Chapter I: The First and Second Punic Wabs (264-202 B.c.)

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.--By dint of obstinacy, and hard fighting through long centuries, the Romans had united under them all Italy, or all of what was then known as Italy. It was natural that they should look abroad. The rival power in the West was the great commercial city of _Carthage_. The jealousy between Rome and Carthage had slumbered so long as they were threatened by the invasion of _Pyrrhus_, which was dangerous to both. _Sicily_, from its situation, could hardly fail to furnish the occasion of a conflict. The _Mamertines_, a set of Campanian pirates, had captured _Messana_. They were attacked by _Hiero II_., king of Syracuse. A part of them besought help of the Romans, and a part applied to the Carthaginians. The gravity of the question, whether Rome should enter on an untried path, the end of which no man could foresee, caused hesitation. The assemblies voted to grant the request. The Romans had begun as early as 311 to create a fleet. The ships which they now used, however, were mostly furnished by their South Italian allies. They crossed the channel, and drove out the Carthaginian garrison from _Messana_. The Carthaginians declared war (264). _Hiero_ was gained over to the side of the Romans; and after a bloody conflict, with heavy losses to both armies, the city of _Agrigentum_ was captured by the Romans. The Romans were novices on the sea, where the Carthaginians were supreme. Successful on the land, the former were beaten in naval encounters. One of the most characteristic proofs of the energy of the Romans is their creation of a fleet, at this epoch, to match that of their sea-faring enemies. Using, it is said, for a model, a Carthaginian vessel wrecked on the shore of Italy, they constructed quinqueremes, vessels with five banks of oars, furnished with bridges to drop on the decks of the hostile ships,--thus giving to a sea-fight a resemblance to a combat on land. At first, as might be expected, the Romans were defeated; but in 260, under the consul _Caius Duilius_, they won their first naval victory at _Mylae_, west of Messana. The Roman Senate decided to invade Africa. A fleet of three hundred and thirty vessels sailed under the command of the consul _M. Atilius Regulus_, which was met by a Carthaginian fleet at _Ecnomus_, on the south coast of Sicily. The Carthaginians were completely vanquished. The Romans landed at _Clupea_, to the east of Carthage, and ravaged the adjacent district. There _Regulus_ remained with half the army, fifteen thousand men. The Carthaginians sued for peace; but when he required them to surrender all their ships of war except one, and to come into a dependent relation to Rome, they spurned the proposal. Re-enforcing themselves with mercenaries from Greece under the command of the Spartan, _Xanthippus_, they overpowered and captured _Regulus_ in a battle at _Tunis_ (255). A Roman fleet, sent to _Clupea_ for the rescue of the troops, on the return voyage lost three-fourths of its ships in a storm. The Carthaginians, under _Hasdrubal_, resumed hostilities in Sicily. He was defeated by the consul _Caecilius Metellus_, at _Panormus_, who included among his captures one hundred elephants (251). The story of the embassy of _Regulus_ to Rome with the Carthaginian offer of peace, of his advising the Senate not to accept it, of his voluntary return according to a promise, and of his cruel death at the hands of his captors, is probably an invention of a later time. The hopes of the Romans, in consequence of their success at _Panormus_, revived; but two years later, under _Appius Claudius_ at _Drepanum_, they were defeated on sea and on land. Once more their naval force was prostrated. Warfare was now carried forward on land, where, in the south of Sicily, the Carthaginian leader, _Hamilcar Barca_, maintained himself against Roman attacks for six years, and sent out privateers to harass the coasts of Italy. Finally, at Rome, there was an outburst of patriotic enthusiasm. Rich men gave liberally, and treasures of the temples were devoted to the building of a new fleet. This fleet, under command of _C. Lutatius Catulus_, gained a decisive victory over the Carthaginian _Hanno_, at the Aegatian Islands, opposite _Lilybaeum_ (241). The Carthaginians were forced to conclude peace, and to make large concessions. They gave up all claim to Italy and to the neighboring small islands. They were to pay an indemnity, equal to four million dollars, in ten years. The western part of Sicily was now constituted a _province_, the _first_ of the Roman provinces.

CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GUAL.--The Carthaginians were for some time busy at home in putting down a revolt of mercenary troops, whose wages they refused to pay in full. The Romans snatched the occasion to extort a cession of the island of _Sardinia_ (238), which they subsequently united with _Corsica_ in one province. They entered, about ten years later (229-228), upon an important and successful war against the _Illyrian pirates_, whose depredations on the coasts of the Adriatic and Ionian seas were very daring and destructive. The Greek cities which the pirates held were surrendered. The sway of the Romans in the Adriatic was secured, and their supremacy in _Corcyra_, _Epidamnus_, and other important places. The next contest was a terrific one with the _Cisalpine Gauls_, who were stirred up by the founding of Roman military colonies on the Adriatic, and by other proceedings of Rome. They called in the help of transalpine Gauls, and entered _Etruria_, on their way to Rome, with an army of seventy thousand men. They met the Roman armies near _Telamon_, south of the mouth of the Umbro, but were routed, with a loss of forty thousand men slain, and ten thousand men prisoners (225). The Romans marched northward, crossed the _Po_, and subdued the most powerful of the Gallic tribes, the _Insubrians_ (223). Other victories in the following year reduced the whole of upper Italy, with _Mediolanum_ (Milan) the capital of the _Insubrians_, under Roman rule. Fortresses were founded as usual, and the great _Flaminian_ and _Aemilian_ roads connected that region with the capital. Later, _Cisalpine Gaul_ became a Roman province.

CARTHAGINIANS IN SPAIN.--Meantime Carthage endeavored in Southern Spain to make up for its losses. The old tribes, the _Celtiberians_ and _Lusitanians_ in the central and western districts, and the _Cantabrians_ and _Basques_ in the north, brave as they were, were too much divided by tribal feuds to make an effectual resistance. The national party at Carthage, which wished for war, had able leaders in _Hamilcar_ and his three sons. By the military skill of _Hamilcar_, and of _Hasdrubal_ his son-in-law, the Carthaginians built up a flourishing dominion on the south and east coasts. The Romans watched the growth of the Carthaginian power there with discontent, and compelled _Hasdrubal_ to declare in a treaty that the _Ebro_ should be the limit of Carthaginian conquests (226). At the same time Rome made a protective alliance with _Saguntum_, a rich and powerful trading-city on the south of that river. _Hasdrubal_ was murdered in 221; and the son of Hamilcar Barca, _Hannibal_, who was then only twenty-eight years old, was chosen by the army to be their general. He laid hold of a pretext for beginning an attack upon _Saguntum_, which he took after a stout resistance, prolonged for eight months (219). The demand of a Roman embassy at Carthage--that _Hannibal_ should be delivered up--being refused, Rome declared war.

When the Carthaginian Council hesitated at the proposal of the Roman embassy, their spokesman, _Quintus Fabius_, said that he carried in his bosom peace or war: they might chose either. They answered, "We take what you give us;" whereupon the Roman opened his toga, saying, "I give you war!" The Carthaginians shouted, "So let it be!"

THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.--When the treaty of _Catulus_ was made (241), all patriots at Carthage felt that it was only a truce. They must have seen that Rome would never be satisfied with any thing short of the abject submission of so detested and dangerous a rival. There was a peace party, an oligarchy, at Carthage; and it was their selfishness which ultimately brought ruin upon the state. But the party which saw that the only safety was in aggressive action found a military leader in _Hannibal_,--a leader not surpassed, and perhaps not equaled, by any other general of ancient or modern times. He combined skill with daring, and had such a command over men, that under the heaviest reverses his influence was not broken. If he was cruel, it is doubtful whether he went beyond the practices sanctioned by the international law of the time and by Roman example. When a boy nine years old, at his father's request he had sworn upon the altar never to be the friend of the Roman people. That father he saw fall in battle at his side. The oath he kept, for Rome never had a more unyielding or a more powerful enemy.

