed to insinuate, that no captain was worthy of being put in comparison with him.

The answer, as told by Plutarch, is less witty, and not so probable. In this author, Hannibal gives Pyrrhus the first place, Scipio the second, and himself the third.

Hannibal, sensible of the coldness with which Antiochus received him ever since his conferences with Villius or Scipio, took no notice of it for some time, and seemed insensible of it. But at last he thought it adviseable to come to an explanation with the king, and to open his mind freely to him," the hatred," says he, "which I bear to the Romans, is known to the whole world. I bound myself to it by an oath, from my most tender infancy. It was this hatred that made me draw the sword against Rome during thirty-six years. It was that, even in times of peace, which drove me from my native country, and forced me to seek an asylum in your dominions. For ever guided and fired by the same passion, should my hopes be eluded, I will fly to every part of the globe, and rouse up all nations against the Romans. I hate them, will hate them eternally; and know that they bear me no less animosity. So long as you shall continue in the resolution to take up arms against that people, you may rank Hannibal in the number of your best friends. But if other counsels incline you to peace, I declare to you once for all, address yourself to others for counsel, and not to me." Such a speech, which came from his heart, and expressed the greatest sincerity, struck the king, and seemed to remove all his suspicions; so that he now resolved to give Hannibal command of part of his fleet.†

But, what mischief is beyond the power of flattery to produce in courts, and in the minds of princes? Antiochus was told, "that it was imprudent in him to put so much confidence in Hannibal, an exile, a Carthaginian, whose for tune or genius might suggest, in one day, a thousand different projects to him; that besides, this very fame which Hannibal had acquired in war, and which he considered as his peculiar inheritance, was too great for a man who fought only under the ensigns of another; that none but the king ought to be the general and conductor of the war; and that it was incumbent on him to draw upon himself only the eyes and attention of all men; whereas, should Hannibal be employed, he, a foreigner, would have the glory of all victories ascribed to him." No minds, says Livy on the occasion, are more susceptible of envy, than those whose merit is below their birth and dignity; such persons always abhorring virtue and worth in others, for this reason only, because they are strange and foreign in themselves.§ This observation was fully verified on

Plut. in Pyrrho, p. 687.

† Liv. lib. xxxv. n. 19.

Liv. 1. xxxv. n. 42, 43. Nulla ingenia tam prona ad invidiam sunt, quam eorum qui genus ac fortunam suam animis non æquant; ja virtutem et bonum alienum oderunt.