adopted a new method of warfare, which has ever since been famous as
the "Fabian policy." This was the policy of avoiding battle and seeking
to wear the enemy out, while harassing him at every opportunity. Fabius
kept to the hills, followed and annoyed his great antagonist, yet
steadily avoided being drawn into battle.
For more than a year this continued, during all which time Fabius grew
more and more unpopular at Rome. The waiting policy was not that which
the Romans had hitherto employed, and they became more impatient as days
and months passed without an effort to drive this eating ulcer from
their plains. In time the discontent grew too strong to be ignored. A
_man of business_, who was said to have begun life as a butcher's son,
Varro by name, became the favorite leader of the populace, and was in
time raised to the consulship. He enlisted a powerful army, ninety
thousand strong, and marched away to the field of Cannae, where Hannibal
was encamped, with the purpose of driving this Carthaginian wasp from
the Italian fields.
It was a dwarf contending with a giant. The vainglorious Varro gave
Hannibal the opportunity for which he had long waited. The Roman army
met with such a crushing defeat that its equal is scarcely known in
history. Baffled, beaten, and surrounded by Hannibal's army, the Romans
were cut down in thousands, no quarter being asked or given, till when
the sun set scarce three thousand men were left alive and unhurt of
Varro's hopeful host. Of Hannibal's army less than six thousand had
fallen. Of the Roman forces more than eighty thousand paid the penalty
of their leader's incompetence.
Hannibal did not advance to Rome, which seemed to lie helpless before
him. He doubtless had good reasons for not attempting to capture it.
Maharbal, his cavalry general, said, "Let me advance with the horse, and
do you follow; in four days from this time you shall sup in the
Capitol." Hannibal, on the contrary, sent terms of peace to Rome. These
the Romans, unconquerable in spirit despite their disaster, refused. He
then marched to southern Italy and established his head-quarters in the
rich city of Capua, which opened its gates to him, and which he promised
to make the capital of all Italy.
Hannibal won no more great victories in Italy, though he was victor in
many small conflicts. The Romans had paid dearly for their impatience.
Fabius was again called to the head of the army, and his old policy was
restored. And thus years went on, Hannibal's army gradually decreasing
and receiving few reinforcements from home, while Rome in time regained
Capua and other cities.
At length, in the year 208 B.C., Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, who
commanded the Carthaginian armies in Spain, resolved to go to his
brother's aid. He crossed the Alps, as Hannibal had done, following the
same pass, and making use of the bridges, rock cuttings, and mountain
roads which his brother had made eleven years before.
Had this movement been successful, it might have been the ruin of Rome.
But the despatches of Hasdrubal were intercepted by the Romans.
Perceiving their great danger, they raised an army in haste, marched
against the invader, and met him before he could effect a junction with
his brother. The Carthaginians were defeated with great slaughter.
Hasdrubal fell on the field, and his head was cruelly sent to Hannibal,
who, as he looked with bitter anguish on the gruesome spectacle, sadly
remarked, "I recognize in this the doom of Carthage."
Yet for four years more Hannibal remained in the mountains of Southern
Italy, holding his own against Rome, though he had lost all hopes of
conquering that city. But Rome had now a new general, with a new policy.
This was the famous Scipio, and the policy was to carry the war into
Carthage. Fabius had done his work, and new measures came with new men.
Scipio led an army into Spain, which he conquered from Carthage. Then he
invaded Africa, and Hannibal was recalled home, after his long and
victorious career in Italy.
Hannibal had never yet suffered a defeat. He was now to experience a
crushing one. With a new army, largely made up of raw levies, he met the
veteran troops of Scipio on the plains of Zama. Hannibal displayed here
his usual ability, but fortune was against him, his army was routed, the
veterans he had brought from Italy were cut down where they stood, and
he escaped with difficulty from the field on which twenty thousand of
his men had fallen. It was an earlier Waterloo.
His flight was necessary, if Carthage was to be preserved. He was the
only man capable of saving that great city from ruin. Terms of peace
were offered by Scipio, severe ones, but Hannibal accepted them,
knowing that nothing else could be done. Then he devoted himself to the
restoration of his country's power, and for seven years worked
diligently to this end.
