A History of Rome to 565 A. D Part 7

*The war in Sicily, 254241 B. C.* The Romans again concentrated their efforts against the Carthaginian strongholds in Sicily, which they attacked from land and sea. In 254 they took the important city of Panormus, and the Carthaginians were soon confined to the western extremity of the island. There, however, they successfully maintained themselves in Drepana and Lilybaeum. Meantime the Romans encountered a series of disasters on the sea. In 253 they lost a number of s.h.i.+ps on the voyage from Lilybaeum to Rome, in 250 the consul Publius Clodius suffered a severe defeat in a naval battle at Drepana, and in the next year a third fleet was destroyed by a storm off Phintias in Sicily.

In 247 a new Carthaginian general, Hamilcar Barca, took command in Sicily and infused new life into the Carthaginian forces. From the citadel of Hercte first, and later from Eryx, he continually hara.s.sed the Romans not only in Sicily but even on the coast of Italy. Finally, in 242 B. C., when their public treasury was too exhausted to build another fleet, the Romans by private subscription equipped 200 vessels, which undertook the blockade of Lilybaeum and Drepana. A Carthaginian relief expedition was destroyed off the Aegates Islands, and it was impossible for their forces, now completely cut off in Sicily, to prolong the struggle. Carthage was compelled to conclude peace in 241 B. C.

*The terms of peace.* Carthage surrendered to Rome her remaining possessions in Sicily, with the islands between Sicily and Italy, besides agreeing to pay an indemnity of 3200 talents (about $3,500,000) in twenty years. For the Romans the long struggle had been very costly. At sea alone they had lost in the neighborhood of 500 s.h.i.+ps and 200,000 men. But again the Roman military system had proven its worth against a mercenary army, and the excellence of the Roman soldiery had more than compensated for the weakness in the custom of annually changing commanders. Moreover, the military federation which Rome had created in Italy had stood the test of a long and weary war, without any disloyalty being manifest among her allies. On the other hand, the losses of Carthage had been even more heavy, and, most serious of all, her sea power was broken and Rome controlled the western Mediterranean.

*The revolt of the Carthaginian mercenaries.* Weakened as she was after the contest with Rome, Carthage became immediately thereafter involved in a life and death struggle with her mercenary troops. These, upon their return from Sicily, made demands upon the state which the latter found hard to meet and consequently refused. Thereupon the mercenaries mutinied and, joining with the native Libyans and the inhabitants of the subject Phoenician cities (Libyphoenicians), entered upon a war for the destruction of Carthage. After a struggle of more than three years, in which the most shocking barbarities were practised on either side and in which they were brought face to face with utter ruin, the Carthaginians under the leaders.h.i.+p of Hamilcar Barca stamped out the revolt (238 B. C.).

*Rome acquires Sardinia.* Up to this point Rome had looked on without interference, but now, when Carthage sought to recover Sardinia from the mutinous garrison there, she declared war. Carthage could not think of accepting the challenge and bought peace at the price of Sardinia and Corsica and 1200 talents ($1,500,000). This unjustifiable act of the Romans rankled sore in the memories of the Carthaginians.

III. THE ILLYRIAN AND GALLIC WARS: 229219 B. C.

*The first Illyrian war: 229228 B. C.* In a.s.suming control of the relations of her allies with foreign states, Rome had a.s.sumed responsibility for protecting their interests, and it was the fulfillment of this obligation which brought the Roman arms to the eastern sh.o.r.es of the Adriatic.

Under a king named Agron an extensive but loosely organized state had been formed among the Illyrians, a semibarbarous people inhabiting the Adriatic coast to the north of Epirus. These Illyrians were allied with the kingdom of Macedonia and sided with the latter in its wars with Epirus and the Aetolian and Achaean Confederacies. In 231 Agron died and was succeeded by his queen Teuta, who continued his policy of attacking the cities on the west coast of Greece and practising piracy on a large scale in the Adriatic and Ionian seas. Among those who suffered thereby were the south Italian cities, which in 230 B. C. as the result of fresh and more serious outrages appealed to Rome for redress. Thereupon the Romans demanded satisfaction from Teuta and, upon their demands being contemptuously rejected, they declared war.

*The Romans cross the Adriatic: 229 B. C.* In the next spring, 229 B. C., the Romans sent against the Illyrians a fleet and an army of such strength that the latter could offer but little resistance and in the next year were forced to sue for peace. Teuta had to give up a large part of her territory, to bind herself not to send a fleet into the Ionian sea, and to pay tribute to Rome. Corcyra, Epid.a.m.nus, Apollonia, and other cities became Roman allies.

