Chapter II: A Gigantic Scheme

“I have various news,” said Hannibal; “and, first of all, I must inform ye that I have letters from Carthage. The receipt of the enormous booty which I sent thither hath moved all the popular party in my favour. The death of Adherbal and Ariston by crucifixion at New Carthage, after their infamous attempt at treachery to the real welfare of their country and upon my daughter’s honour, hath thrown all their adherents into dismay. They have not, therefore, been listened to at all in the Senate; and recently, when Quintus Fabius Maximus, the head of the Roman envoys, asked for my head--which, in spite of the vain boastings of Adherbal, is still safe and sound upon my shoulders--it was wisely denied him. Further, the said Fabius appears to have boastfully held up his toga saying, ‘The head of Hannibal and peace, or else keep ye your Hannibal and take war. I hold the fate of Carthage for peace or war in the folds of this toga.’ The Hundred were, it seems, frightened at his threats, but calmly replied, ‘Give us what ye will.’ ‘War be it, then!’ declared the said Fabius, and he hath departed now with all his suite for Rome.”

“Then we are in for war with the Romans,” remarked Maharbal gleefully. “By the gods, I am right glad; so now I know the meaning of thy recent words, Hannibal.”

“And I, too, am glad,” quoth General Hanno.

“I, likewise,” said Monomachus, “am overjoyed, most noble Hannibal, that the time for revenge hath come. May it be a long war and a bloody one! I am longing to plunge my arms up to the armpits in Roman blood. I suppose we may now soon have to expect their legions over here in Iberia? Well, we have, at any rate, the fleet and command of the sea, thus it will be more of a sea war than a land war, I reckon. But we shall have plenty of fighting here on land also.”

“My generals,” quoth Hannibal, “I am glad to see in ye this spirit, which, indeed, I expected upon learning these most momentous tidings. But learn this, that so far as all of us here at present assembled are concerned, the war with the Romans will be neither a sea war nor a war to be waged in Spain. It will be a war in Italy itself, for I intend to attack the proud Romans in their own country, without waiting to give them an opportunity of looking us up here. And know this, further, I have for long secretly been making preparations for the invasion of Italia.”

A silence fell upon those assembled. At length spake Hanno:

“Italia! the war to be in Italia! Then thou wilt, indeed, attack Rome on Roman soil--a most momentous determination. And where wilt thou disembark thy forces, most noble Hannibal? In one of the northern Etruscan ports? or wilt thou rather land somewhat further to the north, in the country of the Cis-Alpine Gauls. Thus couldst thou form thy base of operations in a country hostile to Rome; for all the Gauls have been terribly punished by the Romans in this recent war, and they would readily become thine allies.”

“Thou hast a most strategical mind, Hanno,” replied the Commander; “but learn this, that for the very reason that thou hast suggested, namely, the hope of an alliance with the Gauls, I shall not go by sea at all, but by land. I shall, therefore, cross the Ebro, march through the country Hasdrubal is now subduing, then cross the Pyrenees, and marching along the coast all through Gallia, pass the river Rhodanus. Thence I shall make the transit of the Alps, and descend into the peninsula of Italia from its north-western corner. This will bring us right into the middle of the country of all the Cis-Alpine Gauls, with whose various nations I have, unknown to Rome, been concluding alliances for the past nine months or more.”

“An attack by land on Rome, marching from Saguntum in Spain! A mighty undertaking, indeed, oh Hannibal!” here interrupted Monomachus; “and one that, shouldst thou carry it out successfully, will make the world ring with thy fame for years, ay, for centuries to come. But hast thou thought it well out, and how serious an undertaking it is from the engineering difficulties? My department of the army will have to be largely strengthened in men and material. For, think it out! thousands of miles will have to be marched; two large mountain ranges, or including the Apennines, three, will have to be crossed; and how many rivers, I should like to know? including that mighty and rapid river, the Rhone, which thou hast mentioned. The Gauls, in that part of Gallia round its mouth at Massilia, have ever been the allies of Rome, and they will offer determined opposition, be assured of that, to our passage.”

“Ay, Monomachus, thine observations are all just, and I have thought of these things and thou wilt have thine hands full indeed, but there is a more serious question still that I would solve, and that is the question of food for the army. Canst thou help me to solve that, for I fear that provisions will be but scarce?”

“That is a simple matter enough,” replied the blood-thirsty warrior. “We can feed the army on the Gauls themselves, whose country we shall have to pass through. They will soon get accustomed to human flesh after a little training. I would indeed suggest that they commence to be taught at once. Thou mightest send word to Hasdrubal to send us in a large batch of prisoners for the purpose. Or stay,” he added reflectively, “there are a quantity of female slaves in camp for whom there can be no possible use if we are going to embark upon such a prolonged campaign. I would suggest that a commencement be made on them; they will be tenderer eating than Iberian mountaineers, and less repulsive to the stomach to begin upon.”

Hannibal and the other warriors stared aghast at this suggestion.

Chœras made a wry face and felt sick, for he knew well that the butcher Monomachus was quite capable of killing and eating anything or anybody. General Hanno took the suggestion seriously.

“I have never yet eaten human flesh,” he said, “but the Admiral of my own name, the Hanno who before the first Roman war made a voyage half round Western Africa, reported on his return that he met in his travels many nations who did so, killing and eating the prisoners they made in war. And these man-eaters were fierce and courageous people, too. It might therefore be tried in case of necessity, and even have a salutary effect upon the courage of the troops; but I see no use in practising upon our female slaves, or on the Iberian prisoners beforehand. But what thinkest thou thyself, Hannibal?”