His efforts were successful. Carthage again became prosperous. Rome
trembled for fear of her old foe. Commissioners were sent to Carthage to
demand the surrender of Hannibal, on the plea that he was secretly
fomenting a new war. His reforms had made enemies in Carthage, his
liberty was in danger, and nothing remained for him but to flee.
Escaping secretly from the city, the fugitive made his way to Tyre, the
mother-city of Carthage, where he was received as one who had shed
untold glory on the Phoenician name. Thence he proceeded to Antioch,
the capital of Antiochus, king of Syria, and one of the successors of
Alexander the Great.
During the period over which we have so rapidly passed the empire of
Rome had been steadily extending. In addition to her conquests in Spain
and Africa, Macedonia, the home-realm of Alexander the Great, had been
successfully invaded, and the first great step taken by Rome towards the
conquest of the East.
The loss of Macedonia stirred up Antiochus, who resolved on war with
Rome, and marched with his army towards Europe. Hannibal, who had failed
to find him at Antioch, overtook him at Ephesus, and found him glad
enough to secure the services of a warrior of such world-wide fame.
Antiochus, unfortunately, was the reverse of a great warrior, and by no
means the man to cope with Rome. Hannibal saw at a glance that his army
was not fit to fight with a Roman force, and strongly advised him to
equip a fleet and invade Southern Italy, saying that he himself would
take the command. But nothing was to be done with Antiochus. He was
filled with conceit of his own greatness, was ignorant of the power of
Rome, and was jealous of the glory which Hannibal might attain. His
guest then advised that an alliance should be made with Philip, king of
Macedonia. This, too, was neglected, and the Romans hastened to ally
themselves with Philip. Antiochus, puffed up with pride, pointed to his
great army, and asked Hannibal if he did not think that these were
enough for the Romans.
"Yes," he replied, sarcastically, "enough for the Romans, however greedy
they may be."
[Illustration: THE BATHS OF CARACALLA.]
It proved as he feared. The Romans triumphed. Hannibal was employed only
in a subordinate naval command, in which field of warfare he had no
experience. Peace was made, and Antiochus agreed to deliver him up to
Rome. The greatest of Rome's enemies was again forced to fly for his
life.
Hannibal now took refuge with Prusias, king of Bithynia. Here he
remained for five years. But even here the implacable enmity of Rome
followed him. Envoys were sent to the court of Prusias to demand his
surrender. Prusias, who was a king on a small scale, could not, or would
not, defend his guest, and promised to deliver him into the hands of his
unrelenting foes.
Only one course remained. Death was tenfold preferable to figuring in a
Roman triumph. Finding the avenues to his house secured by the king's
guards, the great Carthaginian took poison, which he is said to have
long carried with him in a ring, in readiness for such an emergency. He
died at Libyssa, on the eastern shore of the sea of Marmora, in his
sixty-fourth year, as closely as we know. In the same year, 183 B.C.,
died his great and successful antagonist, Scipio Africanus.
Thus perished, in exile, one of the greatest warriors of any age, who,
almost without aid from home, supported himself for fifteen years in
Italy against all the power of Rome and the greatest generals she could
supply. Had Carthage shown the military spirit of Rome, Hannibal might
have stopped effectually the conquering career of that warlike city.
_ARCHIMEDES AT THE SIEGE OF SYRACUSE._
The city of Syracuse, the capital of Sicily, rose to prominence in
ancient history through its three famous sieges. The first of these was
that long siege which ruined Athens and left Syracuse uncaptured. The
second was the siege by Timoleon, who took the city almost without a
blow. The third was the siege by the Romans, in which the genius of one
man, the celebrated mathematician and engineer Archimedes, long set at
naught all the efforts of the besieging army and fleet.