The fact that Rome first crossed the Adriatic to prosecute a war against the Illyrians placed her in hostility to their ally, Macedonia, the greatest of the Greek states. And although Macedonia had been unable to offer aid to the Illyrians because of dynastic troubles that had followed the death of King Demetrius (229 B. C.), the Macedonians regarded with jealous suspicion Rome's success and the establishment of a Roman sphere of influence east of the Adriatic. Conversely, the war had established friendly relations and cooperation between Rome and the foes of Macedon, the Aetolian and Achaean Confederacies, which rejoiced in the accession of such a powerful friend. The way was thus paved for the partic.i.p.ation of Rome, as a partizan of the anti-Macedonian faction, in the struggles which had so long divided the Greek world.

*The second Illyrian war: 220219 B. C.* The revival of Macedonian influence led indirectly to Rome's second Illyrian war. The alliance of Antigonus Doson with the Achaean Confederacy and his conquest of Sparta (222 B. C.) united almost the whole of Greece under Macedonian suzerainty.

Thereupon Demetrius of Pharos, a despot whose rule Rome had established in Corcyra, went over to Macedonia, attacked the cities allied with Rome, and sent a piratical squadron into Greek waters (220 B. C.). Rome, now threatened with a second Carthaginian War, acted with energy. Macedonia, under Philip V, the successor of Antigonus Doson, was involved in a war with the Aetolians and their allies. Deprived of support from this quarter Demetrius was speedily driven to take refuge in flight. His subjects surrendered and Rome took possession of his chief fortresses, Pharos and Dimillos.

*War with the Gauls in North Italy: 22522 B. C.* In the interval between these Illyrian Wars Rome became involved in a serious conflict with the Gallic tribes settled in the Po valley. For about half a century this people had lived at peace with Rome, ceasing their raids into the peninsula and becoming a prosperous agricultural and pastoral people. It is claimed that they became alarmed at the Roman a.s.signment of the public land on their southern borders, called the Ager Gallicus, to individual colonists in 233 B. C., and that this caused them to take up arms.

However, this territory had been Roman since 283 B. C. and its settlement could hardly have been interpreted as an hostile act. More probable is it that the cause of the new Gallic invasion was the coming of fresh swarms from across the Alps, which some of the Cisalpine Gauls, who had forgotten the defeats of the previous generation, perhaps invited, and certainly joined, for the sake of plunder. In 238 such a band of Transalpines crossed the Roman frontier and penetrated as far as Ariminum, but serious dissensions broke out within their own ranks and they had to withdraw.

There was no further inroad attempted until 225 B. C.

*The Gallic invasion of 225 B. C.* In that year a formidable horde, called the Gasatae, crossed the Alps and, joined by the Boii and Insubres, prepared to invade Roman territory with a force of 50,000 foot and 20,000 mounted men. The Romans and Italians were seriously alarmed, for the memory of the fatal day of the Allia had never been effaced. Rome called for a military census of her whole federation. The lists showed 700,000 infantry and 70,000 cavalry. Expecting the Gauls to advance into Umbria the Romans stationed an army under one consul at Ariminum. The other consul was sent to Sardinia, possibly from fear of a Carthaginian attack, while the defence of Etruria was left to a force of Roman allies.

Alliances were concluded with the Cenomani, a Gallic tribe to the north of the Po, and with the Veneti.

Avoiding the army at Ariminum the Gauls crossed the Apennines into Etruria, defeated the Roman allies and plundered the country. But the consul from Ariminum hastened to the rescue, the army in Sardinia was recalled, and the Gauls began to withdraw northwards to place their spoils in safety. The Romans followed and as the army from Sardinia landed to the north of the foe and cut off their retreat, the latter were surrounded and brought to bay at Telamon. They were annihilated in a b.l.o.o.d.y battle won by the superiority of the Roman tactics and generals.h.i.+p. One of the Roman consuls fell on the field of battle.

*War against the Boii and Insubres: 224222 B. C.* Italy was saved, and now the Romans decided to expel the Boii and the Insubres from the Po valley as a penalty for their conduct and to prevent future invasions of this sort by occupying their territory. In three hard-fought campaigns the Romans, while they failed to exterminate or dispossess these peoples, reduced them to subjection, forcing them to surrender part of their territory and to pay tribute. But the Romans did not conquer without suffering heavy losses, and their ultimate success was to a considerable degree due to the cooperation of the Cenomani.

