Chapter XII: Close of the Second Punic War (1)

THIRD PERIOD (210-207 B.C.)

[Sidenote: [210-209 B.C.]]

The last year’s campaign was full of heavy discouragement to the Romans. Syracuse had been taken; but Sicily remained in full revolt. Capua had fallen; but Tarentum, all except the citadel, was lost. The unmolested march of Hannibal to the walls of Rome showed that no part of Italy save the fortified towns and entrenched camps could be called their own, so long as the Carthaginian general could lead his wild and lawless mercenaries whithersoever he pleased. The loss of Spain had placed before them the dreadful possibility that their great enemy might soon be reinforced by numbers so large as to make him stronger than he had been since he crossed the Alps.

It is evident that mutterings of discontent were beginning to arise against Fabius and his friends. The bitter lesson of Cannæ had taught the Romans the necessity of caution, and proved that, to act with success against Hannibal, they must act on the defensive. But was this system to last forever? Were they never to meet Hannibal in the field? Thoughts like these, no doubt, suggested the experiment of electing a popular consul for the year 210 B.C. When the votes of the prerogative century were taken, it appeared that the men of their choice were old T. Manlius Torquatus, the conqueror of Sardinia, and that same T. Otacilius who had been ousted from his consulship five years before by his uncle Fabius. But Manlius immediately rose and declined the consulship; he was, he said, “old and nearly blind: a general should be able to use his own eyes. They must choose other and better men.” The century, after some hesitation, obeyed, and gave one of their votes for Marcellus, as no doubt Fabius and the senate wished, while they bestowed the other upon M. Valerius Lævinus, who had served the state well in Epirus.

Valerius probably owed his choice to the fact that he was not disposed to submit to Fabius and Fulvius. An opportunity soon arose for showing this. As he passed through Capua on his way to Rome, the Campanians, smarting under the rule of Fulvius, besought him to let them follow in his train, that they might lay their grievances before the senate; and when he arrived at Rome, he was greeted by a deputation of Sicilians, who had heard with alarm that the imperious Marcellus was about to return to their island with consular authority. The affairs of both peoples were brought before the senate. As to the Campanians, the fathers confirmed in all respects the stern edicts of Fulvius; and not unjustly, for of all cities Capua had been most generously treated by Rome: her rebellion had been prompted, not by love of liberty (for she was already free) but by lust for power. Capua, therefore, now became a prefecture. On the other hand, Marcellus at once gave up his Sicilian province to his colleague Lævinus, and agreed to take the command in Italy against Hannibal; and the senate, though they ratified the previous measures of Marcellus, now recommended the Sicilians to the special care of Lævinus. Upon this, the Sicilian envoys, fearing the future anger of Marcellus, fell at his feet and entreated him to take them as his clients. For many years the Marcelli, his descendants, are found as patrons and protectors of the island.

Before the consuls took the field, they were called upon to meet the financial difficulties under which the state was labouring. The force which had been maintained by Rome now for many years was very large, and the cost enormous. The number of legions kept on foot since the battle of Cannæ had averaged about twenty; so that the number of soldiers, legionaries and allies, amounted to nearly two hundred thousand men. While the expenditure was thus prodigiously increased, the revenues were greatly diminished; and it is a recorded fact that about this time corn had risen to many times its ordinary price. Although the imposts had been doubled early in the war, the state was obliged to contract loans in various ways. An extraordinary measure was now taken for manning the fleets. All citizens, except the poor, were required to furnish one or more seamen, with six months’ pay and their full accoutrements. Senators were called upon to equip eight, and the rest in proportion to their rated property. Such was the Roman “ship-money.”

The necessities of the present year (210 B.C.) were greater than ever. Every resource seemed to be exhausted. Among other means, the coinage had been gradually lowered in value. The as, which had originally been a pound weight of copper, had now been diminished to one-sixth of that weight; and all payments for the treasury were no doubt made in this depreciated coinage. The usual results of such measures had followed. A temporary relief was gained. But the prices of all articles were raised to meet the change, and public credit was shaken.

In these difficulties, the senate proposed again to levy ship-money. But the people were in no mood to bear it. They had been much impoverished in the last four years--continued increase of taxation had drained their resources; continued service in the army had prevented the proper cultivation of their lands; the marauding march of Hannibal in the year before had ruined many. The ferment caused by this new impost assumed a formidable appearance. The senate met to deliberate, and the consul Lævinus proposed that the great council should set an example of patriotic devotion. “Let us,” said he, “contribute all our treasure for the service of the state. Let us reserve--of gold, only our rings, the bullæ worn by our sons, and for the ornaments of our wives and daughters one ounce apiece: of silver, the trappings of our horses, the family salt-cellar, and a small vessel, for the service of the gods, of copper, five thousand pounds for the necessities of each family.” The proposal was carried by acclamation, and the noble example followed emulously by all the people. So eager was the throng which pressed to the treasury that the clerks were unable to make a full register of the names. This patriotic loan (for it was intended that it should be repaid hereafter) saved the state; and it was even more valuable in the spirit which it called forth, than for the actual relief which it afforded to the treasury.

