Being disturbed with these anxieties, he so conducted himself for five years in the African war, which commenced shortly after the peace with Rome, and then through nine years employed in augmenting the Carthaginian empire in Spain, that it was obvious that he was revolving in his mind a greater war than he was then engaged in; and that if he had lived longer, the Carthaginians under Hamilcar would have carried the war into Italy, which, under the command of Hannibal, they afterwards did. The timely death of Hamilcar and the youth of Hannibal occasioned its delay. Hasdrubal, intervening between the father and the son, held the command for about eight years. He was first endeared to Hamilcar, as they say, on account of his youthful beauty, and then adopted by him, when advanced in age, as his son-in-law, on account of his eminent abilities; and, because he was his son-in-law, he obtained the supreme authority, against the wishes of the nobles, by the influence of the Barcine faction, [[13]] which was very powerful with the military and the populace. Prosecuting his designs rather by stratagem than force, by entertaining the princes, and by means of the friendship of their leaders, gaining the favour of unknown nations, he aggrandized the Carthaginian power, more than by arms and battles. Yet peace proved no greater security to himself. A barbarian, in resentment of his master's having been put to death by him, publicly murdered him; and, having been seized by the bystanders, he exhibited the same countenance as if he had escaped; nay, even when he was lacerated by tortures, he preserved such an expression of face, that he presented the appearance of one who smiled, his joy getting the better of his pains. With this Hasdrubal, because he possessed such wonderful skill in gaining over the nations and adding them to his empire, the Roman people had renewed the treaty, [[14]] on the terms, that the river Iberus should be the boundary of both empires; and that to the Saguntines, who lay between the territories of the two states, their liberty should be preserved.
3
There was no doubt that in appointing a successor to Hasdrubal, the approbation of the commons would follow the military prerogative, by which the young Hannibal had been immediately carried to the praetorium, and hailed as general, amid the loud shouts and acquiescence of all. Hasdrubal had sent for him by letter, when scarce yet arrived at manhood; and the matter had even been discussed in the senate, the Barcine faction using all their efforts, that Hannibal might be trained to military service and succeed to his father's command. Hanno, the leader of the opposite faction, said, "Hasdrubal seems indeed to ask what is reasonable, but I, nevertheless, do not think his request ought to be granted." When he had attracted to himself the attention of all, through surprise at this ambiguous opinion, he proceeded: "Hasdrubal thinks that the flower of youth which he gave to the enjoyment of Hannibal's father, may justly be expected by himself in return from the son: but it would little become us to accustom our youth, in place of a military education, to the lustful ambition of the generals. Are we afraid that the son of Hamilcar should be too late in seeing the immoderate power and splendour of his father's sovereignty? or that we shall not soon enough become slaves to the son of him, to whose son-in-law our armies were bequeathed as an hereditary right? I am of opinion, that this youth should be kept at home, and taught, under the restraint of the laws and the authority of magistrates, to live on an equal footing with the rest of the citizens, lest at some time or other this small fire should kindle a vast conflagration."
4
A few, and nearly every one of the highest merit, concurred with Hanno; but, as usually happens, the more numerous party prevailed over the better. Hannibal, having been sent into Spain, from his very first arrival drew the eyes of the whole army upon him. The veteran soldiers imagined that Hamilcar, in his youth, was restored to them; they remarked the same vigour in his looks and animation in his eye the same features and expression of countenance; and then, in a short time, he took care that his father should be of the least powerful consideration in conciliating their esteem. There never was a genius more fitted for the two most opposite duties of obeying and commanding; so that you could not easily decide whether he were dearer to the general or the army: and neither did Hasdrubal prefer giving the command to any other, when any thing was to be done with courage and activity; nor did the soldiers feel more confidence and boldness under any other leader. His fearlessness in encountering dangers, and his prudence when in the midst of them, were extreme. His body could not be exhausted, nor his mind subdued, by any toil. He could alike endure either heat or cold. The quantity of his food and drink was determined by the wants of nature, and not by pleasure. The seasons of his sleeping and waking were distinguished neither by day nor night. The time that remained after the transaction of business was given to repose; but that repose was neither invited by a soft bed nor by quiet. Many have seen him wrapped in a military cloak, lying on the ground amid the watches and outposts of the soldiers. His dress was not at all superior to that of his equals: his arms and his horses were conspicuous. He was at once by far the first of the cavalry and infantry; and, foremost to advance to the charge, was last to leave the engagement. Excessive vices counterbalanced these high virtues of the hero; inhuman cruelty, more than Punic perfidy, no truth, no reverence for things sacred, no fear of the gods, no respect for oaths, no sense of religion. With a character thus made up of virtue and vices, he served for three years under the command of Hasdrubal, without neglecting any thing which ought to be done or seen by one who was to become a great general.
