In his march to the Iberus, he experienced no in terruption. Thence to the Pyrenees he was obliged to force his way; and apprehending some inconvenience from the leaving an hostile people in his rear, lie sta tioned his brother Hanno, with ten thousand foot and one thousand horse, to observe their motions, and secure the passes of the mountains. During the passage of the Pyrenees, a considerable body of the Spanish allies de serted. Lest this example should prove contagious, he gave out that they had fallen back by his express order, and that he meant to spare a few more troops of the same nation. By these separations, his numbers were reduced from 90,000 to 50,000 foot ; he had likewise 9000 horse and 37 elephants. (Livy, book xxi. 23. Polyb. lib. iii. p. 189, 190.) After entering Gaul, his march was for some time hin dered by the jealousy of the natives; but upon his con vincing them he had no object in view besides a mere passage through their territories, he was suffered to pro ceed without molestation. The river Rhone presented the first serious obstacle. the Gauls, who inhabited the country contiguous to it, seemed resolved to oppose his passage, he contrived to disperse their forces by a stratagem; but a new difficulty occurred, he had no means of wafting the elephants over this broad and rapid current. The difficulty was at last obviated, by the con struction of a sort of flying bridge, by means of which they were all transported in perfect safety. (Livy, Polyb. ut supra.) Hannibal crossed the Rhone at Lauriol in Dauphiny."' Hence he marched up the left bank of the river, towards the midland parts of Gaul ; not because this was the di rect road to the Alps, but because he thought the fur ther he advanced from the sea the less likely he was to meet the Romans. Nor was he mistaken ; for at the very time he reached the banks of the Rhone, Scipio (the father of Africanus) landed at the mouth of it, and a rencontre actually took place between sonic detach ments of cavalry from the two armies. Brancus, a prince of the Allobroges, having offered to become his guide, he advanced towards the Alps, following the course of the Rhone. Turning to the right,t he passed through the country of the Tricastini ; from the grand angle of the Rhone at Lyons, to the deep indent which it forms at St Genis. Here he entered Savoy, ranging along the limits of the Vocontian dominions, from this indent to the Sier. hence he passed through the country of the Tricorii to Geneva, without impediment, crossing the Arve (Druentia) in his march. From Geneva he pro ceeded to Martigny. Here the hills have an opening to the south 80 paces in width, which, in the days of Han nibal, formed the only channel of communication between Gaul and Italy. The Seduni had occupied this pass ; but Hannibal, in the night, seized the heights which commanded it, and obtained possession of their chief city, now St Branchiere. Here the Sdassi net him in a friendly manner, and offered to conduct him to Italy by a better road than that lie was pursuing. Under their guidance, he turned to the right into the Val de Bagnes, where, in passing a defile, the Salassi fell upon him un awares. The steadiness of his troops saved him from this imminent danger. His infantry got possession of a white rock, (that on which the village of Lultier now stands,) from whence they resisted all the assaults of the enemy. Bewildered by this treachery, lie wandered through the Alps for some days, and at last reached the regular road only seven miles from the point at which he had quitted it. It is uncertain by what pass he at last actually reached Italy. Livy does not give any positive opinion. Many circumstances conspire to prove, that it must have been by the Mons Peninus,t (Great St Bernard.) Hence lie descended to St Remy, having excited the ardour of his troops, by pointing out to them the rich vales of Italy, and the site of Howe itself. At this point the road, which was bt fore steep, had, by a recent subsidence of the earth, been rendered precipi tous. The chasm extended across the road to the dis tance of a thousand feet.' It was an even wall of stone, sttt.h that even a man on foot could not descend it without difficulty. Iltionibal endeavoured to find a path by which he might avoid this ravine, but his horses, elephants, and baggage, sunk in the snow, and he found it impossi ble to proceed. They rested on the hare ground for the nigot. The next morning., the Carthaginians employed themselves in felling a number of large trees, and raised a vast pile of fuel on the crags. The trees being of a resinous nature soon flamed, and the rocks appeared glowing beneath them; they then applied vinegar to soften them, and finally opened a path through the burn ing rocks with their pick axes. This account has been derided by many historians as an incredible fiction, yet, if stripped of the marvellous circumstances which have been added to it by sonic writers, it contains nothing improbable, nothing which could not have been effected by the ingenuity and indefatigable labour of such a leader, and such an army.t The events of this war are so involved with the affairs of Rome, or rather they form so completely an integral part of the Roman history, that we must refer the reader Ibr its details to that article. The domestic history of Carthage during this eventful period, though it offers but few circumstances worthy of observation, conveys a most important lesson.