The consuls now took the field. Marcellus arrived in Samnium only to hear that Cn. Fulvius Centumalus, the last year’s consul, had shared the fate of his namesake and predecessor, Cn. Fulvius Flaccus, and had been cut off with the greater part of his army. The relics of this force were sent to be added to the remains of the army of Cannæ, which the relentless senate still kept in banishment in Sicily. Marcellus cautiously advanced to Venusia, and so dogged Hannibal’s footsteps that he was unable to strike another blow. The town of Salapia in Apulia--where lived a lady whom Hannibal loved too well and who is said to have more than once detained him from the field--was betrayed to Marcellus, as Arpi had been to Fulvius, and was another example of the altered feeling of the Italians.

Lævinus, as has above been mentioned, was enabled by a stroke of good luck to finish the war in Sicily with ease and credit; and he returned to Rome accompanied by the redoubtable Mutin. Before he left Sicily he had sent over his fleet to examine the coasts of Africa. The officer despatched on this service learnt that the Carthaginian government were actively engaged in collecting troops to be placed under Hasdrubal’s command for a second invasion of Italy from the north; he immediately forwarded this intelligence to the consul at Rome. The senate in alarm ordered Lævinus to return instantly to his province without waiting to preside at the comitia. He was to name a dictator for that purpose, and the person submitted to him for nomination was old Q. Fulvius, the governor of Capua. Lævinus, however, refused to name his personal enemy, upon which the ruling party referred the matter to the people, who peremptorily ordered the consul to name Fulvius, and no one else. But Lævinus, to avoid this necessity, had already left Rome, and the fathers were obliged to send for Marcellus to execute their orders. When the old dictator held the comitia, the prerogative tribe gave its vote for Fulvius himself and Fabius. An objection was taken by two of the tribunes, that a presiding magistrate could not allow himself to be elected. But this, like many other ordinances was overruled at this critical season by the senate, and the election proceeded. The next year was to see Hannibal confronted with the three men reputed to be the ablest commanders in Rome--Fabius and Fulvius the consuls, and Marcellus as proconsul. It was hoped that by their united efforts the enemy might be crushed before the arrival of Hasdrubal and his Spaniards.

But the result was not equal to expectation. In the very outset of this year (209 B.C.) the levies were delayed by a circumstance which looked even more threatening than the financial difficulties of the previous year. The Latin colonies, now thirty in number, have been mentioned as the chief stays of Roman power in the subject districts of Italy. They had hitherto borne the toils and expenses of the war unrepiningly. What then was the alarm of the consuls and the senate, when twelve of the thirty openly declined to comply with the requisition to furnish their contingents for the armies of this year. The refusal was due in part no doubt to exhaustion and poverty; but it was partly caused by anger at the fact that most of the defeated soldiers of Centumalus lately banished to Sicily were citizens of their towns. The consuls endeavoured to reason with them, but in vain; and when the deputies of the other eighteen colonies, which comprised all the largest and most important places, declared their steadfast and unaltered allegiance, they determined to pass the matter over for the present, saying that they would not deign to ask assistance from those who would not give it willingly.

[Sidenote: [209-208 B.C.]]

To provide for the current expenses a large treasure of gold, which had been reserved for the emergency of another Gallic war, was now first invaded.

Fulvius resumed his station at Capua, Marcellus was to engage Hannibal’s attention in Apulia, while old Fabius made an attempt to recover Tarentum. Marcellus found his enemy at Canusium, and a series of indecisive actions followed, in which (although the Roman annalists claim the advantage for their hero) it is plain that he must have suffered greatly, for he remained inactive during the rest of the campaign. But fortunately for Fabius’ attempt upon Tarentum, Hannibal’s presence was required in Bruttium to defend his allies from a band of free mercenaries, who, formerly in the service of the Carthaginians in Sicily, had now been engaged by Lævinus, and sent to Rhegium to harass their old masters. The appearance of the great general was enough to scare these marauders into submission, but scarcely was this done, than he heard the news that Fabius had invested Tarentum. Instantly he put his army in motion, and marched day and night to relieve this important city. But he was too late. By treachery he had won the place, and by treachery he lost it. The officer in command at Tarentum was a Bruttian. This man had a mistress, sister to an Italian serving in the army of Fabius; she it was who persuaded him to open the gates to the consul, and Hannibal, while yet upon his march, heard this disastrous news. The old consul gave up the despised city of the Greeks to be plundered by his soldiers, reserving the public treasure for the service of the state. But when he was asked whether he would have the statues and works of art taken to Rome, after the example set by Marcellus at Syracuse, “No,” he said, “let the Tarentines keep their angry gods.” The capture of Tarentum was the greatest exploit of Fabius, and it was his last--an honourable close to an honourable career.

Besides the recovery of Tarentum, the Samnites and Lucanians, long wavering, again returned to their allegiance, and were restored by Fulvius to their position as allies, without any notice being taken of their revolt.

Notwithstanding this, men were dissatisfied with the result of the campaign. Three consular armies had not sufficed to defeat Hannibal; Marcellus, reputed their best general, had done nothing. But the party who murmured against Fabius and his friends were as yet feeble. Very lately Lævinus had been compelled to relinquish his opposition; and when Marcellus appeared to give a narrative of his services, all men’s hearts were turned, and not only was he forgiven freely, but was even elected consul for the ensuing year (208 B.C.). His colleague was T. Quinctius Crispinus, who had served under him in Sicily.