This remarkable defence took place during the wars with Hannibal. Such
was the warlike energy of the Romans, that, while their city itself was
threatened by this great general, they sent armies abroad, one into
Spain and another into Sicily. The latter, under a consul named Appius,
besieged Syracuse by sea and land. Hoping to take the city by sudden
assault, before it could be properly got ready for defence, Appius
pushed forward his land force, fully provided with blinds and ladders,
against the walls. At the same time a fleet of sixty quinqueremes under
the consul Marcellus advanced to the assault from the side of the
harbor. Among these vessels were eight which had been joined together
two and two, and which carried machines called sackbuts. These consisted
of immensely long ladders, projecting far beyond the bows, and so
arranged that they could be raised by ropes and pulleys, and the end let
fall upon the top of the wall. Four men, well protected by wooden
blinds, occupied the top of each ladder, ready to attack the defenders
of the walls while their comrades hastened up the ladder to their aid.
There was only one thing on which the consuls had not counted, and that
was that Syracuse possessed the greatest artificer of ancient times.
They had to fight not Syracuse alone but Syracuse and Archimedes; and
they found the latter their most formidable foe. In short, the skill of
this one man did more to baffle the Romans than the strength and courage
of all the garrison.
The historian Polybius has so well told the story of this famous
defence, that we cannot do better than quote from his work. He remarks,
after describing at length the Roman preparations,--
"In this manner, then, when all things were ready, the Romans designed
to attack the towers. But Archimedes had prepared machines that were
fitted to every distance. While the vessels were yet far removed from
the walls, he, employing catapults and balistae that were of the largest
size and worked by the strongest springs, wounded the enemy with his
darts and stones, and threw them into great disorder. When the darts
passed beyond them he then used other machines, of a smaller size, and
proportioned to the distance. By these means the Romans were so
effectually repulsed that it was not possible for them to approach.
"Marcellus, therefore, perplexed with this resistance, was forced to
advance silently with his vessels in the night. But when they came so
near to the land as to be within the reach of darts, they were exposed
to a new danger, which Archimedes had contrived. He had caused openings
to be made in many parts of the wall, equal in height to the stature of
a man, and to the palm of the hand in breadth. Then, having planted on
the inside archers and little scorpions, he discharged a multitude of
arrows through the openings, and disabled the soldiers that were on
board. In this manner, whether the Romans were at a great distance or
whether they were near, he not only rendered useless all their efforts,
but destroyed also many of their men.
"When they attempted also to raise the sackbuts, certain machines which
he had erected along the whole wall inside, and which were before
concealed from view, suddenly appeared above the wall and stretched
their long beaks far beyond the battlements. Some of these machines
carried masses of lead and stone not less than ten talents [about eight
hundred pounds] in weight. Accordingly, when the vessels with the
sackbuts came near, the beaks, being first turned by ropes and pulleys
to the proper point, let fall their stones, which broke not only the
sackbuts but the vessels likewise, and threw all those who were on board
into the greatest danger.
"In the same manner also the rest of the machines, as often as the enemy
approached under cover of their blinds, and had secured themselves by
that protection against the darts that were discharged through the
openings in the wall, let fall upon them stones of so large a size that
all the combatants on the prow were forced to retire from their station.
"He invented, likewise, a hand of iron, hanging by a chain from the beak
of a machine, which was used in the following manner. The person who,
like a pilot, guided the beak, having let fall the hand and caught hold
of the prow of any vessel, drew down the opposite end of the machine,
that was inside of the walls. When the vessel was thus raised erect upon
its stern, the machine itself was held immovable; but the chain being
suddenly loosened from the beak by means of pulleys, some of the vessels
were thrown upon their sides, others turned with their bottoms upward,
and the greatest part, as the prows were plunged from a considerable
height into the sea, were filled with water, and all that were on board
thrown into tumult and disorder.
"Marcellus was in no small degree embarrassed when he found himself
encountered in every attempt by such resistance. He perceived that all
his efforts were defeated with loss, and were even derided by the enemy.
But, amidst all the anxiety that he suffered, he could not help jesting
upon the inventions of Archimedes.
"'This man,' said he, 'employs our ships as buckets to draw water, and,
boxing about our sackbuts, as if they were unworthy to be associated
with him, drives them from his company with disgrace.' Such was the
success of the siege on the side of the sea.
