 HANNIBAL
AT SAGUNTUM.The name of Hannibal's father was
Hamilcar. He was one of the leading Carthaginian generals. He occupied a
very prominent position, both on account of his rank, and wealth, and
high family connections at Carthage, and also on account of the great
military energy which he displayed 1n the command of the armies abroad.
He carried on the wars which the Carthaginians waged in Africa and in
Spain after the conclusion of the war with the Romans, and he longed to
commence hostilities with the Romans again.
At one time, when Hannibal was about nine years of age, Hamilcar was
preparing to set off on an expedition into Spain, and, as was usual in
those days, he was celebrating the occasion with games, and spectacles,
and various religious ceremonies. It has been the custom in all ages of
the world, when nations go to war with each other, for each side to take
measures for propitiating the favor of Heaven. Christian nations at the
present day do it by prayers offered in each country for the success of
their own arms. Heathen nations do it by sacrifices, libations, and
offerings. Hamilcar had made arrangements for such sacrifices, and the
priests were offering them in the presence of the whole assembled army.
Young Hannibal, then about nine years of age, was present. He was a
boy of great spirit and energy, and he entered with much enthusiasm into
the scene. He wanted to go to Spain himself with the army, and he came
to his father and began to urge his request. His father could not
consent to this. He was too young to endure the privations and fatigues
of such an enterprise. However, his father brought him to one of the
altars, in the presence of the other officers of the army, and made him
lay his hand upon the consecrated victim, and swear that, as soon as he
was old enough, and had it in his power, he would make war upon the
Romans. This was done, no doubt, in part to amuse young Hannibal's mind,
and to relieve his disappointment in not being able to go to war at that
time, by promising him a great and mighty enemy to fight at some future
day. Hannibal remembered it, and longed for the time to come when he
could go to war against the Ronaans.
Hamilcar bade his son farewell and embarked for Spain. He was at
liberty to extend his conquests there in all directions west of the
River lberus,, a river which the reader will find upon the map, flowing
southeast into the Mediterranean Sea. It name, Iberus, has been
gradually changed, in modern times, to Ebro. By the treaty with the
Romans the Carthaginians were not to cross the lberus. They were also
bound by the treaty not to molest the people of Saguntum, a city lying
between the lberus and the Carthaginian dominions. Saguntum was in
alliance with the Romans and under their protection.
Hamilcar was, however, very restless and uneasy at being obliged thus
to refrain from hostilities with the Roman power. He began, immediately
after his arrival in Spain, to form plans for renewing the war. He had
under him, as his principal lieutenant, a young man who had married his
daughter. His name was Hasdrubal. With Hasdrubal's aid, he went on
extending his conquests in Spain, and strengthening his position there,
and gradually maturing his plans for renewing war with the Romans, when
at length he died. Hasdrubal succeeded him. Hannibal was now, probably,
about twenty-one or two years old, and still in Carthage. Hasdrubal sent
to the Carthaginian government a request that Hannibal might receive an
appointment in the army, and be sent out to join him in Spain.
On the subject of complying with this request there was a great debate
in the Carthaginian senate. In all cases where questions of government
are controlled by votes, it has been found, in every age, that parties
will always be formed, of which the two most prominent will usually be
nearly balanced one against the other. Thus, at this time, though the
Hamilcar family were in power, there was a very strong party In Carthage
in opposition to them. The leader of this party in the senate, whose
name was Hanno, made a very earnest speech against sending Hannibal. He
was too young, he said, to be of any service. He would only learn the
vices and follies of the camp, and thus become corrupted and ruined. "
Besides," said Hanno, "at this rate, the command of our armies in Spain
is getting to be a sort of hereditary right. Hamilcar was not a king,
that his authority should thus descend first to his son-in-law and then
to his son; for this plan of making Hannibal," he said, "while yet
scarcely arrived at manhood, a high officer in the army, is only a
stepping-stone to the putting of the forces wholly under his orders,
whenever, for any reason, Hasdrubal shall cease to command them."
The Roman historian, through whose narrative we get our only account
of this debate, says that, though these were good reasons, yet strength
prevailed, as usual, over wisdom, in the decision of the question. They
voted to send Hannibal, and he set out to cross the sea to Spain with a
heart full of enthusiasm and joy.
