When the deputies were returned to Carthage, they laid before the senate the conditions dictated by Scipio. But they appeared so intolerable to Gisgo, that rising up, he made a speech, in order to dissuade his citizens from accepting a peace on such shameful terms. Hannibal, provoked at the calmness with which such an orator was heard, took Gisgo by the arm, and dragged him from his seat. A behaviour so outrageous, and so remote from the manners of a free city like Carthage, raised an universal murmur. Hannibal himself was vexed when he reflected on what he had done, and immediately [pg 246] made an apology for it. “As I left,” says he, “your city at nine years of age, and did not return to it till after thirty-six years' absence, I had full leisure to learn the arts of war, and flatter myself that I have made some improvement in them. As for your laws and customs, it is no wonder I am ignorant of them, and I therefore desire you to instruct me in them.” He then expatiated on the indispensable necessity they were under of concluding a peace. He added, that they ought to thank the gods for having prompted the Romans to grant them a peace even on these conditions. He pointed out to them the great importance of their uniting in opinion; and of not giving an opportunity, by their divisions, for the people to take an affair of this nature under their cognizance. The whole city came over to his opinion; and accordingly the peace was accepted. The senate made Scipio satisfaction with regard to the ships reclaimed by him; and, after obtaining a truce for three months, they sent ambassadors to Rome.
These Carthaginians, who were all venerable for their years and dignity, were admitted immediately to an audience. Asdrubal, surnamed Hœdus, who was still an irreconcileable enemy to Hannibal and his faction, spoke first; and after having excused, to the best of his power, the people of Carthage, by imputing the rupture to the ambition of some particular persons, he added, that had the Carthaginians listened to his counsels and those of Hanno, they would have been able to grant the Romans the peace for which they now were obliged to sue. “But,”[808] continued he, “wisdom and prosperity are very rarely found together. The Romans are invincible, because they never suffer themselves to be blinded by good fortune. And it would be surprising should they act otherwise. Success dazzles those only to whom it is new and unusual; whereas the Romans are so much accustomed to conquer, that they are almost insensible to the charms of victory; and it may be said to their glory, that they have extended [pg 247] their empire, in some measure, more by the humanity they have shown to the conquered, than by the conquest itself.” The other ambassadors spoke with a more plaintive tone of voice, and represented the calamitous state to which Carthage was going to be reduced, and the grandeur and power from which it was fallen.
The senate and people being equally inclined to peace, sent full power to Scipio to conclude it; left the conditions to that general, and permitted him to march back his army, after the treaty should be concluded.
The ambassadors desired leave to enter the city, to redeem some of their prisoners, and they found about two hundred whom they desired to ransom. But the senate sent them to Scipio, with orders that they should be restored without any pecuniary consideration, in case a peace should be concluded.
The Carthaginians, on the return of their ambassadors, concluded a peace with Scipio, on the terms he himself had prescribed. They then delivered up to him more than five hundred ships, all which he burnt in sight of Carthage; a lamentable spectacle to the inhabitants of that ill-fated city! He struck off the heads of the allies of the Latin name, and hanged all the Roman citizens who were surrendered up to him, as deserters.
When the time for the payment of the first tribute imposed by the treaty was expired, as the funds of the government were exhausted by this long and expensive war; the difficulty of levying so great a sum, threw the senate into deep affliction, and many could not refrain even from tears. Hannibal on this occasion is said to have laughed; and when he was reproached by Asdrubal Hœdus, for thus insulting his country in the affliction which he had brought upon it, “Were it possible,” says Hannibal, “for my heart to be seen, and that as clearly as my countenance; you would then find that this laughter which offends so much, flows not from an intemperate joy, but from a mind almost distracted with the public calamities. But is this laughter more unseasonable than your unbecoming tears? Then, then, ought you to have wept, when your arms were ingloriously taken from you, your ships burnt, and you were forbidden to engage in any foreign wars. [pg 248] This was the mortal blow which laid us prostrate.—We are sensible of the public calamity, so far only as we have a personal concern in it; and the loss of our money gives us the most pungent sorrow. Hence it was, that when our city was made the spoil of the victor; when it was left disarmed and defenceless amidst so many powerful nations of Africa, who had at that time taken the field, not a groan, not a sigh was heard. But now, when you are called on to contribute individually to the tax imposed upon the state, you bewail and lament as if all were lost. Alas! I only wish that the subject of this day's grief does not soon appear to you the least of your misfortunes.”
Scipio, after all things were concluded, embarked, in order to return to Italy. He arrived at Rome, through crowds of people, whom curiosity had drawn together to behold his march. The most magnificent triumph that Rome had ever seen was decreed him, and the surname of Africanus was bestowed upon this great man; an honour till then unknown, no person before him having assumed the name of a vanquished nation. Such was the conclusion of the second Punic war, after having lasted seventeen years.
A.M. 3804. A. Carth. 646. A. Rom. 548. Ant. J.C. 200.
A short Reflection on the Government of Carthage in the time of the Second Punic War.—I shall conclude the particulars which relate to the second Punic war, with a reflection of Polybius,[809] which will show the difference between the two commonwealths of Rome and Carthage. It may be affirmed, in some measure, that at the beginning of the second Punic war, and in Hannibal's time, Carthage was in its decline. The flower of its youth, and its sprightly vigour were already diminished. It had begun to fall from its exalted pitch of power, and was inclining towards its ruin; whereas Rome was then, as it were, in its bloom and prime of life, and swiftly advancing to the conquest of the universe. The reason of the declension of the one, and the rise of the other, is deduced, by Polybius, from the different form of government established in these commonwealths, at the time we are now speaking of. At Carthage, the common people had seized upon the sovereign [pg 249] authority with regard to public affairs, and the advice of their ancient men or magistrates was no longer listened to; all affairs were transacted by intrigue and cabal. To take no notice of the artifices which the faction adverse to Hannibal employed, during the whole time of his command, to perplex him; the single instance of burning the Roman vessels during a truce, a perfidious action to which the common people compelled the senate to lend their name and assistance, is a proof of Polybius's assertion. On the contrary, at this very time, the Romans paid the highest regard to their senate, that is, to a body composed of the greatest sages; and their old men were listened to and revered as oracles. It is well known that the Roman people were exceedingly jealous of their authority, and especially in whatever related to the election of magistrates. A century of young men, who by lot were to give the first vote, which generally directed all the rest, had nominated two consuls.[810] On the bare remonstrance of Fabius,[811] who represented to the people, that in a tempest, like that with which Rome was then struggling, the ablest pilots ought to be chosen to steer the vessel of the state, the century returned to their suffrages, and nominated other consuls. Polybius infers, that a people, thus guided by the prudence of old men, could not fail of prevailing over a state which was governed wholly by the giddy multitude. And indeed, the Romans, under the guidance of the wise counsels of their senate, gained at last the superiority with regard to the war considered in general, though they were defeated in several particular engagements; and established their power and grandeur on the ruin of their rivals.
The interval between the Second and Third Punic War.—This interval, though considerable enough with regard to its duration, since it took up above fifty years, is very little remarkable as to the events which relate to Carthage. They may be reduced to two heads; of which the one relates to the person of Hannibal, and the other to some particular differences [pg 250] between the Carthaginians and Masinissa king of the Numidians. We shall treat both separately, but at no great length.