*The Roman frontier reaches the Alps.* Between 221 and 219 the Romans subdued the peoples of the Adriatic coast as far as the peninsula of Istria. Thus, with the exception of Liguria and the upper valley of the Po, all Italy to the south of the Alps was brought within the sphere of Roman influence. The Latin colonies Placentia and Cremona were founded in the territory taken from the Insubres to secure the Roman authority in this region, but Hannibal's invasion of 217 B. C. found the Cisalpine Gauls ready to revolt against the Roman yoke.

IV. THE SECOND PUNIC WAR: 218202 B. C.

*Carthaginian expansion in Spain.* As we have seen, the Roman seizure of Sardinia and Corsica and the exaction of a fresh indemnity in 238 left a longing for revenge in the hearts of the dominant faction at Carthage.

This faction was led by Hamilcar Barca, the victor of the mercenary war, who saw in Spain the opportunity for repairing the fortunes of his state, for compensating Carthage for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia, and for developing an army that would enable him to face the Romans on an equal footing. The Phoenician subjects of Carthage were hard pressed by the attacks of the native Iberian peoples when he secured for himself the command of the Carthaginian forces in the peninsula (238 B. C.). By skilful generals.h.i.+p and able diplomacy he extended the Carthaginian dominion over many of the Spanish tribes, and created a strong army, devoted to himself and his family.

*Hasdrubal.* Consequently, when Hamilcar died in battle in 229 B. C. he was succeeded in the command by his son-in-law Hasdrubal, who carried on his predecessor's policy. He it was who founded the town of New Carthage (Carthagena) to serve as the center of Carthaginian influence in Spain.

The annual revenue of from 2000 to 3000 talents ($2,400,000 to $3,000,000) derived from the Spanish silver mines readily induced the Carthaginians to acquiesce in the almost regal position that the Barcidae enjoyed in Spain.

Thus the latter could carry out their plans without interference from the home government.

*Hasdrubal's treaty with Rome, 226 B. C.* But the Carthaginian advance in Spain aroused the alarm of the Greeks of Ma.s.salia, and of her colonies, Emporiae and Rhodae, whose commercial interests and independence were thereby endangered. Now the Ma.s.saliots had long been in alliance with Rome,-they were said to have contributed to the ransom which the Romans paid to the Gauls in 387 B. C.,-and there seems little doubt that they secured the intervention of Rome on their behalf. In 226 B. C. the Romans concluded a treaty with Hasdrubal which bound him not to send an armed force north of the river Ebro. A few years later the Romans entered into a defensive alliance with the Spanish town of Saguntum, which lay to the south of the Ebro, but which was not subject to Carthage. The motive of the Romans in making this alliance is obscure, but it was probably in answer to a request from the Saguntines.

*Hannibal.* Upon the a.s.sa.s.sination of Hasdrubal in 221, Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, then in his twenty-sixth year, was appointed to the command in Spain. Thereupon, relying upon the army which his predecessors and he himself had built up in Spain and upon the resources of the Carthaginian dominions there, he resolved to take a step which would inevitably lead to war with Rome, namely, to attack Saguntum.

*The siege of Saguntum: 219 B. C.* Using as a pretext a dispute between the Saguntines and some of his Spanish allies, he laid siege to the town in 219 B. C. and captured it after a siege of eight months. A Roman emba.s.sy appeared at Carthage to demand the surrender of Hannibal and his staff as the price of averting war with Rome. But the anti-Roman party was in the majority and the Carthaginian senate accepted the responsibility for the act of their general, whatever its consequences might be. The Roman amba.s.sador replied with the declaration of war.

*The Roman plan of campaign.* The most fateful result of the First Punic War had been the destruction of the maritime supremacy of Carthage. She never subsequently thought of contesting Rome's dominion on the sea, and consequently, while extending her empire in Spain and Africa she had neglected to rebuild her navy. This fact was to be of decisive importance in the coming struggle. Rome, relying upon it, planned an offensive war.

One army, under the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio, was to proceed to Spain, supported by the fleet of Ma.s.salia, and to detain Hannibal there, while a second army, under the other consul, Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius, was a.s.sembled in Sicily to embark for Africa.

*The plan of Hannibal.* But the Romans had not taken into account the military genius of Hannibal, whose audacious plan of carrying the war into Italy upset their calculations. Realizing that he could not transport his army to Italy by sea, he was prepared to cross the Pyrenees, traverse southern Gaul and, crossing the Alps, descend upon Italy from the north.