In all governments which are in any degree popular, theme must be two parties in the state. Those who con duct public affairs, must expect to have their measures scrutinized and thwarted by all who are desirous either of diminishing their influence, or succeeding to the pos session of their power. In Carthage, a party such as this (which in modern times we have taught ourselves to call"the opposition") was regularly orgnized, and its exertions were systematic and incessant. The avowed
leader of tnis party was that Ilanno, whose incapacity and misconduct we have more than once had occasion to notice. His constant object was to undermine and de stroy the influence which Hannibal, by his talents, suc cess, and family connections, possessed in the state. So violent v% as his animosity against the 13areine patty, that he appears to have disregarded all the real interests of his country, so long as he could cripple their exertions, and mar the execution of their designs. The peculiar fault of the Carthaginian constitution as we have noticed in the outset) was, that in all cases which produced a difference of opinion, and, on this account, would de serve graver and more mature deliberation, it lost its representative character, and an appeal was directly made to the blindness and party zeal, the narrow con ceptions, and infuriated prejudices of the populace.
I lanno did not Id”e sight of the power wind h this singu lar anomaly in the constitution afforded him. Ht. availed himself of it on every occasion, and it enabled him to work the destruction of his political opim( ; but his country fell with him. The power of Carthagt was an nihilated on the plains of Zama ; arid short remain der of its his•ory contains nothing but a det•.il of insol•m aggressions on the part of its victoi ious rim al. These were met by the Carthaginians on their side by the most unworthy concessions : They gave up their general, they submitted to endure the most unwariantable inierposi sition of their affairs ; in short, they drank the cup of humiliation to its very dregs, in the hope of protracting their existence. But the hope was vain; the haughty spit it of the Roman people could not endure, that a (Iv, which had for it long time resisted the progress of their arms, and even made them tremble in the Capitol, should continue to exist ; and the military skill of Scipio /KIM Humus was called upon to effect that destruction, which the savage ambition of the elder Cato had resolved upon. The conduct of the Roman people towards the Cartha ginians, (as will be shewn when we come to treat of their history,) was stained with cruelty, perjury, and injustice. It was necessary, for the aggrandisement of their city, that Carthage should be destroyed, and they eared little what means were used to accomplish its de struction. This event took place in the year of Rome 608, about 146 years before the commencement of the Christian xra.
Such was the fate of Carthage. Its decay and final destruction ought to be attributed to the intrigues and misconduct of its factious citizens, rather than to the actual power of its rival, however formidable it might appear. The treasure carried off by fEntilianus, even after the city had been delivered up to the soldiers to be plundc red, was immense. The destruction was com plete ; and the senate issued a decree, enjoining, that it should never again be inhabited, and denouncing the most dreadful imprecations against those who should attempt to rebuild any part of it I however, all persons who desired, were admitted to see Carthage ; nothing affording to JEmilianus greater pleasure, than to make as it were a triumphal show of the ruins of his country's rival. • Thus," says Paterculus, " does hatred survive the very fear which gave it birth ; a rival ceases not to be an object of detestation till it has ceased to exist." Notwithstanding the denunciations of the senate against all who should attempt to rebuild Carthage, they were induced in a very short period themselves to sanction the undertaking. Twenty-four years after the victor) of ..F.milianus, (B. C. 142.) the sedition of Tiberius Gracchus began to be formidable to the patricians, since he was supported by the great body of the people. in his endeavours to pass an Agrarian law. Gracchus finding himself unable to accomplish his purpose, was probably not unwilling to accept the offer made him by the se nate, of becoming the leader of 6000 citizens to the site of Carthage, for the purpose of its restoration. (Appian in fin. lib. Punic.) Gracchus was terrified by prodigies from proceeding in his purpose. It seems probable, however, that a few buildings began to spring up among the ruins ; and we have reason to conclude, that, from this time for many centuries, they increased in number, beauty, and convenience. Compared with its former glory, the city was long considered as in ruins. When Marius took refuge there, outcast and deserted, he is said to have dwelt in a hovel amidst the ruins of Car thage ; and Sulpicius, addressing Cicero, speaks of it as razed to the foundation. (Veil. Pater. lib. ii. c. 19. Ser. Sul. ad Cic. lib. iv. p. 5.) Julius Caesar, too, when in Egypt, in consequence of a dream, in which he beheld a numerous army weeping, determined to rebuild Co rinth aad Carthage. His death prevented the execution of his purpose. Augustus, finding a record of his in tention among his papers, piously fulfilled it, and sent 3000 Romans thither, who were joined by the inhabi tants of the neighbouring country. These established a colony adjacent to the ancient city, but not upon the very spot, lest they should be obnoxious to the curse invoked by the senate. (?/2. ubi sup.) Such at least is the ac count of Appian : yet Strabo speaks of Carthage as the second city in the Roman empire for wealth and power, and lie wrote in the reign of Tiberius. This time is scarcely sufficient for so great an advance to be made towards its former magnificence. Perhaps we shall form a just notion of the fact, if we conceive, that Appian has lessened, and Strabo has exaggerated, its importance. Pliny mentions it as a very considerable colony.; and it was soon after the commencement of the Christian xra regarded as the metropolis of Africa.