The defection of the Italians had no doubt weakened Hannibal, and the two consuls determined to throw themselves upon him with their conjoint force. They found him near Venusia, and every day they drew out their forces before his camp and offered him battle. But the odds were too great even for Hannibal, and he kept close within his entrenchments. It happened that between his camp and that of the consuls there was a hill, which Marcellus thought it desirable to occupy. Accordingly he rode up to the top, accompanied by his colleague and a small detachment of cavalry, unconscious that a large body of Numidian horse were lurking in the woods below. In a moment the consuls were surrounded. Marcellus was run through by the spear of one of these wild horsemen, and fell dead from his horse; Crispinus escaped mortally wounded to his camp. As soon as Hannibal heard of this great stroke of good luck he hastened to the scene of conflict, and saw with his own eyes his ablest antagonist lying dead before him. His conduct proved the true nobility of his nature. He showed no triumph; but simply drew the gold ring from the dead man’s finger, saying: “There lies a good soldier, but a bad general.” He then ordered the corpse to receive a soldier’s burial. Like his father Hamilcar, he warred not with the dead, but with the living.

Great was the consternation at Rome when intelligence of this untoward event arrived. The consul Crispinus lived just long enough to be carried in a litter to Capua, where he was on Roman ground, and could therefore execute the command of the senate to name a dictator. He named old Manlius Torquatus. But no attempt was made to molest Hannibal again this year. Torquatus only exercised his office in holding comitia for the election of new consuls. The occasion was a grave one. Never before, since the beginning of the republic, had she been bereft of both her consuls at one blow. But in order to understand the full importance of the choice now to be made, it must be mentioned that Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, had already set out upon his march from Spain, and in a short time might be expected to arrive in Italy.

[Sidenote: [211-208 B.C.]]

All notice of the Spanish War since the death of the two Scipios has purposely been deferred. Here it will be enough to say, that soon after that event, the senate, well understanding the importance of maintaining the war in Spain, had endeavoured to retrieve their losses in that quarter; and in 211 B.C. young P. Scipio, the hero of the latter part of the war, had accepted the dangerous command left vacant by his father and uncle. In the next chapter notice will be taken of his splendid successes during the three years which had passed. But these successes had not served to divert Hasdrubal from his purpose. This general had collected an army of tried soldiers, which he skilfully carried through the heart of Spain, and, crossing the Pyrenees near Bayonne, entered Gaul by the pass which is now threaded by the high-road from Paris to Madrid. By this dexterous movement he eluded the vigilance of the Romans, who knew not whither he was gone. But towards the close of the present year news came from the friendly people of Marseilles, to the effect that Hasdrubal had arrived in Aquitania, and intended wintering in Gaul, as the season was too far advanced for the safe passage of the Alps.

[Sidenote: [208-207 B.C.]]

Such were the grave circumstances under which Torquatus summoned the people to elect consuls for the year 207 B.C.

It might have been thought that the ablest patrician to be found was M. Valerius Lævinus, who was still in Sicily. Not only had he restored that province to order, but had laid in large stores of provisions for the Italian armies, and had assisted in other ways in lightening the expenses of the war. But the senate distrusted him: they had not forgotten the contumacious way in which he had quitted Rome, rather than name a dictator at their bidding. They therefore turned their eyes on C. Claudius Nero, a man of known energy, who had served now for many years under Fulvius and Marcellus. He had been sent to Spain at the first news of the disasters there, and remained in command till the appointment of young Scipio. All men agreed that Nero should be the patrician consul. But who was to be his plebeian colleague? Marcellus was dead, and Gracchus was dead; and Fulvius was nearly as old as Fabius.

At length it was resolved to choose M. Livius Salinator, a man who was also well stricken in years, for he had been consul with Æmilius Paulus in the year before Hannibal’s invasion, and had triumphed with him over the Illyrians. But he had been accused of unfair division of the spoil taken in that Illyrian War, and had been condemned to pay a fine by the vote of all the tribes save one. Indignant at an unjust sentence, he had withdrawn to his estate in the country, and had only lately reappeared in the senate at the command of the censors, but when there, he sat in moody silence, till at length he started up to speak in defence of his kinsman Livius, the commandant of Tarentum, who was accused of having lost that city. On this occasion Fabius’ conduct had not been conciliatory. For when it was urged in defence of the accused that he had mainly assisted in recovering the city, Fabius dryly remarked that he did not wish to condemn Livius: certainly he had assisted in recovering Tarentum, for if he had not lost it, it would not have been recovered at all. These recollections rankled in the heart of the old senator; and he refused the proffered consulship. Here, however, he yielded to the command, rather than the entreaty of the Fathers. But one difficulty remained. The cross-grained old man was at feud with his colleague Nero; and when friends tried to reconcile them, he replied that he saw no occasion for it: if they remained enemies, they would keep a keener watch for each other’s faults. At last he gave way, and before they took the field the consuls were in perfect agreement.

They hastened early in the year to their respective stations, Nero to take the command in southern Italy, against the feeble army of Hannibal; Livius to Ariminum on the frontier of Cisalpine Gaul, to await the arrival of Hasdrubal.