A great deal of curiosity and interest was felt throughout the army to
see him on his arrival. The soldiers had been devotedly attached to his
father, and they were all ready to transfer this attachment at once to
the son, if he should prove worthy of it. It was very evident, soon
after he reached the camp that he was going to prove himself thus
worthy. He entered at once into the duties of his position with a degree
of energy, patience, and self-denial which attracted universal
attention, and made him a universal favorite. He dressed plainly; he
assumed no airs; he sought for no pleasures or indulgences, nor demanded
any exemption from the dangers and privations which the common soldiers
had to endure. lie ate plain food, and slept, often in his military
cloak, on the ground, in the midst of the soldiers on guard; and in
battle he was always foremost to press forward into the contest, and the
last to leave the ground when the tune came for repose. The Romans .say
that, in addition to these qualities, he was inhuman and merciless when
in open warfare with his foes, and cunning and treacherous in every
other mode of dealing with them. It is very probable that he was so.
Such traits of character were considered by soldiers in those days, as
they are now, virtues in themselves, though vices in their enemies.
However this may be, Hannibal became a great and universal favorite
in the army. He went on for several years increasing his military
knowledge, and widening and extending his influence, when at length, one
day, Hasdrubal was suddenly killed by a ferocious native of the country
whom he had by some means offended. As soon as the first shock of this
occurrence was over, the leaders of the army went in pursuit of
Hannibal, whom they brought in triumph to the tent of Hasdrubal, and
instated him at once in the supreme command, with one consent and in the
midst of universal acclamations. As soon as news of this event reached
Carthage, the government there confirmed the act of the army, and
Hannibal thus found himself suddenly but securely invested with a very
high military command.
His eager and restless desire to try his strength with the Romans
received a new impulse by his finding that the power was now in his
hands. Still the two countries were at peace. They were bound by solemn
treaties to continue so. The River lberus was the boundary which
separated the dominions of the two nations from each other in Spain, the
territory east of that boundary being under the Roman power, and that on
the west under that of the Carthaginians; except that Saguntum, which
was on the western side, was an ally of the Romans, and the
Carthaginians were bound by the treaty to leave it independent and free.
Hannibal could not, therefore, cross the lberus or attack Saguntum
without an open infraction of the treaty. He, however, immediately began
to move toward Saguntum and to attack the nations in the immediate
vicinity of it. If he wished to get into a war with the Romans, this was
the proper way to promote it; for, by advancing thus into the immediate
vicinity of the capital of their allies, there was great probability
that disputes would arise which would sooner or later end in war.
The Romans say that Hannibal was cunning and treacherous, and he
certainly did display, on some occasions, a great degree of adroitness
in his stratagems. In one instance in these preliminary wars he gained a
victory over an immensely superior force in a very remarkable manner. He
was returning from an inroad upon some of the northern provinces, laden
and encumbered with spoil, when he learned that an immense army,
consisting it was said, of a hundred thousand men, were coming down upon
his rear. 'There was a river at a short distance before him. Hannibal
pressed on and crossed the river by a ford, the water being, perhaps,
about three feet deep. He secreted a large body of cavalry near the bank
of the stream, and pushed on with the main body of the army to some
little distance from the river, so as to produce the impression upon his
pursuers that he was pressing forward to make his escape.
The enemy, thinking that they had no time to lose, poured down in great
numbers into the stream from various points along the banks; and, as
soon as they had reached the middle of the current, and were wading
laboriously, half submerged, with their weapons held above their heads,
so as to present as little resistance as possible to the water, the
horsemen of Hannibal rushed in to meet and attack them. The horsemen
had, of course, greatly the advantage; for, though their horses were in
the water, they were themselves raised above it, and their limbs were
free, while their enemies were half submerged, and, being encumbered by
their arms and by one another, were nearly helpless. They were
immediately thrown into complete confusion, and were overwhelmed and
carried down by the current in great numbers. Some of them succeeded in
landing below, on Hannibal's side; but, in the mean time, the main body
of his army had returned, and was ready to receive them, and they were
trampled under foot by the elephants, which it was the custom to employ,
in those days, as a military force. As soon as the river was cleared,
Hannibal marched his own army across it, and attacked what remained of
the enemy on their own side. He gained a complete victory, which was so
great and decisive that he secured by it possession of the whole country
west of the lberus, except Saguntum, and Saguntum itself began to be
seriously alarmed.
