In a council held some time after, to which Hannibal, for form sake, was admitted, he, when it came to his turn to speak, endeavoured chiefly to prove, that Philip of Macedon ought, on any terms, to be engaged to form an alliance with Antiochus, which was not so difficult as might be imagined.[830] “With regard,” says Hannibal, “to the operations of the war, I adhere immovably to my first opinion; and had my counsels been listened to before, Tuscany and Liguria would now be all in a flame: and Hannibal (a name that strikes terror into the Romans) in Italy. Though I should not be very well skilled as to other matters, yet the good and ill success I have met with must [pg 258] necessarily have taught me sufficiently how to carry on a war against the Romans. I have nothing now in my power, but to give you my counsel, and offer you my service. May the gods give success to all your undertakings!” Hannibal's speech was received with applause, but not one of his counsels was put in execution.
Antiochus, imposed upon and lulled asleep by his flatterers, remained quiet at Ephesus, after the Romans had driven him out of Greece;[831] not once imagining that they would ever invade his dominions. Hannibal, who was now restored to favour, was for ever assuring him, that the war would soon be removed into Asia, and that he would soon see the enemy at his gates: that he must resolve, either to abdicate his throne, or oppose vigorously a people who grasped at the empire of the world. This discourse awakened, in some little measure, the king out of his lethargy, and prompted him to make some weak efforts. But, as his conduct was unsteady, after sustaining a great many considerable losses, he was forced to terminate the war by an ignominious peace; one of the articles of which was, that he should deliver up Hannibal to the Romans. However, the latter did not give him opportunity to put it in execution, but retired to the island of Crete, to consider there what course it would be best for him to take.
The riches he had brought along with him, of which the people of the island got some notice, had like to have proved his ruin.[832] Hannibal was never wanting in stratagems, and he had occasion to employ them now, to save both himself and his treasure. He filled several vessels with molten lead, the tops of which he just covered over with gold and silver. These he deposited in the temple of Diana, in presence of several Cretans, to whose honesty, he said, he confided all his treasure. A strong guard was then posted round the temple, and Hannibal left at full liberty, from a supposition that his riches were secured.
A.M. 3820. A. Rom. 564.
But he had concealed them in hollow statues of brass,[833] which he always carried along with him. And then, embracing a favourable opportunity to [pg 259] make his escape, he fled to the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia.[834]
It appears from history, that he made some stay in the court of this prince, who soon engaged in war with Eumenes, king of Pergamus, a professed friend to the Romans. By means of Hannibal, the troops of Prusias gained several victories both by land and sea.
He employed a stratagem of an extraordinary kind, in a sea-fight.[835] As the enemy's fleet consisted of more ships than his, he had recourse to artifice. He put into earthen vessels all kinds of serpents, and ordered these vessels to be thrown into the enemy's ships. His chief aim was to destroy Eumenes; and for that purpose it was necessary for him to find out which ship he was on board of. This Hannibal discovered by sending out a boat, upon pretence of conveying a letter to him. Having gained his point thus far, he ordered the commanders of the respective vessels to direct their attack principally against Eumenes's ship. They obeyed, and would have taken it, had he not outsailed his pursuers. The rest of the ships of Pergamus sustained the fight with great vigour, till the earthen vessels had been thrown into them. At first they only laughed at this, and were very much surprised to find such weapons employed against them. But when they saw themselves surrounded with the serpents, which darted out of these vessels when they flew to pieces, they were seized with dread, retired in disorder, and yielded the victory to the enemy.
A.M. 3882. A. Rom. 566.
Services of so important a nature seemed to secure for ever to Hannibal an undisturbed asylum at that prince's court.[836] However, the Romans would not suffer him to be easy there, but deputed Q. Flamininus to Prusias, to complain of the protection he gave Hannibal. The latter easily guessed the motive of this embassy, and therefore did not wait till his enemies had an opportunity of delivering him up. At first he attempted to secure himself by flight; but perceiving that the seven secret outlets, which he had contrived in his palace, were all seized by the soldiers of Prusias, who, by perfidiously betraying his guest, was desirous of making [pg 260] his court to the Romans; he ordered the poison, which he had long kept for this melancholy occasion, to be brought him; and taking it in his hand, “Let us,” said he, “free the Romans from the disquiet with which they have so long been tortured, since they have not patience to wait for an old man's death. The victory which Flamininus gains over a man disarmed and betrayed will not do him much honour. This single day will be a lasting testimony of the great degeneracy of the Romans. Their fathers sent notice to Pyrrhus, to desire he would beware of a traitor who intended to poison him, and that at a time when this prince was at war with them in the very centre of Italy; but their sons have deputed a person of consular dignity to spirit up Prusias, impiously to murder one who is not only his friend, but his guest.” After calling down curses upon Prusias, and having invoked the gods, the protectors and avengers of the sacred rights of hospitality, he swallowed the poison,[837] and died at seventy years of age.
This year was remarkable for the death of three great men, Hannibal, Philopœmen, and Scipio, who had this in common, that they all died out of their native countries, by a death little correspondent to the glory of their actions. The two first died by poison: Hannibal being betrayed by his host; and Philopœmen being taken prisoner in a battle against the Messenians, and thrown into a dungeon, was forced to swallow poison. As to Scipio, he banished himself, to avoid an unjust prosecution which was carrying on against him at Rome, and ended his days in a kind of obscurity.