As soon as the season permitted, Hasdrubal advanced from his winter quarters to the passage of the Alps. He avoided the coast-road taken by his brother, and passed through the country of the Arvernians (who have left their name in French Auvergne), and thus came straight to the point where the Rhone and Isère meet, so as to take the same route over the mountains which had been pursued by his brother eleven years before. The time of year was favourable: in the period which had elapsed the Gauls had become better acquainted with the Carthaginians; and Hasdrubal achieved his passage into Italy with little loss or difficulty. He straightway marched through the plains of Cisalpine Gaul to the banks of the Po, where the Roman colony of Placentia, one of the eighteen lately found faithful, had before defied the arms of Hannibal. Hannibal had not wasted time in assailing this town; but Hasdrubal probably wished to oblige the Gauls, whom he expected to swell the numbers of his army. For hitherto they had not given Hannibal much assistance. In the eventful year of Cannæ they had cut off the consul-elect Postumius, and still drank mead out of his skull. But since then they had remained quiet; and Varro, with a single legion at Ariminum, had sufficed to watch them. And now they seem to have given Hasdrubal indifferent support, so that the time he spent at Placentia must have been nearly thrown away.

Before he left his lines at Placentia, he sent off six couriers, four Gauls and two Numidians, to inform his brother of his intended route. Hannibal, meantime, had been constantly on the move--marching from Bruttium into Lucania, from Lucania into Apulia, from Apulia again into Bruttium, and then once more back into Apulia. We cannot but admire the skill with which he eluded Nero, who pursued him with a double army of four legions. Yet it was one of these marches that accidentally proved the ruin of his cause. The couriers despatched by Hasdrubal from Placentia made their way into Apulia, but unfortunately arrived just when Hannibal was absent in Bruttium. They attempted to follow him, but missed their way, and fell into the hands of the prætor stationed on the Tarentine frontier. That officer immediately sent off the despatches found upon them to Nero at Canusium. An interpreter was procured, and the whole plan of the enemy’s campaign was revealed to the consul. Hasdrubal told his brother that he intended to advance along the Adriatic, by way of Ariminum, and proposed that they should join forces in Umbria, in order to march upon Rome. Nero’s determination was soon taken. Legally, he had no power to quit his district in southern Italy, but in this emergency he resolved to set all forms at defiance.

He picked out six thousand foot and one thousand horse, the flower of his army, and gave out that he would march at nightfall on a secret expedition into Lucania. As soon as it was dark, he set out; but the soldiers soon discovered that Lucania was not their destination. They were marching northwards towards Picenum, and they found that provisions and beasts of burden were ready for them all along the road, by the consul’s orders. As soon as he was well advanced upon his march, he addressed his men, and told them that in a few days they would join their countrymen under Livius in his camp at Sena Gallica in Umbria; that combined they would intercept Hasdrubal and his invading army; that victory was certain; that the chief share of the glory would be theirs. The men answered such an address as soldiers should; and everywhere, as they passed, the inhabitants came out to meet them, pressing upon them clothes, victuals, horses--all, and more than all, that they could want. In a week’s time they accomplished a distance of about 250 miles, and found themselves within a short distance of Sena. Nero halted till it was dark, that he might enter his colleague’s camp unperceived by Hasdrubal.

Nero had previously written to the senate, informing them of his march, and urging them to throw forward a strong force to defend the defile through which the Flaminian road passes at Narnia, in case the consuls should be beaten by Hasdrubal. Answers had reached him, fully approving his bold design, and promising all support. It was, therefore, with full confidence that he entered his colleague’s camp, and beheld the watch-fires of Hasdrubal at not more than half a mile’s distance in front. His men were warmly greeted by their comrades, and received within the camp of Livius, that Hasdrubal might not observe the increase of the army. After one day’s rest, Nero urged immediate action, lest his absence from Apulia might be discovered by Hannibal, or his presence in Umbria by Hasdrubal. Accordingly, the two legions of Livius, the two commanded by the prætor Porcius, together with Nero’s troops, drew out before Hasdrubal’s camp and offered battle. The experienced eye of the Carthaginian was struck by an apparent increase of numbers; and his suspicions were confirmed, when he heard the trumpet sound twice in the consuls’ lines. This convinced him that Nero had joined his colleague, and full of anxious fear as to the fate of his brother, he determined to retreat under cover of night; and when the next day broke, they found Hasdrubal’s camp deserted. Orders were given to pursue. The Romans came up with the Carthaginian army on the banks of the Metaurus, about twelve or fourteen miles north of their former position. The river was swollen by rains, so that the Carthaginians could not pass it except at certain places; and, their guides having deserted them, they could not find the fords. Hasdrubal, therefore, was obliged to give battle with the river in his rear.[b]

THE DEATH OF HASDRUBAL DESCRIBED BY POLYBIUS

[Sidenote: [207 B.C.]]

Hasdrubal was in all respects dissatisfied with the state in which things appeared. But as it was now too late to take other measures, because the Romans were already formed, and beginning to advance towards him, he was constrained to draw up the Spaniards, and the Gauls that were with him, in order of battle. He placed the elephants, which were ten in number, in front; increased the depth of his files; and ranged his whole army upon a very narrow ground. He then took his post in the centre of the line, behind the elephants; and moved to attack the left of the enemy; having before determined that in this battle he would either conquer or die.