Although Hannibal always did exactly what he intended to do himself, he nevertheless frequently paid his friends and generals the compliment of appearing to listen to their advice. He therefore answered:

“There is something in it, certainly; it is really not a bad idea at all. But I am rather of thy opinion, Hanno, that there is no occasion to start yet, while we are still in a land where sheep and oxen are plentiful.”

“My lord Hannibal,” said Sosilus, who had, during these remarks, been casting up some figures on a paper, “I have certain important facts to put before thee.”

“Speak out, oh Sosilus!” said his chief; “what hast thou to say?”

“I have this to say, that, according to the custom of war in all countries, I have been reckoning up the forces. Now, although my habit of reading everything that is ever written may be thought foolish, and, moreover, my habit of remembering and quoting the same may be thought more unnecessary still, the scoffers who laugh at me,” and he glared at Chœras, “are themselves those who should be considered asses. Now recently I came, after the slaughter at Saguntum, upon the body of one of the Roman officers who was being rifled by one of the mercenaries. I saw the man withdraw from the breast of this officer a roll of papers, which he contemptuously cast aside. I picked it up, and studied it with a view to embodiment in my treatise upon ‘Rome in her Relations to the Barbarians, Political, Social, and Military,’ of anything of importance that I could find therein. And this have I found therein, most noble Hannibal--that if thou wouldst attack Rome, the number of the forces of Rome and her various allies in Italia at the present moment amount to the astonishing and alarming number of no less than 700,000 infantry and about 70,000 cavalry. This was, of course, only the number reckoned available during the recent war against the Gauls in Cis-Alpine Gallia. But I can give it to thee, chapter and verse, an thou wilt. Actual Romans, say about forty-four thousand; Etruscans, fifty-four thousand; Sabines, also fifty-four thousand; Apulians, Picenians, Campanians, and Umbrians, in equal proportions, and so on. It is, however, scarcely necessary to give in detail all the allies. The total, during the recent Roman war with the Gauls, of men capable of bearing arms, was enumerated as I have stated. I have again, on the other hand, worked out here the number of forces which thou hast at thy command now in Iberia. Reckoning the enormous addition to the power of Carthage caused by the favourable result of the recent mission of our worthy young friend here Maharbal, I find that thou hast, at the very outside, available only about one hundred thousand men against the Roman seven hundred and seventy thousand. This seemeth to me a somewhat undue preponderance on the other side, especially when it hath to be considered that thou must leave a sufficient garrison to hold the whole of Spain, and likewise must despatch many troops over into Libya ere thou canst thyself take the field. My lord Hannibal, I am fully aware of the fact that the only advantage that I can be to thee, shouldst thou select me to accompany thee upon this war, will be that I may become thy historian; but still I would point out to thee that, according to Homer, to quote parallel cases, the inhabitants of Argos, before they set out for the siege of Troy, reckoned that--”

“Yes, yes, never mind Troy,” remarked Hannibal, dreading the parallel cases; “thine own information is very important and most opportune just now. I must have it all out chapter and verse later. Our troops are certainly very insufficient for the purpose as far as numbers go; but look at our training and the constant warfare in which we have been engaged. That is where we shall reap the advantage, even as did my father Hamilcar at Mounts Ercte and Eryx. But I intend to go. I intend to leave, perhaps for ever, this fair country of Iberia, where, if I would, I might be supreme king; this country where I have fought and loved--loved and fought ever since I was a mere boy--and I intend to humble the power of the accursed Romans or perish in the attempt. And I have thought out the way, and I shall do it. Ay, by the gods I shall do it! I will slay the Romans in their thousands, and upon their own soil too; I will avenge all the insults and the treachery they have put upon Carthage; and thou, Sosilus, shalt live to see it and chronicle it also, an thou wilt. At all events, thou shalt accompany me, for thy memory is so retentive, that when mine own fails thou shalt supply the deficiency.”

There was a slight pause here in the conversation, for the enormous disparity in numbers between the Roman and the Carthaginian forces likely to be opposed to one another gave rise, and naturally so, to much thought among those who were likely to be principal actors in the unequal war. Presently Silenus spoke. He was by birth a Macedonian Greek, a little dark man, young, and very wiry-looking, and well knit, with singularly sweet, engaging features.

“Hannibal,” he said, “of course since I have written all thy letters, I have known all about these alliances that thou hast been concluding with the Gauls, most of which, in my opinion, are of but doubtful value. But of other things, for instance, thine own private motives for undertaking this war in such a very remarkable way I know nothing. However, since thou hast assembled us all here in an informal manner around the wine bowl, and disclosed certain of thy plans, would it seem indiscreet of me were I to ask thee openly a question?”

“Ask anything thou choosest, and I will answer or not, as I see fit.”

“Well, then, I will before all enter into the question of General Hanno’s remarks--or was it Monomachus? I forget which--about invading Italia by sea, which, since we have the fleet, would naturally seem the easiest way. Well, Hannibal, wherefore, by all the gods of all the known world! shouldst thou, having got the fleet, enter upon this war, or rather this invasion of Italia, in such a hazardous manner by land, thus cutting thyself off as thou wilt do from all thy communications? Why not, instead of invading Italia--by doing which thou wilt be at a disadvantage--let the Romans come here, as they will, and attack us. Here thou knowest the ground and the people. Here by the recent alliance concluded through Maharbal and his affianced wife Melania, thou hast gained important allies--trustworthy, no doubt, while thou art here to watch them. Why then not stay here, where thou art supreme, and let the Romans come, and then destroy them in detail, instead of thrusting thyself, as thou must, with a comparatively small force into the midst of a terrible hornet’s nest against fearful odds? I would, in sooth, like to know thy reason, for although I offer no counsel, well-knowing thou takest counsel from no man, it may be instructive to all of us here present to know hereafter what are the reasons which impel thee to undertake this most wonderful--this most gigantic enterprise.”