Among the Gauls of the Po valley he hoped to find recruits for his army, and expected that, once he was in Italy, the Roman allies would seize this opportunity of recovering their independence. Deprived of their support Rome would have to yield. His ultimate object was not the destruction of Rome, but the breaking up of the Roman federation in Italy, and the reduction of the Roman state to the limits attained in 340 B. C. This purpose is apparent from the plan of campaign which he followed after his arrival in Italy.

*Hannibal's march into Italy.* Hannibal's preparations were more advanced than those of the Romans and, early in the spring of 218 B. C., he set out from New Carthage for the Pyrenees. Forcing a pa.s.sage there, he left the pa.s.ses under guard and resumed his march with a picked army of Spaniards and Numidians. His brother Hasdrubal was left in Spain to collect reinforcements and follow with them. Hannibal arrived at the Rhone and crossed it by the time that Scipio reached Ma.s.salia on his way to Spain.

The latter, failing to force Hannibal to give battle on the banks of the Rhone, returned in person to Italy, but decided to send his army, under the command of his brother, to Spain, a decision which had the most serious consequences for Carthage. Meanwhile Hannibal continued his march and, overcoming the opposition of the peoples whose territory he traversed, as well as the more serious obstacles of bad roads, dangerous pa.s.ses, cold, and hunger, he crossed the Alps and descended into the plain of North Italy in the autumn of 218, after a march of five months.(7) His army was reduced to 20,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry. Practically all his elephants perished.

Hannibal at once found support and an opportunity to rest his weary troops among the Insubres and the Boii, the latter of whom had already taken up arms against the Romans. At the news of his arrival in Italy Semp.r.o.nius was at once recalled from Sicily, but Scipio who had antic.i.p.ated him ventured to attack Hannibal with the forces under his command. He was beaten in a skirmish at the river Ticinus, and Hannibal was able to cross the Po. Upon the arrival of Semp.r.o.nius, both consuls attacked the Carthaginians at the Trebia, only to receive a crus.h.i.+ng defeat (December, 218).

*Hannibal invades the peninsula: 217 B. C.* Hannibal wintered in north Italy and in the spring, with an army raised to 50,000 by the addition of Celtic recruits, prepared to invade the peninsula. The Romans divided their forces, stationing one consul at Ariminum and the other at Arretium in Etruria. Hannibal chose to cross the Apennines and the marshes of Etruria, where he surprised and annihilated the army of the consul Flaminius at the Trasimene Lake (217 B. C.). Flaminius himself was among the slain. This victory was soon followed by a second in which the cavalry of the army of the second consul was cut to pieces. Hannibal began his attempt to detach the Italians from the Roman alliance by releasing his Italian prisoners to carry word to their cities that he had come to set them free. Thereupon he marched into Samnium, ravaging the Roman territory as he went.

The Romans in great consternation chose a dictator, Quintus Fabius Maximus. Fabius recognized the superiority of Hannibal's generals.h.i.+p and of the Carthaginian cavalry, and consequently refused to be drawn into a general engagement. But he followed the enemy closely and continually threatened an attack, so that Hannibal could not divide his forces for purposes of raiding and foraging. Still he was able to penetrate into Campania and thence to recross the mountains into Apulia, where he decided to establish winter quarters. The strategy of Fabius, which had not prevented the enemy from securing supplies and devastating wide areas, grew so irksome to the Romans that they violated all precedent in appointing Marcus Minucius, the master of the horse and an advocate of aggressive tactics, as a second dictator. But when the latter risked an engagement, he was badly beaten and only prompt a.s.sistance from Fabius saved his army from destruction.

*Cannae: 216 B. C.* Next spring found the Romans and Carthaginians facing each other in Apulia. The Romans were led by the new consuls, Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Gaius Terentius Varro. The over-confidence of Varro led to the battle of Cannae, one of the greatest battles of antiquity and the bloodiest of all Roman defeats. Of 50,000 Romans and allies, about 25,000 were slain and 10,000 captured by the numerically inferior Carthaginians. The consequences of the battle were serious. For the first time Rome's allies showed serious signs of disloyalty. In Apulia and in Bruttium Hannibal found many adherents; amba.s.sadors from Philip of Macedon appeared at his headquarters, the prelude to an alliance in the next year; Syracuse also, where Hiero the friend of Rome had just died, wavered and finally went over to Carthage; and, most serious of all, Capua opened its gates to Hannibal.