Livius, leading on his troops with a slow and haughty pace, began the combat with great vigour. But Claudius [Nero] who commanded on the right, was unable to advance so as to surround the enemy; being utterly obstructed by those difficulties of the ground which have before been mentioned, and which had determined Hasdrubal to make his whole attack upon the left. Anxious therefore, and not willing to remain inactive, he had recourse to the measure which the occasion itself suggested to him. For having drawn away his troops from the right, he led them round the field of battle; and, passing beyond the left of the Roman army, attacked the Carthaginians in flank behind the elephants. To this moment the success of the battle had remained doubtful. For both the Carthaginians and the Romans, well knowing that they had no hopes of safety but in victory, maintained the fight with equal bravery. The service also, which the elephants performed, had been the same to both. For these beasts, being enclosed between the two armies, and wounded by the darts, spread no less disorder among the ranks of the Spaniards, than among those of the Romans.

But when Claudius [Nero] fell upon the enemy from behind, the engagement was no longer equal. The Spaniards, pressed at once both in front and rear, were almost all slaughtered in their ranks. Six of the elephants were killed, together with the men that conducted them; and four, which had forced their way through the disordered ranks, were afterwards taken, but without their leaders. Hasdrubal, who had so often distinguished himself upon former occasions, displayed no less courage in this last action, and fell in the battle.

The Romans, as soon as they had gained the victory, pillaged the camp of the enemy. Finding many of the Gauls drunk, and sleeping upon their straw, they slaughtered them as victims without resistance. The prisoners were then collected together; and from this part of the booty more than three hundred talents were brought into the public treasury. Not fewer than ten thousand Gauls and Carthaginians fell in the engagement; and about two thousand of the Romans. Some of the Carthaginians that were of eminent rank were taken alive; the rest were destroyed in the action.[c]

REJOICING AT ROME. NERO’S INHUMANITY AND TRIUMPH

At Rome, as may be well imagined, the news of Nero’s march had filled all hearts with hope and fear. And now, after some ten days of intense anxiety, vague rumours came that a battle had been fought and won. Still, men feared to believe what they wished; and the anxiety rose higher and higher, till the officer in command at Narnia sent home despatches to say that two horsemen had arrived at that place from the field of battle with certain news of a great victory. So eager were the people, that the prætor had great difficulty in preventing the despatches from being seized and torn open before they had been read in the senate. And when he brought them out from the senate house, and read them publicly from the rostra, a burst of exultation broke from every tongue; and men, women, and children thronged to the temples to bless the gods for their great deliverance. Thanks were decreed to the consuls and their armies; three days were appointed for a public thanksgiving to the gods. Never was public joy and gratitude more deserved. The battle of the Metaurus was the salvation of Italy; and Horace spoke with as much historic truth as poetic fervour when he said that “then, by the death of Hasdrubal, then fell all the hope and fortune of Carthage.”

The news was conveyed to Hannibal in a barbarous fashion. Nero had returned to his camp at Canusium as speedily as possible, and his lieutenants had kept the secret so well that Hannibal had remained ignorant of his absence; when one morning a grisly head was thrown into his camp, and Hannibal knew the features of his brother. Two prisoners sent in, and a large body paraded before the Roman camp, confirmed the dismal forebodings of the general, and he said with a heavy heart that “the doom of Carthage was spoken.” This treatment of his brother’s remains was an ill return for the generosity shown by Hannibal to the corpses of his opponents; and Nero, by this act, forfeited all claim to admiration, except such as must be bestowed on a skilful general and a resolute man.

Hannibal now retreated into Bruttium. The people of this wild country, still nearly as wild as it was then, clung to his fallen fortunes with unshaken fidelity. Here he maintained himself for four years longer, almost more admirable in adversity than in prosperity. Even now no Roman general was able to gain a victory over him; even now every veteran soldier remained faithful to his great leader. But he was driven into a corner, and stood like a lion at bay--still terrible, but without hope. The war in Italy may now be considered at an end.

The victory of the Metaurus was held to be an occasion for allowing a triumph to the victorious generals. No triumphal procession had passed down the Sacred Way and ascended to the Capitol since Æmilius Paulus and Livius Salinator had led up the captive Illyrians in the year before Hannibal’s invasion. All former successes in the war had been but the recoveries of losses, all except the capture of Syracuse; and Marcellus was refused a full triumph then, because he left the Sicilian War unfinished. But now there was no drawback. The two consuls met at Præneste, and advanced with the army of Livius and the captives in long procession to the temple of Bellona, in the Campus Martius. Here they were received by the senate and people in festal array. Livius appeared in the triumphal car drawn by four white horses, attended by his army; Nero rode on horseback beside him unattended: for the battle had been fought in Livius’ district. Yet all men turned their eyes on the patrician consul, and the acclamations of the crowd showed to whom belonged the true honours of the triumph.

Notwithstanding these honours, Nero (strange to say) was never again employed during the war; and it was not till the Neros became heirs of the empire of Augustus that poets sang of the debt which Rome owed to that name. A star was appearing in the west which soon eclipsed the brightness of Nero’s fame. The remaining period of the war will be little more than a history of the deeds of Scipio.

THE FOURTH AND LAST PERIOD OF THE WAR

[Sidenote: [210-207 B.C.]]

