The Historians' History of the World 05

Scipio’s great antagonist lived a good many years after the battle of Zama, finally dying in exile, as we shall see. But his career as the foremost man of his time practically terminated with his defeat at Zama, and we may fitly pause for a moment here to attempt an estimate of his character and influence. One of the most recent historians of the Punic Wars, Dr. Fuchs, thus characterises the greatest of Carthaginians:

Hannibal doubtless stands in the first rank of warrior heroes. Many indeed would, and not without justice, give him the first place. Certainly Alexander conquered the enormous kingdom which overspread the whole of Asia Major and once stretched its arm over Europe and Africa; but the feet of this colossus were of clay and it was long known to the world that its power was not in proportion to its size. Seventy years before, a prince of the reigning house conceived the valiant idea of attacking it with ten thousand Greek heavy-armed soldiers, and Agesilaus had the bold design of piercing the heart of the giant with eight thousand men. Alexander’s father not only bequeathed him the means of carrying out this great plan, but left him a powerful peasant class, a nobility ready for service, well-ordered finances, and the majesty of the royal name.

Cæsar and Napoleon also excited the admiration of their times. The former traversed three parts of the world with his victorious legions, and the latter shook to the foundation the whole of Europe and her constitutions. Less fortunate than the royal heir, Agesilaus, they were not only the leaders but the creators of their armies. But the supremacy of the might environing the Roman government, and the power of the French consulate and imperialism were due to their being founded on law. Thus having full and free scope, it cheerfully sacrificed the prevalent enthusiasm for young liberty, and enthusiasm never weighs what it gives. The strength of the enemy in the first case was weak in that it was founded on a decadent system, the unity of leadership had been destroyed by the arrogance of the high-born Romans who reaped but did not sow; and in the latter case, the art of war was divorced from nature and made as pedantic as the whole trend of the time.

It was not so easy for Hannibal. He also had an inheritance—the inheritance of a resemblance to his great father, which gained him the commander’s staff. Hannibal had made too great an impression upon the minds of the Carthaginian mercenaries for them to withhold the leadership from the son on the threshold of manhood, who bore the features of his father. But flattering as this choice was to the father, it was fraught with danger to the son. It certainly put him at the head of the army, but it did not endow him with the authority which hedges a royal heir or one empowered by government to hold a high position in the state; he was placed in the difficult situation of either compensating for this drawback by his own personality or gradually becoming the tool of a licentious soldiery.

This danger was increased by the character of the troops which chose him, whose will was undirected by the moral force of patriotism, and uninspired with the desire for freedom; they were brought together only by a common desire for loot. But Hannibal succeeded by his own force of character in giving a moral turn to this mass, in disciplining them, and imbuing them with the spirit of military honour. He not only dared to impose the greatest fatigue upon the troops, but always remained their master; and even in the supreme effort of crossing the Alps not a sound of complaint or cowardice is recorded in history—and such a difficult march is an infallible test of military discipline. Hannibal, therefore, proved himself to be an incomparable leader of men and performed a task which neither Alexander, Cæsar, nor Napoleon could have accomplished. He surpasses them in this deed, high as they may stand in the estimation of history.[56]

And Hannibal was not favoured by fate in death. Alexander was right in envying the heroes of antiquity because they had in Homer a recorder of their greatness. For every heroic deed lies dead and is belittled and made of no account if there be no clever pen inspired by enthusiasm to raise it to its fitting place of greatness. Alexander has found grateful pens which have acquainted the astonished world with his deeds; Cæsar himself gave to posterity an account of his campaigns with incomparable clearness and remarkable simplicity; and our own military era calls Napoleon the professor of the field of war. But Hannibal’s portrait has been given only by his enemies. However, try as they may to call wisdom cunning, and strong measures, necessitated by war, cruelty, they cannot cast down this colossal figure, deface as they may the regularity of its features. Clouds may envelop the contour of a great mountain, but its summit shows its height.d

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