Still the courage of the Romans never wavered. They at once levied a new force to replace the army destroyed at Cannae. The central Italian allies, the Greek cities in the south, and the Latins, remained true to their allegiance, and the fortified towns of the latter proved to be the pillars of the Roman strength. For Hannibal, owing to the smallness of his army and the necessity of maintaining it in a hostile country, had to be continually on the march and could not undertake siege operations, for which he also lacked engines of war. Thus the Romans, avoiding pitched battles, were able to attempt the systematic reduction of the towns which had yielded to Hannibal and to hamper seriously the provisioning of his forces. At the same time they still held command of the sea, kept up their offensive in Spain, and held their ground against Carthaginian attacks in Sicily and Sardinia.

*Rome recovers Syracuse and Capua: 21211 B. C.* In 213 the Romans were able to invest Syracuse. The Syracusans with the aid of engines of war designed by the physicist Archimedes resisted desperately, but Marcellus, the Roman general, pressed the siege vigorously, and treachery caused the city to fall (212 B. C.). Syracuse was sacked, its art treasures carried off to Rome, and for the future it was subject and tributary to Rome. And in Italy, although Hannibal defeated and killed the consul Tiberius Semp.r.o.nius Gracchus, and was able to occupy the cities of Tarentum (although not its citadel), Heraclea and Thurii, he could not prevent the Romans from laying siege to Capua (212 B. C.). The next year he thought to force them to raise the blockade by a sudden incursion into Latium, where he appeared before the walls of Rome. But Rome was garrisoned, the army besieging Capua was not recalled, and Hannibal's march was in vain. Capua was starved into submission, its n.o.bility put to the sword, its territory confiscated, and its munic.i.p.al organization dissolved.

*Operations against Philip V. of Macedon.* Upon concluding his alliance with Hannibal, Philip of Macedon hastened to attack the Roman possessions in Illyria. Here he met with some successes, but failed to take Corcyra or Apollonia which were saved by the Roman fleet. Furthermore, Rome's command of the sea prevented his lending any effective aid to his ally in Italy.

Before long the Romans were able to induce the Aetolians to make an alliance with them and attack Macedonia. Thereupon other enemies of Philip, among them Sparta and King Attalus of Pergamon, joined in the war on the side of Rome. The Achaean Confederacy, however, supported Philip.

The coalition against the latter was so strong that he had to cease his attacks upon Roman territory and Rome could be content with supporting her Greek allies with a small fleet, while she devoted her energies to the other theatres of war.

*The war in Spain: 218207 B. C.* The fall of Capua came at a moment most opportune for the Romans, since they had immediate need to send reinforcements to Spain. Thither, as we have seen, they had sent an army in 218 B. C. under Gnaeus Scipio, who obtained a foothold north of the Ebro. In the next year he was joined by his brother Publius Cornelius.

Thereupon the Romans crossed the Ebro and invaded the Carthaginian dominions to the south. A revolt of the Numidians caused the recall of Hasdrubal to Africa, and the Romans were able to capture Saguntum and induce many Spanish tribes to desert the Carthaginian cause. However, upon the return of Hasdrubal and the arrival of reinforcements from Carthage, the Carthaginian commanders united their forces and crushed the two Roman armies one after the other (211 B. C.). Both the Scipios fell in battle and the Carthaginians recovered all their territory south of the Ebro.

*Publius Cornelius Scipio sent to Spain: 210 B. C.* Undismayed by these disasters the Romans determined to continue their efforts to conquer Spain because of its importance as a recruiting ground for the Carthaginian armies and because the continuance of the war there prevented reinforcements being sent to Hannibal in Italy. The fall of Capua and the fortunate turn of events in Sicily enabled them to release fresh troops for service in Spain, and in 210 B. C., being dissatisfied with the cautious strategy of the pro-praetor Nero, then commanding north of the Ebro, the Senate determined to send out a commander who would continue the aggressive tactics of the Scipios. As the most suitable person they fixed on Publius Cornelius Scipio, son of the like-named consul who had fallen in 211. However, he was only in his twenty-fourth year and having filled no magistracy except the aediles.h.i.+p, he was technically disqualified from exercising the _imperium_. Therefore, his appointment was made the subject of a special law in the Comitia, which nominated him to the command in Spain with the rank of a pro-consul. This is the first authentic instance of the conferment of the _imperium_ upon a private citizen.