The Saguntines sent ambassadors to Rome to ask the Romans to
interpose and protect them from the dangers which threatened them. These
embassadors made diligent efforts to reach Rome as soon as possible, but
they were too late. On some pretext or other, Hannibal contrived to
raise a dispute between the city and one of the neighboring tribes, and
then, taking sides with the tribe, he advanced to attack the city. The
Saguntines prepared for their defense, hoping soon to receive succors
from Rome. They strengthened and fortified their walls, while Hannibal
began to move forward great military engines for battering them down.
Hannibal knew very well that by his hostilities against this city he was
commencing a contest with Rome itself, as Rome must necessarily take
part with her ally. In fact, there is no doubt that his design was to
bring on a general war between the two great nations. He began with
Saguntum for two reasons: first, it would not be safe for him to cross e
the lberus, and advance into the Roman territory, leaving so wealthy and
powerful a city in his rear; and then, in the second place, it was
easier for him to find pretexts for getting indirectly into a quarrel
with Saguntum, and throwing the odium of a declaration of war on Rome,
than to persuade the Carthaginian state to renounce the peace and
themselves commence hostilities. There was, as has been already stated,
a very strong party at Carthage opposed to Hannibal, who would, of
course, resist any measures tending to a war with Rome, for they would
consider such a war as opening a vast field for gratifying Hannibal's
ambition. The only way, therefore, was to provoke a war by aggressions
on the Roman allies, to be justified by the best pretexts he could find.
Saguntum was a very wealthy and powerful city. It was situated about a
mile from the sea. The attack upon the place, and the defense of it by
the inhabitants, went on for some time with great vigor.
In these operations, Hannibal exposed himself to great danger. He
approached, at one time, so near the wall, in superintending the
arrangements of his soldiers and the planting of his engines, that a
heavy javelin, thrown from the parapet, struck him on the thigh. It
pierced the flesh, and inflicted so severe a wound that he fell
immediately, and was borne away by the soldiers. It was several days
before he was free from the danger incurred by the loss of blood and the
fever which follows such a wound. During all this time his army were in
a great state of excitement and anxiety, and suspended their active
opera, dons. As soon, however, as Hannibal was found to be decidedly
convalescent, they resumed them again, and urged them onward with
greater ,energy than before.
The weapons of warfare in those ancient days were entirely different
from those which are now employed, and there was one, described by an
ancient historian as used by the Saguntines at this siege, which might
almost come under the modern denomination of firearms. It was called the
falarica. It was a sort of javelin, consisting of a shaft of wood, with
a long point of iron. This point was said to be three feet long. This
javelin was to be thrown at the enemy either from the hand of the
soldier or by an engine. The leading peculiarity of it was, however,
that, near to the pointed end, there were wound around the wooden shaft
long bands of tow, which were saturated with pitch and other
combustibles, and this inflammable band was set on fire just before the
javelin was thrown. As the missile flew on its way, the wind fanned the
flames, and made them burn so fiercely, that when the javelin struck the
shield of the soldier opposing it, it could not be pulled out, and the
shield itself had to be thrown down and abandoned.
While the inhabitants of Saguntum were vainly endeavoring to defend
themselves against their terrible enemy by these and similar means,
their ambassadors, not knowing that the city had been attacked, had
reached Rome, and had laid before the Roman senate their fears that the
city would be attacked, unless they adopted vigorous and immediate
measures to prevent it. The Romans resolved to send ambassadors to
Hannibal to demand of him what his intentions were, and to warn him
against any acts of hostility against Saguntum. When these Roman
ambassadors arrived on the coast, near to Saguntum, they found that
hostilities had commenced, and that the city was hotly besieged. They
were at a loss to know what to do.
