Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

have I met with him only by accident and unawares ? Or am I come on purpose to challenge him to the combat? I would gladly try, whether the earth, within these twenty years has brought forth a new kind of Carthaginians; or whether they be the same sort of men who fought at the gates, and whom, at Eryx, you suffered to redeem themselves at eighteen denarii per head; whether this Hannibal, for labors and journeys, be as he would be thought, the rival of Hercules; or whether he be, what his father left him, a tributary, a vassal, a slave to the Roman people. Did not the consciousness of his wicked deed at Saguntum.torment him and make him desperate, he would have some regard, if not to his conquered country, yet surely to his own family, to his father's memory, to the treaty written with Amilcar's own hand. We might have starved him in Eryx; we might have passed into Africa with our victorious fleet, and in a few days, have destroyed Carthage At their humble supplication, we pardoned them; we released them when they were closely shut up without a possibility of escaping; we made peace with them when they were conquered. When they were distressed by the African war, we considered them, we treated them as a people under our protection. And what is the return they make for all these favors ? Under the conduct of a hair-brained young man, they come hither to overturn our state, and lay waste country. I could wish indeed, that it were not so ; and that the war we are now engaged in concerned only our own glory, and not our preservation. But the contest, at present, is not for the possession of Sicily and Sardinia but of Italy itself; nor is there behind us another army, which, if we should not prove the conquerors, may make head against our victorious enemies. There are no more Alps for them to pass, which might give us leisure to raise new forces. No, soldiers; here you must make your stand, as if you were just now before the walls of Rome. Let every one reflect, that he has now to defend not only his own person, but his wife, his children, his helpless infants. Yet let not private considerations alone possess our minds; let us remember that the eyes

our

of the senate and people of Rome are upon us; and that as our force and courage shall now prove, such will be the fortune of that city, and of the Roman empire.

VII. Speech of Hannibal to the Carthaginian Army, on the same Occasion.

I KNOW not, soldiers, whether you or your prisoners be encompassed by fortune, with the stricter bonds and necessities. Two seas inclose you on the right and left; not a ship to fly to for escaping. Before you is the Po, a river broader and more rapid than the Rhone; behind you are the Alps, over which, even when your numbers were undiminished, you were hardly able to force a passage. Here, then, soldiers, you must either conquer or die the very first hour you meet the enemy.

But the same fortune, which has thus laid you under the necessity of fighting, has set before your eyes the most glorious reward of victory. Should we by our valor, recover only Sicily and Sardinia, which were ravished from our fathers, those would be no inconsiderable prizes. Yet what are those? The wealth of Rome; whatever riches she has heaped together in the spoils of nations; all these with the masters of them, will be yours The time is now come to reap the full recompense of your toilsome marches over so many mountains and rivers, and thraagh so many nations, all of them in arms. This is the place which fortune has appointed to be the limits of your labor; it is here that you will finish your glorious warfare, and receive an ample recompense of your completed service. For I would not have you imagine, that victory will be as difficult as the name of a Roman war is great and sounding. It has often happened, that a despised enemy has given a bloody battle; and the most renowned kings and nations, have by a small force been overthrown. And if you but take away the glitter of the Roman name, what is there wherein they may stand in competition with you? For (to say nothing of your service in war, for twenty years together, with so much valor and success) from the wery pillars of Hercules, from the ocean, from the ut

most bounds of the earth, through so many warlike nations of Spain and Gaul, are you not come hither victorious? and with whom are you now to fight? With raw soldiers, an undisciplined army, beaten, vanquished, besieged by the Gauls, the very last summer; an army unknown to their leader, and unacquainted with him.

Or shall 1, who was born, I might almost say, but certainly brought up, in the tent of my father, that most excellent general; Shall I, the conqueror of Spain and Gaul, and not only of the Alpine nations, but which is still greater, of the Alps themselves-Shall I compare myself with this half-year's captain ? A captain, before whom should one place the two armies without their ensigns, I am persuaded he would not know to which of them he is consul. I esteem it no small advantage, soldiers, that there is not one among you who has not of ten been an eye witness of my exploits in war; not one of whose valor I myself have not been a spectator, so as to be able to name the times and places of his noble achievements; that with soldiers, whom I have a thousand times praised and rewarded, and whose pupil I was before I became their general, I shall march against an army of men, strangers to one another.