*The capture of New Carthage: 209 B. C.* Seeing that the armies of his opponents were divided and engaged in reconquering the Spanish tribes, Scipio resumed the offensive, crossed the Ebro, and by a daring stroke seized the chief Carthaginian base-New Carthage. Here he found vast stores of supplies and, more important still, the hostages from the Spanish peoples subject to Carthage. His liberation of these, and his generous treatment of the Spaniards in general was in such striking contrast with the oppressive measures of the Carthaginians, that he rapidly won over to his support both the enemies and the adherents of the former.

*Hasdrubal's march to Italy: 208 B. C.* Meanwhile in Italy the Romans proceeded steadily with the reduction of the strongholds in the hands of Hannibal. Tarentum was recovered in 210, and although Hannibal defeated and slew the consuls Gnaeus Fulvius (210) and Marcus Marcellus (208), his forces were so diminished that his maintaining himself in Italy depended upon the arrival of strong reinforcements. Since his arrival he had received but insignificant additions to his army from Carthage, whose energies had been directed to the other theatres of war. Up to this time also the Roman activities in Spain had prevented any Carthaginian troops leaving that country. But after the fall of New Carthage and the subsequent successes of Scipio, Hasdrubal, despairing of the situation there, determined to march to the support of his brother by the same route which the latter had taken. Scipio endeavored to bar his path, but although Hasdrubal was defeated in battle he and 10,000 of his men cut their way through the Romans and crossed the Pyrenees (208 B. C.).

*The Metaurus: 207 B. C.* The next spring he arrived among the Gauls to the south of the Alps. Reinforced by them he marched into the peninsula to join forces with Hannibal. For the Romans it was of supreme importance to prevent this. They therefore divided their forces; the consul Gaius Claudius faced Hannibal in Apulia, while Marcus Livius went to intercept Hasdrubal. Through the capture of messengers sent by the latter Claudius learned of his position and, leaving part of his army to detain Hannibal, he withdrew the rest without his enemy's knowledge and joined his colleague Livius. Together they attacked Hasdrubal at the Metaurus; his army was cut to pieces and he himself was slain. With the battle the doom of Hannibal's plans was sealed, and with them the doom of Carthage.

Hannibal himself recognized that all was lost and withdrew into the mountains of Bruttium.

*The conquest of Carthaginian Spain, and peace with Philip.* For the first time in the war the Romans could breathe freely and look forward with confidence to the issue. In the two years (207206 B. C.) following the departure of Hasdrubal Scipio completed the conquest of what remained to Carthage in Spain. In 205 he returned to Rome to enter upon the consuls.h.i.+p, and thereupon went to Sicily to make preparations for the invasion of Africa, since the Romans were now able to carry out their plan of 218 B. C. which Hannibal had then interrupted. At this moment, too, the Romans found themselves free from any embarra.s.sment from the side of Macedonia. In Greece the war had dragged on without any decided advantage for either side until 207, when the temporary withdrawal of the Roman fleet enabled Philip and the Achaean Confederacy to win such successes that their opponents listened to the intervention of the neutral states and made peace (206 B. C.). In the next year the Romans also came to terms with Philip.

*The invasion of Africa: 204 B. C.* In 204 B. C. Scipio transported his army to Africa. At first, however, he was able to do nothing before the combined forces of the Carthaginians and the Numidian chief, Syphax, who had renewed his alliance with them. But in the following year he routed both armies so decisively that he was able to capture and depose Syphax, and to set up in his place a rival chieftain, Masinissa, whose adherence to the Romans brought them a welcome superiority in cavalry. The Carthaginians now sought to make peace. An armistice was granted them; Hannibal and all Carthaginian forces were recalled from Italy, and the preliminary terms of peace drawn up (203 B. C.). Hannibal left Italy with the remnant of his veterans after a campaign which had established his reputation as one of the world's greatest masters of the art of war. For nearly fifteen years he had maintained himself in the enemy's country with greatly inferior forces, and now after inflicting many severe defeats and never losing a battle he was forced to withdraw because of lack of resources, not because of the superior generals.h.i.+p of his foes. Before leaving Italian soil he set up a record of his exploits in the temple of Hera Lacinia in Bruttium.

*Zama: 202 B. C.* An almost incredible feeling of over-confidence seems to have been aroused in Carthage by the arrival of Hannibal. The Carthaginians broke the armistice by attacking some Roman transports and refused to meet Scipio's demand for an explanation. Hostilities were therefore resumed. At Zama the two greatest generals the war had developed met in its final battle. Hannibal's tactics were worthy of his reputation but his army was crushed by the flight of the Carthaginian mercenaries at a critical moment, and by the Roman superiority in cavalry(8).