These Saguntines, then, being besieged sent to those near them and to the Romans asking for aid. But Hannibal checked any local movement, and the Romans sent ambassadors to him bidding him not come near the Saguntines, and threatening in case he should not obey to sail to Carthage at once and lay accusations against him. When the envoys were now close at hand, Hannibal sent some of the natives who were to pretend that they were kindly disposed to them and were instructed to say that the general was not there but had gone some distance away into parts unknown; they advised the enemy, therefore (they were to say), to depart as quickly as possible and before their presence should be reported lest in the disorder prevailing because of the absence of the general they should lose their lives. The envoys accordingly believed them and set off for Carthage. An assembly being called some of the Carthaginians counseled maintaining peace with the Romans, but the party attached to Hannibal affirmed that the Saguntines were guilty of wrongdoing and the Romans were meddling with what did not concern them. Finally those who urged them to make war won the day.
Meanwhile Hannibal in the course of his siege was conducting vigorous assaults. Many kept falling and many more were being wounded on Hannibal's side. One day the Carthaginians succeeded in shaking down a portion of the outer circuit and had been daring enough to enter through the breach, when the Saguntines made a sortie and scared them away. This gave the besieged strength and the Carthaginians fell back in dejection. They did not leave the spot, however, till they had captured the city, though the siege dragged on to the eighth month. Many unusual events happened in that time, one of which was Hannibal's being dangerously wounded. The place was taken in this manner. They brought to bear against the wall an engine much higher than the fortification and carrying heavy-armed soldiers, some visible, some concealed. While the Saguntines, therefore, were quite strenuously fighting against the men they saw, thinking them the only ones, those hidden had dug through the wall from below and found their way inside. The Saguntines overwhelmed by the unexpectedness of the event ran up to the citadel and held a conference to see whether by any reasonable concessions they might be preserved. But as Hannibal held out no moderate terms and no assistance came to them from the Romans, they begged for a cessation of the assaults until they should deliberate a little about their position. During this respite they gathered together the most highly prized of their treasures and cast them into the fire; then such as were incapable of fighting committed suicide, and those who were in their prime advanced in a body against their opponents and in a desperate struggle were cut down.
VIII, 22.—For their sakes the Romans and the Carthaginians embarked upon war. Hannibal after gaining numerous allies was hastening toward Italy. The Romans on ascertaining this assembled in their senate-hall, and many speeches were delivered. Lucius Cornelius Lentulus addressed the people and said they must not delay but vote for war against the Carthaginians and separate consuls and armies into two detachments, and send the one to Spain and the other to Libya, in order that at one and the same time the land of the enemy might be desolated and his allies injured; thus neither would he be able to assist Spain nor could he himself receive assistance from there. To this Quintus Fabius Maximus rejoined that it was not so absolutely and inevitably necessary to vote for war, but they could first employ an embassy, and then if the Carthaginians persuaded them that they were guilty of no wrong, they should remain quiet, but if the same people were convicted of wrongdoing, they might thereupon wage war against them, "in order," he said, "that we may cast the responsibility for the war upon them." Frag. 549the opinions of the two men were substantially these. the senate decided to make preparations, to be sure, for conflict, but to despatch envoys to carthage and denounce hannibal; and if the carthaginians refrained from approving the exploits, they would arbitrate the matter, or if all responsibility were laid upon his shoulders, they would demand his extradition, and if he were not given up, they would declare war upon the nation.
The envoys set out and the Carthaginians considered what must be done. And a certain Hasdrubal, one of those who had been primed by Hannibal, counseled them that they ought to get back their ancient freedom and shake off by means of money and troops and allies, all welded together, the slavery imposed by peace, adding: "If you only permit Hannibal to act as he wishes, the proper thing will be done and you will have no trouble." After such words on his part the great Hanno, opposing Hasdrubal's argument, gave it as his opinion that they ought not to draw war upon themselves lightly nor for small complaints concerning foreigners, when it was in their power to settle a part of the difficulty and divert the rest of it upon the heads of those who had been active in the matter. With these remarks he ceased, and the elder Carthaginians who remembered the former war sided with him, but those in robust manhood and especially all the partisans of Hannibal violently gainsaid him. Frag. 5410inasmuch, then, as they made no definite answer and showed contempt for the envoys, marcus fabius thrusting his hands beneath his toga and holding them with palms upward said: "here i bring to you, carthaginians, both war and peace: do you choose whichever of them you wish." upon their replying that they chose neither, but would readily accept either that the romans should leave, he immediately declared war upon them.
