1 ties, which the sole necessity of the time, and the ill condition of their affairs, had extorted from them. The sudden death of Hamilcar hindered him from executing the design he had long been forming, of taking revenge for these injuries. His son Hannibal, whom he had obliged to swear upon the altar, whilst yet but nine years old, that he would declare himself an enemy to the Romans, as soon as he came to the age of doing it, entered into all his views, and inhe rited his hatred for the Romans, as well as his valour. He made very distant preparations for this great design, and when he thought himself in a condition to execute it, he opened it with the siege of Saguntum. And whether it was through idleness or negligence, or through prudence and wisdom, the Romans spent the time in different embassies, and left Hannibal an opportunity of taking the town. [b] And for his part, he well knew how to make the best use of it. After he had settled all things to his mind, he left his brother Asdrubal in Spain to defend the country, and set out for Italy with an army of ninety thousand foot, and ten or twelve thousand horse. There was no obstacle great enough to discourage him, or stop his march. The Pyrenæan mountains, the crossing of the Rhone, a long march through Gaul, and the very difficult passage of the Alps, all gave way before his zeal and indefatigable resolution. Conqueror over the Alps, and in a manner over nature itself, he entered Italy, which he had resolved to make the theatre of the war. His troops were ex-tremely lessened in their numbers, amounting to no more than twenty thousand foot, and six thousand horse, but were full of confidence and courage. A rapidity so inconceivable astonished the Romans, and broke all their measures. They had determined to carry the war abroad, and that one of their consuls should make head against Hannibal in Spain, whilst the other should march directly into Africa to lay siege to Carthage. But they were now obliged to lay [b]Liv. lib. xxi. n. 21-38. F 4 aside aside these projects, and think of defending their own country. Publius Scipio the consul, who thought Hannibal still in the Pyrenæan mountains, when he had actually passed the Rhone, not being able to come up with him, was under a necessity of returning back from whence he came, to wait for, and fall upon him at his descent from the Alps, and in the mean while sent Cneius Scipio his brother into Spain against Asdrubal. [d] The first engagement was not far from the little river of Tesinus. The speeches of the two generals to their armies, are very fine. Livy has copied them from Polybius, but in a masterly way, by throwing in such strokes as make the copy equal to the original. The Carthaginians gained the victory. The Roman consul was wounded in the battle; [e] and his son, who was then scarce seventeen years old, saved his life. This was he who afterwards conquered Hannibal, and was surnamed Africanus, [f] Upon the first news of this defeat, Sempronius the other consul, who was in Sicily, marched presently by order of the senate, to the assistance of his colleague, who was not yet well recovered of his wounds. That was his reason for hastening a battle, against the opinion of Scipio, in hopes of engrossing the whole glory of it to himself. Hannibal, who had good intelligence of all that passed in the Roman camp, having suffered Sempronius to gain some slight advantage, in order to improve his temerity, gave him an opportunity of coming to a battle near the river of Trebia. He had placed his brother Mago in ambuscade in a very favourable post, and caused his army to use all necessary precaution against the famine and cold, which was then extreme. The Romans had been very negligent of either, and for that reason were soon overthrown, and put to flight; and Mago issuing [d] Liv. lib. xxi. n. 39–48. [e] Neque illum ætatis infirmitas interpellare valuit, quo minus duplici gloriâ conspicuam coronam, imperatore simul & patre ex ipsâ morte rapto, mereretur. Val. Max. lib. v. c. 2. [f] Liv. lib. xxi. n. 51–56. from from the place where he lay in ambush, made a great slaughter of them. [g] Hannibal, to make the best use of his time and first victories, kept continually advancing, and approached every day nearer the center of Italy. [h] But to come up the more speedily with the enemy, he was under a necessity of passing through a morass, where his army sustained incredible fatigues, and he lost an eye. Flaminius, one of the late nominated consuls, had left Rome without observing the usual omens. [i] He was a vain, rash, enterprising man, full of himself, and whose natural haughtiness was increased by the good success of his first consulship, and the declared favour of the people. It was plain" enough, that as he neither consulted the gods nor men, he would naturally abandon himself to the warmth and impetuosity of his genius; and Hannibal, to prompt that disposition, did not fail to irritate and provoke him, by ravaging and laying waste all the neighbouring country within his view. And this sufficed to make the consul resolve upon giving battle, notwithstanding the dissuasion of all