5
But from the day on which he was declared general, as if Italy had been decreed to him as his province, and the war with Rome committed to him, thinking there should be no delay, lest, while he procrastinated, some unexpected accident might defeat him, as had happened to his father, Hamilcar, and afterwards to Hasdrubal, he resolved to make war the Saguntines. As there could be no doubt that by attacking them the Romans would be excited to arms, he first led his army into the territory of the Olcades, a people beyond the Iberus, rather within the boundaries than under the dominion of the Carthaginians, so that he might not seem to have had the Saguntines for his object, but to have been drawn on to the war by the course of events; after the adjoining nations had been subdued, and by the progressive annexation of conquered territory. He storms and plunders Carteia, a wealthy city, the capital of that nation; at which the smaller states being dismayed, submitted to his command and to the imposition of a tribute. His army, triumphant and enriched with booty, was led into winter-quarters to New Carthage. Having there confirmed the attachment of all his countrymen and allies by a liberal division of the plunder, and by faithfully discharging the arrears of pay, the war was extended, in the beginning of spring, to the Vaccaei. The cities Hermandica and Arbocala were taken by storm. Arbocala was defended for a long time by the valour and number of its inhabitants. Those who escaped from Hermandica joining themselves to the exiles of the Olcades, a nation subdued the preceding summer, excite the Carpetani to arms; and having attacked Hannibal near the river Tagus, on his return from the Vaccaei, they threw into disorder his army encumbered with spoil. Hannibal avoided an engagement, and having pitched his camp on the bank, as soon as quiet and silence prevailed among the enemy, forded the river; and having removed his rampart so far that the enemy might have room to pass over, resolved to attack them in their passage. He commanded the cavalry to charge as soon as they should see them advanced into the water. He drew up the line of his infantry on the bank with forty elephants in front. The Carpetani, with the addition of the Olcades and Vaccaei amounted to a hundred thousand, an invincible army, were the fight to take place in the open plain. Being therefore both naturally ferocious and confiding in their numbers; and since they believed that the enemy had retired through fear thinking that victory was only delayed by the intervention of the river, they raise a shout, and in every direction, without the command of any one, dash into the stream, each where it nearest to him. At the same time, a heavy force of cavalry poured into the river from its opposite bank, and the engagement commenced in the middle of the channel on very unequal terms; for there the foot-soldier, having no secure footing, and scarcely trusting to the ford, could be borne down even by an unarmed horseman, by the mere shock of his horse urged at random; while the horseman, with the command of his body and his weapons, his horse moving steadily even through the middle of the eddies, could maintain the fight either at close quarters or at a distance. A great number were swallowed up by the current; some being carried by the whirlpools of the stream to the side of the enemy, were trodden down by the elephants; and whilst the last, for whom it was more safe to retreat to their own bank, were collecting together after their various alarms, Hannibal, before they could regain courage after such excessive consternation, having entered the river with his army in a close square, forced them to fly from the bank. Having then laid waste their territory, he received the submission of the Carpetani also within a few days. And now all the country beyond the Iberus, excepting that of the Saguntines, was under the power of the Carthaginians.