On what side soever I turn my eyes I behold all full of courage and strength. A veteran infantry; a most gallant cavalry; you, my allies, most faithful and valiant; you, Carthaginians, whom not only your country's cause but the justest anger impels to battle. The hope, the courage of assailants is always greater than of those who act upon the defensive. With hostile banners displayed you are come down upon Italy: You bring the war. Grief, injuries, indignities, fire your minds and spur you forward to revenge. First, they demand me, that I, your general, should be delivered up to them; next, all of you who had fought at the siege of Saguntum; and we were to be put to death by the extremest tortures. Proud and cruel nation! Every thing must be yours, and at your disposal! You are to prescribe to us with whom we shall make war, with whom we shall make peace! You are to set us bounds; to shut

us up within hills and rivers; but you, you are not to observe the limits which yourselves have fixed! "Pass. not the Iberus." What next? Touch not the Saguntines: Saguntum is upon the Iberus; move not a steptowards that city." Is it a small matter, then, that you have deprived us of our ancient possessions, Sicily and Sardinia? You would have Spain too. Well; we shall yield Spain, and then-you will pass into Africa. Will pass, did I say ?-This very year they ordered one of their consuls into Africa-the other into Spain. No, soldiers, there is nothing left for us, but what we can. vindicate with our swords. Come on, then. Be men. The Romans may, with more safety, be cowards; they have their own country behind them, have places of ref uge to fly to, and are secure from danger in the roads thither; but for you, there is no middle fortune between death and victory. Let this be but well fixed in your minds; and once again, I say you are conquerors. VIII.-Speech of Adherbal to the Roman Senate, imploring their Assistance against Jugurtha.

FATHERS!

IT is known to you, that king Micipsa, my father, on his death bed, left in charge to Jugurtha, his adopted son, conjunctly with my unfortunate brother, Hiempsal, and myself, the children of his own body, the administration of the kingdom of Numidia, directing us to consider the senate and people of Rome, as proprietars of it. fle charged us to use our best endeavors to be serviceable' to the Roman commonwealth, in peace and war; assuring us, that our protection would prove to us a defence against all enemies, and would be instead of armies, fortifications and treasures.

While my brother and I were thinking of nothing but how to regulate ourselves according to the directions of our deceased father-Jugurtha-the most infamous of mankind-breaking through all fies of gratitude, and of common humanity, and trampling on the authority of the Roman commonwealth, procured the murder of my unfortunate brother, and has driven me from my throne and native country, though he knows I inherit from my

grandfather Masinissa, and my father Micipsa, the friendship and alliance of the Romans.

For a prince to be reduced, by villany, to my distressful circumstances, is calamity enough; but my misfortunes are heightened by the consideration-that I find myself obliged to solicit your assistance, Fathers, for the services done you by my ancestors, not for any I have been able to render you in my own person. Jugurtha has put it out of my power to deserve any thing at your hands; and has forced me to be burthensome, before I could be useful to you. And yet, if I had no plea but my undeserved misery-a once powerful prince, the descendant of a race of illustrious monarchs, now, without any faults of my own, destitute of every support, and reduced to the necessity of begging foreign assistance against an enemy who has seised my throne and my kingdom-if my unequalled distresses were all I had to plead-it would become the greatness of the Roman commonwealth, the arbitress of the world, to protect the injured, and to check the triumph of daring wickedness over helpless innocence.-But to provoke your vengeance to the utmost, Jugurtha has driven me from the very dominions, which the senate and the people of Rome gave to my ancestors; and from which, my grandfather and my father, under your umbrage, expelled Syphax and the Carthaginians. Thus, Fathers, your kindness to our family is defeated; and Jugurtha, in injuring me throws contempt on you.

O wretched prince! O cruel reverse of fortune! @ father Micipsa! Is this the consequence of your generosity; that he whom your goodness raised to an equali ty with your own children, should be the murderer of your children? Must, then, the royal house of Numidia always be a scene of havock and blood? While Carthage remained, we suffered, as was to be expected, all sorts of hardships from their hostile attacks; our enemy near; our only powerful ally, the Roman commonwealth, at a distance. While we were so circumstanced, we were always in arms and in action. When that scourge of Africa was no more, we congratulated ourselves on the prospect of established peace. But instead of peace,

« ForrigeFortsett »