"Appius also, on his part, having met with the same obstacles in his
approaches, was in like manner forced to abandon his design. For while
he was yet at a considerable distance, great number of his men were
destroyed by the balistae and the catapults, so wonderful was the
quantity of stones and darts, and so astonishing the force with which
they were thrown. The means, indeed, were worthy of Hiero, who had
furnished the expense, and of Archimedes, who designed them, and by
whose directions they were made.
"If the troops advanced nearer to the city, they either were stopped in
their advance by the arrows that were discharged through the openings in
the walls, or, if they attempted to force their way under cover of their
bucklers, they were destroyed by stones and beams that were let fall
upon their heads. Great mischief also was occasioned by these hands of
iron that have been mentioned; for they lifted men with their armor into
the air and dashed them upon the ground. Appius, therefore, was at last
constrained to return back again into his camp."
This ended the assault. For eight months the Romans remained, but never
again had the courage to make a regular attack, depending rather on the
hope of reducing the crowded city by famine. "So wonderful, and of such
importance on some occasions, is the power of a single man, and the
force of science properly employed. With so great armies both by sea and
land the Romans could scarcely have failed to take the city, if one old
man had been removed. But while he was present they did not even dare
to make the attempt; in the manner, at least, which Archimedes was able
to oppose." The story was told in past times that the great scientist
set the Roman ships on fire by means of powerful burning glasses, but
this is not believed.
The end of this story may be briefly told. The Romans finally took the
city by surprise. Tradition tells that, as the assailants were rushing
through the streets, with death in their hands, they found Archimedes
sitting in the public square, with a number of geometrical figures drawn
before him in the sand, which he was studying in oblivion of the tumult
of war around. As a Roman soldier rushed upon him sword in hand, he
called out to the rude warrior not to spoil the circle. But the soldier
cut him down. Another story says that this took place in his room.
When Cicero, years afterwards, came to Syracuse, he found the tomb of
Archimedes overgrown with briers, and on it the figure of a sphere
inscribed in a cylinder, to commemorate one of his most important
mathematical discoveries.
_THE FATE OF CARTHAGE._
In all the history of Rome there is no act of more flagrant treachery
and cruelty than that of her dealings with the great rival city of
Carthage. In the whole history of the world there is nothing more base
and frightful than the utter destruction of that mighty mart of
commerce. The jealousy of Rome would not permit a rival to exist. It was
not enough to drive Hannibal into exile; Carthage was recovering her
trade and regaining her strength; new Hannibals might be born; the
terror of the great invasion, the remembrance of the defeat at Cannae,
still remained in Roman memories.
Cato the Censor, a famous old Roman, now eighty-four years of age, and
who had served in the wars against Hannibal, hated Carthage with the
hatred of a fanatic, and declared that Rome would never be safe while
this rival was permitted to exist.
Rising from his seat in the senate, the stern old man glowingly
described the power and wealth of Carthage. He held up some great figs,
and said, "These figs grow but three days' sail from Rome." There could
be no safety for Rome, he declared, while Carthage survived.
"Every speech which I shall make in this house," he sternly declared,
"shall finish with these words: 'My opinion is that _Carthage must be
destroyed_ (_delenda est Carthago_.)'"
These words sealed the fate of Carthage. Men of moderate views spoke
more mercifully, but Cato swayed the senate, and from that day the doom
of Carthage was fixed.
The Carthaginian territory was being assailed and ravaged by Masinissa,
the king of Numidia. Rome was appealed to for aid, but delayed and
temporized. Carthage raised an army, which was defeated by Masinissa,
then over ninety years of age. The war went on, and Carthage was reduced
to such straits that resistance became impossible, and in the end the
city and all its possessions were placed at the absolute disposal of the
senate of Rome, which, absolutely without provocation, had declared war.
An army of eighty thousand foot and four thousand horse was sent to
Africa. Before the consuls commanding it there appeared deputies from
Carthage, stating what acts of submission had already been made, and
humbly asking what more Rome could demand.