The history of the war in Spain has been left almost unnoticed, since the death of the two Scipios in 212 or 211 B.C. It is now time to return to that country; for the issue of the war between Rome and Hannibal was in reality determined on Spanish soil.

After the disasters of that campaign, the senate determined to despatch reinforcements without delay; and the officer appointed to take the temporary command was C. Claudius Nero, the future hero of the Metaurus. But the senate resolved to take the unusual course of calling upon the people to elect a proconsul for Spain at the great comitia. The policy of continuing the Spanish War was manifest; but the risk of failure was so great, that the senate thought fit to throw the responsibility upon the people. But when the day came that candidates for the proconsulate should present themselves in the Campus Martius, no candidate appeared. Men looked at one another in blank dismay. It seemed that none of the soldiers of the republic dared to undertake so great and hazardous an enterprise; when, to the surprise and admiration of all, P. Cornelius Scipio, son and nephew of the slain proconsuls, arose and offered himself to the suffrages of the people. He was barely twenty-six years of age; but his name and character were well known, and though he had hitherto held no office higher than that of ædile, he was elected by acclamation.

THE CHARACTER OF SCIPIO

Scipio presents in almost all respects a striking contrast to the men who had hitherto conducted the affairs of Rome in the Second Punic War. They were far advanced in years, cautious and distrustful; he was in the prime of youth, enterprising and self-confident. They had been trained in the severity of the old Roman discipline; he is said to have been dissolute in early years, and was still thought to affect too much the easy laxity of Grecian manners. They were strictly obedient to the letter of the law; he was accustomed from his very youth to put himself above the laws and customs of Rome. They always acted as the faithful ministers of the senate; he very soon showed that the senate must be content to follow his policy, rather than guide it. They, however, gentle to their countrymen, were to foreigners harsh, arrogant, and cruel; he treated foreigners with a humanity and courteousness that made his name better loved in Spain than in Italy. Yet in some respects he was a true Roman. Notwithstanding the excesses charged upon his youth, he had long learned to control his passions absolutely, and to submit every desire to his own views of duty. Notwithstanding the grace and affability of his manner, he preserved a loftiness of deportment which kept men at a certain distance from him. Few shared his intimacy; but where he gave his confidence, as to his friend C. Lælius, that confidence was complete and unreserved.

One point in his character calls for particular attention--the religiousness of his life. Never, from his first appearance in public, had he been known to undertake any enterprise without first resorting to the great temple on the Capitol, and remaining there for hours absorbed in devotion. The religion of Scipio might not be consistent; yet, on the whole, it would be unjust to doubt that he acted in reliance on the support of higher powers. In this lies the secret of his character. That self-confidence, which prompted him to shrink from no responsibility, led him also to neglect the laws, when they seemed to oppose what he thought necessary. Every incident in his youth shows this confidence. Not to insist on the doubtful story of his saving his father’s life, when he was yet a boy, we have seen him a tribune of the legions at the age of twenty, assisting to rally the broken remains of the army of Cannæ, and barring the secession of the young nobles after that disastrous day. Three years after, we find him offering himself as candidate for the curule ædileship; and, when it was objected that he was yet too young for the office, promptly answering, “If the people vote for me, that will make me old enough.” And now, after the death of his father and uncle in Spain, we see him modestly waiting till it was clear that no experienced commander would claim the dangerous honour of succeeding them, and then bravely offering himself to the acceptance of the people.

SCIPIO IN SPAIN

[Sidenote: [210-209 B.C.]]

Scipio arrived in Spain late in the summer of 210, or perhaps not till the spring of 209 B.C. He landed at Emporiæ, with his friend Lælius and his elder brother Lucius, who accompanied him as legates. He found that the three generals commanding the Carthaginians in Spain--Hasdrubal and Mago, brothers of Hannibal, and Hasdrubal, son of Gisco--were at discord one with another. Their forces lay scattered over a wide extent of country from Gades to Celtiberia; and there seems to have been no disposition to act on the offensive against the Romans. Scipio, taking advantage of these circumstances, determined to strike a blow which would confirm the enthusiastic feelings of the Roman people towards him, and would mark that a general had arisen who would not rest content with the timid discretion of the Fabian policy. By a bold stroke it might be possible to surprise New Carthage itself. His purpose was revealed to none save Lælius, who sailed in command of the fleet, while Scipio himself led his army across the Ebro, and arrived in an incredibly short time under the walls of the city.

New Carthage lay on a hilly peninsula jutting out into a fine bay, which forms the harbour. On the land side its walls were covered by a marsh or lagoon, which was overflowed by the sea, so that the place was only approachable by a narrow neck of land between the lagoon and the harbour. On this neck of land Scipio took up his position, entrenching himself in rear, but leaving the front of his camp open towards the city. No time was to be lost; and next morning he gave orders to assault the walls. He addressed his soldiers and assured them of success; Neptune, he said, had appeared to him in a dream, and promised to fight with the Romans. The men advanced gallantly to the escalade, confident in their young general. But the walls were high and strong; the garrison made a stout defence; and before noon Scipio called off his soldiers. But he did not give up his enterprise. In the afternoon, he was informed, the water in the lagoon would be very low, in consequence of a fall in the tide assisted by a strong wind. He therefore picked out five hundred men, who were ordered to take a number of scaling-ladders and dash through the water so as to mount the walls unobserved, while the main body of the army made a feigned attack by the neck of land. Thus Neptune would fulfil his promise.