It is better for a rebel not to hear an order which he is determined
beforehand not to obey. Hannibal, with an adroitness which the
Carthaginians called sagacity, and the Romans treachery and cunning,
determined not to see these messengers. He sent word to them, at the
shore, that they must not attempt to come to his camp, for the country
was in such a disturbed condition that it would not be safe for them to
land; and besides, he could not receive or attend to them, for he was
too much pressed with the urgency of his military works to have any time
to spare for debates and negotiations.
Hannibal knew that the ambassadors, being thus repulsed, and having
found, too, that the war had broken out, and that Saguntum was actually
beset and besieged by Hannibal's armies, would proceed immediately to
Carthage to demand satisfaction there. ale knew, also, that Hanno and
his party would very probably espouse the cause of the Romans, and
endeavor to arrest his designs. He accordingly sent his 'own ambassadors
to Carthage, to exert an influence In his favor in the Carthaginian
senate, and endeavor to urge them to reject the claims of the Romans,
and allow the war between Rome and Carthage to break out again.
The Roman ambassadors appeared at Carthage, and were admitted to an
audience before the senate. They stated their case, representing that
Hannibal had made war upon Saguntum in violation of the treaty, and had
refused even to receive the communication which had been sent him by the
Roman senate through them. They demanded that the Carthaginlan
government should disavow his acts, and deliver him up to them, in order
that he might receive the
punishment which his violation of the treaty, and his aggressions upon
an ally of the Romans, so justly deserved. The party of Hannibal in the
Carthaginian senate were, of course, earnest to have these proposals
reflected with scorn. The other side, with Hanno at tie head, maintained
that they were reasonable defends. Hanno, in a very energetic and
powerful speech, told the senate that he had warned them not to send
Hannibal into Spain. He had foreseen that such a hot and turbulent
spirit as his would involve them in inextricable difficulties with the
Roman power. Hannibal had, he said, plainly violated the treaty. He had
invested and besieged Saguntum, which they were solemnly bound not to
molest, and they had nothing to expect in return but that the Roman
legions would soon be investing and besieging their own city. In the
mean time, the Romans, he added, had been moderate and forbearing. They
had brought nothing to the charge of the Carthaginians. They accused
nobody but Hannibal, who, thus far, alone was guilty. The Carthaginians,
by disavowing his acts, could save themselves from the responsibility of
them. He urged, therefore, that an embassage of apology should be sent
to Rome, that Hannibal should be deposed and delivered up to the Romans,
and that ample restitution should be made to the Saguntines for the
injuries they had received.
On the other hand, the friends of Hannibal urged in the Carthaginian
senate their defense of the general. They reviewed the history of the
transactions in which the war had originated, and showed, or attempted
to show, that the Saguntines themselves commenced hostilities, and that
consequently they, and not Hannibal, were responsible for all that
followed; that, under those circumstances, the Romans Ought not to take
their part, and if they did so, it proved that they preferred the
friendship of Sagunturn to that of Carthage; and that it would be
cowardly and dishonorable in the extreme for them to eliver the general
whom they had placed in power, and who had shown himself so worthy of
their choice by his courage and energy, into the hands of their ancient
and implacable foes.
Thus Hannibal was waging at the same time two Wars, one in the
Carthaginian senate, where the weapons were arguments and eloquence, and
the other under the walls of Saguntum, which was fought with battering
rams and fiery javelins. He conquered in both. The senate decided to
send the Roman ambassadors home without acceding to their demands, and
the walls of Saguntum were battered down by Hannibal's engines. The
inhabitants refused all terms of compromise, and resisted to the last,
so that, when the- victorious soldiery broke over the prostrate walls,
and poured into the city, it was given up to them to plunder, and they
killed and destroyed all that came (n their way. The disappointed
ambassadors returned 14, Rome with the news that Saguntum had been taken
and destroyed by Hannibal, and that the Carthaginians, far from offering
any satisfaction for the wrong, assumed the responsibility of it
themselves, and were preparing for war.
Thus Hannibal accomplished his purpose of opening the way for waging
war against the Roman power. He prepared to enter into the contest with
the utmost energy and zeal. The conflict that ensued lasted seventeen
years, and is known in history as the second Punic war. It was one of
the most dreadful struggles between rival and hostile nations which the
gloomy history of mankind exhibits to view. |