"Carthage is now under the protection of Rome," answered Censorinus, the
consul, "and can no longer have occasion to engage in war; she must
therefore deliver without reserve to Rome all her arms and engines of
war."
Hard as was this condition, the humiliated city accepted it. We may have
some conception of the strength of the city when it is stated that the
military stores given up included two hundred thousand stand of arms and
two thousand catapults. It was a condition to which only despair could
have yielded, seemingly the last act of humiliation to which any city
could consent.
But if Carthage thought that the end had been reached, she was destined
to be rudely awakened from her dream. The consuls, thinking the city now
to be wholly helpless, dropped the mask they had worn, and made known
the senate's treacherous decree.
"The decision of the senate is this," said Censorinus, coldly, to the
unhappy envoys of Carthage: "so long as you possess a fortified city
near the sea, Rome can never feel sure of your submission. The senate
therefore decrees that you must remove to some point ten miles distant
from the coast. _Carthage must be destroyed._"
The trembling Carthaginians heard these fatal words in stupefied
amazement. On recovering their senses they broke out into passionate
exclamations against the treachery of Rome, and declared that the
freedom of Carthage had been guaranteed.
"The guarantee refers to the people of Carthage, not to her houses,"
answered the consul. "You have heard the will of the senate; it must be
obeyed, and quickly."
Carthage, meanwhile, waited in gloomy dread the return of the
commissioners. When they gave in the council-chamber the ultimatum of
Rome, a cry of horror broke from the councillors. The crowd in the
street, on hearing this ominous sound, broke open the doors and demanded
what fatal news had been received.
On being told, they burst into a paroxysm of fury. The members of the
government who had submitted to Rome were obliged to fly for their
lives. Every Italian found in the city was killed. The party of the
people seized the government, and resolved to defend themselves to the
uttermost. An armistice of thirty days was asked from the consuls, that
a deputation might be sent to Rome. This was refused. Despair gave
courage and strength. The making of new arms was energetically begun.
Temples and public buildings were converted into workshops; men and
women by thousands worked night and day; every day there were produced
one hundred shields, three hundred swords, five hundred pikes and
javelins, and one thousand bolts for catapults. The women even cut off
their hair to be twisted into strings for the catapults. Corn was
gathered in all haste from every quarter.
The consuls were astonished and disappointed. They had not counted on
such energy as this. They did not know what it meant to drive a foe to
desperation. They laid siege to Carthage, but found it too strong for
all their efforts. They proceeded against the Carthaginian army in the
field, but gained no success. Summer and winter passed, and Carthage
still held out. Another year (148 B.C.) went by, and Rome still lost
ground. Old Cato, the bitter foe of Carthage, had died, at the age of
eighty-five. Masinissa, the warlike Numidian, had died at ninety-five.
The hopes of the Carthaginians grew. Those of Rome began to fall. The
rich booty that was looked for from the sack of Carthage was not to be
handled so easily as had been expected.
What Rome lacked was an able general. One was found in Scipio, the
adopted son of Publius Scipio, son of the great Scipio Africanus. This
young man had proved himself the only able soldier in the war. The army
adored him. Though too young for the consulship, he was elected to that
high office, and in 147 B.C. sailed for Carthage.
The new commander found the army disorganized, and immediately restored
strict discipline to its ranks. The suburb of Megara, from which the
people of the city obtained their chief supply of fresh provisions, was
quickly taken. Want of food began to be felt. The isthmus which
connected the city with the mainland was strongly occupied, and
land-supplies were thus cut off. The fleet blockaded the harbor, but, as
vessels still made their way in, Scipio determined to build an
embankment across the harbor's mouth.
This was a work of great labor, and slowly proceeded. By the time it was
done the Carthaginians had cut a new channel from their harbor to the
sea, and Scipio had the mortification to see a newly-built fleet of
fifty ships sail out through this fresh passage. On the third day a
naval battle took place, in which the greater part of the new fleet was
destroyed.
Another winter came and went. It was not until the spring of 146 B.C.
that the Romans succeeded in forcing their way into the city, and their
legions bivouacked in the Forum of Carthage.