The device succeeded completely. The garrison had retired to their noonday’s sleep, and while they were hurrying to repel the feigned attack, the five hundred got into the town unopposed, and rushing to the main entrance threw open the gates. Scipio, with a chosen detachment, pushed on to the citadel, into which the garrison had fled; and the commandant surrendered at discretion. All pillaging and slaughter were now stopped; and at the close of the day the young general found himself master of this important city, with a very large treasure and an immense supply of stores.

(From a statue)]

The Carthaginian rule was no longer beloved in Spain, and Scipio turned this disposition to his own advantage with admirable dexterity. He set free all the hostages retained by the Carthaginians, as well as all of Spanish blood who had been taken prisoners in the city. Among these hostages was the wife of Mandonius, brother of Indibilis, a powerful chief who had formerly been the friend of Carthage, and the daughters of Indibilis himself. He sent them home with as much care as if they had been his own kinswomen, although Indibilis and Mandonius had been actively engaged against his unfortunate father and uncle. Then the soldiers brought him a beautiful girl, whom they had reserved as a special gift for their youthful commander. But Scipio observing her tears, inquired into her condition; and finding she was the betrothed of Allucius, a young Celtiberian chief, he sent for the youth, and restored his bride unharmed, without ransom or condition. This generous conduct was not without its reward. The Spaniards, quick in feeling and romantic in disposition, regarded the young conqueror as a hero sent to deliver them from the yoke of Carthage. His noble bearing, his personal beauty, confirmed the favourable impressions caused by his conduct to the hostages; and when he advanced next year into Celtiberia, he was welcomed by Indibilis and Mandonius at the head of their vassals. Soon after, a deputation of Spaniards came to him with entreaties to become their king. But Scipio courteously declined the offer, informing them that he was but the general of the Roman people, in whose ears the name of king was a by-word and a reproach.

[Sidenote: [209-206 B.C.]]

The Carthaginian generals were quite unable to make head against the well-earned popularity of the youthful Roman. Hasdrubal Barca attempted to retake New Carthage by surprise, but in vain; and the year 208 B.C. found him too busily engaged in preparing for his Italian expedition to act with energy against the Romans. All Spain north of the Bætis (Guadalquivir) was relinquished; but at length Hasdrubal found himself obliged to give battle at a place called Bæcula, near that river. The Romans won the day; but the Carthaginian commander made a skilful retreat, leaving his camp and baggage in the hands of the enemy. Hasdrubal now drew back into Lusitania, leaving his brother Mago and Hasdrubal, son of Gisco, to cover the borders of that district, which with the province now called Andalusia were the only parts of Spain left to the Carthaginians. Meanwhile he himself crossed the Tagus, and marching northwards (as we have seen) by ways unknown to the Romans, crossed the Pyrenees near the shores of the Bay of Biscay. Scipio was informed of his intentions to pass into Italy, and had expected him to follow the course of his brother Hannibal. But in the beginning of 207 B.C., while he was lying upon the Ebro, he heard that his able opponent had eluded him, and was already in the heart of Gaul.

In that year the Carthaginians made great efforts to retrieve their falling fortunes. Fresh forces were sent from Africa, and young Masinissa, son of Gala, a powerful Numidian chief, also took the field with a large body of his formidable horsemen. Scipio himself did not appear in the south till late in the season, when he found that his brother Lucius, with his legate Silanus, had kept the Carthaginians in check. But the news of the Metaurus had reached him, and he burned with eagerness to eclipse the glory of Nero.

Late in this year, therefore, or early in 206, Scipio with his whole force prepared to pass the Bætis and bring the enemy to action. The Carthaginians, confident in their numbers, were equally ready, and their united forces boldly faced the enemy. The place of the battle is unknown; its name is variously given as Silpia or Elinga. But the result is certain. Scipio’s victory was complete; the whole Carthaginian army was broken and destroyed; its scattered remains took refuge behind the walls of Gades, with Hasdrubal Gisco and Mago; while the wily Masinissa entered into secret negotiations with the Romans. The senate, therefore, at the commencement of the year 206, had to congratulate the people not only on seeing Italy almost delivered from the army of Hannibal, but also on the important fact that all Spain, except the town of Gades, was in the hands of the Roman armies.

But Scipio regarded Spain as a mere stepping-stone to Africa. Here, and here only, he felt convinced, could the war be concluded. Already Valerius Lævinus had made descents upon the African coast, and found the country nearly as defenceless as in the days of Agathocles and of Regulus. Scipio determined not to return to Rome till he had laid the train for an invasion of Africa; and then, with the confidence that marked his whole career, he would offer himself for the consulship, and force the senate to allow him his own way.