In this way, then, and for these reasons the Romans and the Carthaginians became involved in war for the second time. And the Divinity beforehand indicated what was to come to pass. For in Rome an ox talked with a human voice, and another at the Ludi Romani threw himself out of a house into the Tiber and was lost, many thunderbolts fell, and blood in one case was seen coming from sacred statues whereas in another it dripped from the shield of a soldier, and the sword of another soldier was snatched by a wolf from the very midst of the camp. Many unknown wild beasts went before Hannibal leading the way, as he was crossing the Iber, and a vision appeared to him in a dream. He thought that the gods once, sitting in assembly, sent for him and bade him march with all speed into Italy and receive from them a guide for the way, and that by this guide he was commanded to follow without turning around. He did turn around, however, and saw a great tempest moving and an immense serpent accompanying it. In surprise he asked his conductor what these creatures were; and the guide said: "Hannibal, they are on their way to help you in the sack of Italy."
(BOOK 14, BOISSEVAIN.)
VIII, 23.—These things inspired Hannibal with a firm hope, but threw the Romans into a state of profound terror. The Romans divided their forces into two parts and sent out the consuls,—Sempronius Longus to Sicily and Publius Scipio to Spain. Hannibal, desiring to invade Italy with all possible speed, marched on hurriedly and traversed without fighting the whole of Gaul lying between the Pyrenees and the Rhone. As far as the Rhone river no one came to oppose him, but at that point Scipio showed himself although he had no troops with him. Nevertheless with the help of the natives and their nearest neighbors he had already destroyed the boats in the river and had posted guards over the stream. Hannibal therefore used up some time in building rafts and skiffs, some of them out of a single log of wood, but still with the help of a large corps of workers had everything in readiness that was needful for crossing before Scipio's own army could arrive. He sent his brother Mago accompanied by the horsemen and a few light troops to cross at a point where the river is scattered over considerable breadth, with branches separated by islands; he himself, of course, proceeded by way of the natural ford, his object being that the Gauls should be deceived and array themselves against him only, while they set their guards with less care at other points along the river. This object was accomplished. Mago had already got across the river when Hannibal and his followers were crossing by the ford. On reaching the middle of the stream they raised a war cry and the trumpeters joined with the blare of their instruments, and Mago fell upon their antagonists from the rear. In this way the elephants and all the rest were ferried safely over. They had just finished crossing when Scipio's own force arrived. Both sides, then, sent horsemen to reconnoitre, after which they entered upon a cavalry battle with the same results as attended the war as a whole. The Romans, that is, after first seeming to get the worst of it and losing a number of men were victorious.
Then Hannibal, in haste to set out for Italy but suspicious of the more direct roads, turned aside from them and followed another, on which he underwent bitter hardships. The mountains there are exceedingly precipitous and the snow falling in great quantities was driven by the winds and filled the chasms, and the ice was frozen to a great thickness. These things conspired to cause them fearful suffering, and many of his soldiers perished through the winter cold and lack of food; many also returned home. There is a story to the effect that he himself would also have turned back but for the fact that the road already traversed was longer and more difficult than the portion left before him. For this reason he did not retrace his steps, but suddenly appearing south of the Alps spread astonishment and terror among the Romans.
So he advanced taking possession of whatever lay before him. Scipio sent his brother Gaius[29] Scipio, who was serving as a lieutenant under him, into Spain to either seize and hold it or bring Hannibal back, but he himself marched against Hannibal. They waited a few days; then both moved into action. Frag. 564before beginning operations, hannibal called together the soldiers and brought in the captives whom he had taken by the way: he asked the latter whether they chose to undergo imprisonment and to endure a grievous slavery, or to fight in single combat with one another on condition that the victors should be released without ransom. when they accepted the second alternative, he set them to fighting. and at the end of the conflict he addressed his own soldiers, encouraging them and whetting their eagerness for war. Scipio also did this on the Roman side. Then the contest began and looked at the outset as if it would involve the entire armies: but Scipio in a preliminary cavalry skirmish was defeated, lost many men, was wounded and would have been killed, had not his son Scipio, though only seventeen years old, come to his aid; he was consequently alarmed lest his infantry should similarly meet with a reverse, and he at once fell back and that night withdrew from the field.