the officers, who besought him to wait for the coming up of his colleague. The success was such as they had foreseen, fifteen thousand Romans were left dead upon the spot, with Flaminius at their head, which rendered the lake of Thrasimene ever after famous by their bloody defeat. FABIUS, DICTATOR. [k] When this sorrowful news was brought to Rome, the whole city was in great consternation. They expected every moment to see Hannibal at [g] Liv. lib. xxi. n. 57-59, 63. [h] Liv. lib. xxii. n. 1—6. [] Consul ferox ab consulatu priore, & non modò legum ac patrum majestatis, sed ne deorum quidem satis metuens erat. Hanc insitam ingenio ejus temeritatem fortuna prospero civilibus bellicisque rebus successu aluerat. Itaque sa- their gates. Fabius Maximus was chosen [] dictator, who after he had discharged the duties of religion, and given such orders as were necessary for the security of the city, went directly to the army, with a resolution not to hazard a battle, unless he was forced to it, or perfectly sure of success. He kept his troops upon the tops of the mountains, without losing sight of Hannibal, never coming so near him as to be under a necessity of fighting, nor removing to such a distance, as to let him he out of his reach. He confined the soldiers strictly to the camp, never suffering them to quit it except for forage, and then only under a strong convoy. [m] He never engaged but in slight skirmishes, and then too with so much caution, that his troops had always the advantage. By this means he insensibly restored to them that resolution and confidence, of which the loss of three battles had deprived them, and encouraged them to rely as formerly upon their own courage and good fortune. The enemy, soon perceived, that the Romans. had been taught, by their former defeats, to make choice of a general that was capable of making head against Hannibal; and Hannibal found, that he had more cause to be apprehensive of the prudent and regular conduct of the dictator, than of his making any - bold or hazardous attacks. Minucius, the general of the Roman horse, suffered the wise conduct of Fabius with more impatience than even Hannibal himself. [n] As warm and passionate in his discourse as designs, he was continually railing at the dictator; his prudence and circumspection, he termed irresolution and fearfulness, and called his virtues by the names of such vices as approached the [] Prodictator. [m] Neque universo periculo summa rerum committebatur, et parva momenta levium certaminum ex tuto cœptorum, finitimo receptu, assuefaciebant territum pristinis cladibus militem, minùs jam tandem aut virtutis aut fortunæ pœnitere suæ. Liv. lib. xxii. n. 12. [n] Sed non Annibalem magis infestum tam sanis consiliis habebat, quàm magistrum equitum... Ferox rapidusque in consiliis, ac linguis immodicus, pro cunctatore segnem, & cauto timidum, affingens vicina virtutibus vitia, compellabat: premendorumque superiorum arte (quæ pessima ars nimis prosperis multorum successibus crevit) sese extollebat. Ib. nearest nearest to them; and by an artifice, which too often succeeds, raised his own reputation upon the ruin of that of his superior. And lastly, by intriguing and caballing with the people, he obtained that his own authority should be made equal with the dictator's, which till then had been unprecedented. But [o] Fabius, fully assured that the people, by making them equal in the command, did not put them upon an equality in the art of commanding, bore this injury with such moderation, as shewed that he could no more be conquered by his own countrymen than his enemies. Minucius, in consequence of the equality of power betwixt him and Fabius, proposed to him that each should command their day, or even a longer space of time. But Fabius refused to comply with this condition, as it exposed the whole army to danger whilst it should be under the direction of Minucius, and chose rather to divide the troops, that he might be at least in a condition of preserving that part of them which fell to his share. What Fabius had foreseen soon came to pass. His colleague, eager and impatient for the battle, fell directly into the snare which Hannibal had laid for him, and his army was upon the point of being cut to pieces. [p] The dictator, without losing time in useless reproaches, Come," says he to his soldiers, "let us march to the assistance of Minucius, wrest "the victory out of the hands of our enemies, and oblige our citizens to an acknowledgment of their "mistake." He arrived very opportunely, and forced Hannibal to sound a retreat, [q] who cried out as he was retiring, "That the cloud which "had hung so long upon the tops of the mountains, [o] Satis fidens haudquaquam cum imperii jure artem imperandi æquatam, cum invicto à civibus hostibusque animo ad exercitum rediit. Liv. lib. xxii. n. 26. [p] Aliud jurgandi succensendique tempus erit; nunc signa extra vallum proferte. Victoriam hosti extorqueamus, confessionem erroris civibus. Liv. lib. xxiii. n. 29. [q] Annibalem ex acie redeuntem dixisse ferunt, tandem eam nubem, quæ sedere in jugis montium solita sit, cum procellâ imbrem dedisse. Ib. n. 30. "had |