At that time the country to the west of the Carthaginian territory, from Bona to Oran, was known by the name of Numidia; and the Numidians themselves were divided into two great tribes, the eastern Numidians or Masæsylians, and the western or Massylians. Of the Masæsylians, Syphax was king; his capital being Cirta, now well known under the name of Constantine as the chief fortress of Algeria. Gala, father of Masinissa, was ruler of the Massylians; and Scipio had already entered into negotiations with Masinissa. But Masinissa had not yet any power of his own; while the position of Syphax on the Carthaginian frontier necessarily made him the most dangerous enemy of Carthage. It was therefore of the greatest importance to secure the friendship of this powerful but unstable chieftain. Scipio resolved, with a boldness almost romantic, to pay a visit to the Numidian capital; and, to show his confidence in Syphax, he sailed from New Carthage to Africa with two ships only. It happened that Hasdrubal Gisco, who had before this left Spain in despair, appeared at the court of Syphax at the self-same time, with the self-same purposes. Both the rivals were entertained by the Numidian; but the winning manners and personal grace of Scipio prevailed for the present, and Syphax formed an alliance with the Romans.

When Scipio returned to Spain, he found that his short absence had produced a serious change. Three important cities in the vale of the Bætis, Illiturgi, Castulo, and Astapa, had closed their gates and declared their independence. Without delay, he laid siege to Illiturgi. The town was taken after an obstinate defence, and given up to massacre and pillage. This dreadful fate of their countrymen produced immediate, but opposite, effects on Castulo and Astapa. The men of Castulo, stricken with fear, surrendered at discretion. The men of Astapa collected all their property into a huge funeral pile in the market-place, and placed their wives and daughters under a guard, who had orders to slay them and fire the pile as soon as the gates should be forced. The rest of the citizens fell fighting bravely, and the Romans were left masters of a heap of ashes.

Another circumstance showed that the Roman power in Spain rested on a precarious tenure. Scipio fell ill at New Carthage, and a report was spread that he was dead. Upon this, Indibilis and Mandonius, believed to be his most faithful friends, raised the standard of revolt and advanced into Celtiberia. A division of Italian troops, eight thousand strong, stationed upon the Sucro, broke into open mutiny, driving away their Roman officers, and choosing two Italians as their chiefs. The prompt and decisive way in which Scipio quelled this dangerous mutiny recalls the conduct of Clive in Bengal on a similar occasion. He sent messengers to the mutineers, desiring them to come to New Carthage and state their grievances; and as they approached the town, he ordered the division of the army in that place to prepare for marching against the revolted Spaniards. The Italians, therefore, met the army leaving New Carthage as they entered it, and fondly deemed that the general would now be completely at their mercy. But when they appeared next morning before Scipio, they found that thirty-five persons, the ringleaders of the mutiny, had been arrested during the night; and the clash of arms in the streets leading to the Forum apprised them that the army had returned from its pretended march. Scipio reproved the mutineers with much severity. He ordered the ringleaders for execution, and pardoned the rest on their taking the oath of allegiance anew. Indibilis and Mandonius hastened to make full submission. But no sooner had Scipio left Spain, than these discontented chiefs again took arms. Indibilis fell in battle; Mandonius was taken prisoner and put to death.

It was now apparent that the Carthaginians had no longer any hope of recovering their ground in Spain. Hasdrubal Gisco had returned to Africa. Masinissa obtained an interview with Scipio, and renewed his promises of friendship. Mago, the last remaining brother of Hannibal, after a vain attempt to surprise New Carthage, returned to Gades, and found that the inhabitants shut their gates against him. He enticed the chief magistrates, called suffets (as at Carthage), into a negotiation, and seizing their persons, crucified them in sight of the town. This brutal and treacherous act forfeited his last claim on the sympathies of the people of Gades. They surrendered to the Romans, while Mago sailed off to the Balearic Isles, and occupied himself in preparing a descent upon the coast of Italy, as a last chance of relieving his illustrious brother.

The soil of the Spanish peninsula was now completely cleared of the Carthaginians, and Scipio prepared to return to Rome. Three years before, he had left his country amid the hopes and expectations of all men. He now returned, having more than fulfilled those hopes and expectations. His friend Lælius had been sent home to announce his first great success; his brother Lucius had lately arrived to prepare the senate and people for the speedy arrival of the hero; and no one doubted that at the approaching elections Scipio would be raised to the consulship by the unanimous voice of the people.

SCIPIO RETURNS TO ROME

[Sidenote: [206-204 B.C.]]

It was towards the close of the year 206 B.C. that he returned. The senate met him at the temple of Bellona; but refused him a triumph on the ground that he had not held any regular magistracy during his absence. He therefore entered the city, and offered himself candidate for the consulship. Every tribe united in giving him their suffrages, though he was not yet thirty years old. But the common rules of election had been neglected throughout the war, and no difficulty seems to have been raised on the score of age. His colleague was P. Licinius Crassus, who was pontifex maximus, and therefore unable to leave Italy. Whatever foreign enterprise was undertaken must fall to the lot of Scipio. He himself was at no pains to conceal his intention of carrying the war into Africa; and it was generally understood that, if the senate refused leave, he would bring a special bill for the purpose before the people. Fabius, with Fulvius and the old senatorial party, vehemently opposed these bold projects. But the time was gone by when they could use the votes of the people against an enterprising consul, as they had done some years before against Lævinus. The senate was fain to compromise the matter by naming Sicily as his province, with permission to cross over into Africa if he deemed it expedient. They refused him, however, the additional levies and supplies which he required. But the Etruscans and other Italians enthusiastically volunteered to give all he wanted. Yet he was unable during the year of his consulate to make any attempt on Africa, and was continued in his command as proconsul.