HANNIBAL IN ITALY.--In the summer of 218, _Hannibal_ crossed the _Ebro_, conquered the peoples between the _Ebro_ and the _Pyrenees_, and, leaving his brother _Hasdrubal_ in Spain, pushed into _Gaul_ with an army of fifty thousand foot, twelve thousand horse, and thirty-seven elephants. He crossed the swift _Rhone_ in the face of the Gauls who disputed the passage, and then made his memorable march over the _Alps_, probably by the way now known as the _Little St. Bernard_ pass. Through ice and snow, climbing over crags and circling abysses, amid perpetual conflicts with the rough mountaineers who rolled stones down on the toiling soldiers, the army made its terrible journey into Northern Italy. Fifteen days were occupied in the passage. Half the troops, with all the draught-animals and beasts of burden, perished on the way. The _Cisalpine Gauls_ welcomed Hannibal as a deliverer. No sooner had the valiant consul, _Cornelius Scipio_, been defeated in a cavalry battle on the _Ticinus_, a northern branch of the _Po_ (218), and, severely wounded, retreated to _Placentia_, and his rash colleague, _Sempronius_, been defeated with great loss in a second battle on the _Trebia_, than the Gauls joined _Hannibal_, and reinforced him with sixty thousand troops inured to war. Hannibal, by marching through the swampy district of the _Arno_, where he himself lost an eye, flanked the defensive position of the Romans. The consul _Flaminius_ was decoyed into a narrow pass; and, in the battle of _Lake Trasumenus_ (217), his army of thirty thousand men was slaughtered or made prisoners. The consul himself was killed. All _Etruria_ was lost. The way seemed open to Rome; but, supported by the Latins and Italians, the Romans did not quail, or lower their mien of stern defiance. They appointed a leading patrician, _Quintus Fabius Maximus_, dictator. _Hannibal_, not being able to surprise and capture the fortress of _Spoletium_, preferred to march towards the sea-coast, and thence south into _Apulia_. His purpose was to open communication with _Carthage_, and to gain over to his support the eastern tribes of Italy. _Fabius, the Delayer (Cunctator)_, as he was called, followed and watched his enemy, inflicting what injuries he could, but avoiding a pitched battle. The Roman populace were impatient of the cautious, but wise and effective, policy of _Fabius_. In the following year (216) the consulship was given to _L. Aemilius Paulus_--who was chosen by the upper class, the _Optimates_--and _C. Terentius Varro_, who was elected by the popular party for the purpose of taking the offensive. _Varro_ precipitated a battle at _Cannae_, in Apulia, where the Romans suffered the most terrible defeat they had ever experienced. At the lowest computation, they lost forty thousand foot and three thousand horse, with the consul _Aemilius Paulus_, and eighty men of senatorial rank. No such calamity since the capture of Rome by the Gauls had ever occurred. The Roman Senate did not lose heart. They limited the time of mourning for the dead to thirty days. They refused to admit to the city the ambassadors of _Hannibal_, who came for the exchange of prisoners. With lofty resolve they ordered a levy of all who could bear arms, including boys and even slaves. They put into their hands weapons from the temples, spoils of former victories. They thanked _Varro_ that he had not despaired of the Republic. Some of the Italian allies went over to Hannibal. But all the Latin cities and all the Roman colonies remained loyal. The allies of Rome did not fall away as did the allies of Athens after the Syracusan disaster. It has been thought, that, if _Hannibal_ had followed up the victory at _Cannae_ by marching at once on the capital, the Roman power might have been overthrown. What might then have been the subsequent course of European history? Even the Roman school-boys, according to Juvenal, discussed the question whether he did not make a mistake in not attacking Rome. But it is quite doubtful whether he could have taken the city, or, even if he had taken it, whether his success would then have been complete. He took the wiser step of getting into his hands _Capua_, the second city in Italy. He may have hoped to seize a Campanian port, where he could disembark reinforcements "which his great victories had wrung from the opposition at home." _Hannibal_ judged it best to go into winter-quarters at _Capua_, where his army was in a measure enervated by pleasure and vice. _Carthage_ made an alliance with _Philip V_. of Macedonia, and with _Hiero_ of Syracuse. But fortune turned in favor of the Romans. At _Nola_, _Hannibal_ was repulsed by _Marcellus_ (215); and, since he could obtain no substantial help from home, he was obliged to act on the defensive. _Marcellus_ crossed into Sicily, and, after a siege of three years, captured _Syracuse_, which had been aided in its defense by the philosopher _Archimedes_. _Capua_, in 211, surrendered to the Romans, and was visited with a fearful chastisement. Hannibal's Italian allies forsook him, and his only reliance was on his brother in Spain. For a long time, the two brothers, _Publius_ and _Cnaeus Scipio_, maintained there the Roman cause successfully; but they were defeated and slain (212).

SCIPIO: ZAMA.--_Publius Cornelius Scipio_, son of one and nephew of the other Scipio just named, a young man twenty-five years old, and a popular favorite, took the command, and gained important successes; but he could not keep _Hasdrubal_ from going to his brother's assistance in Italy. The Romans, however, were able to prevent a junction of his force with that of _Hannibal_; and _Hasdrubal_ was vanquished and slain by them in the battle of _Sena Gallica_, near the little river _Metaurus_ (207). _Scipio_ expelled the Carthaginians from Spain, and, having returned to Rome, was made consul (205). His plan was to invade Africa. He landed on the coast, and was joined by _Masinissa_, the king of Numidia, who had been driven from his throne by _Syphax_, the ally of Carthage. The defeat of the Carthaginians, and the danger of Carthage itself, led to the recall of _Hannibal_, who was defeated, in 202, by _Scipio_ in the decisive battle of _Zama_. Carthage made peace, giving up all her Spanish possessions and islands in the Mediterranean, handing over the kingdom of _Syphax_ to _Masinissa_, and agreeing to pay a yearly tribute equal to two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, for fifty years, to destroy all their ships of war but ten, and to make no war without the consent of the Romans (201). _Scipio Africanus_, as he was termed, came back in triumph to Rome. The complete subjugation of _Upper Italy_ followed (200-191).