No Reasonable Pretext for Rome to Claim Sardinia
As we find then that the Roman invasion of
Sicily was
not in contravention of their oaths, so we must acknowledge
in the case of the second proclamation of
war, in consequence of which the treaty for
the evacuation of
Sardinia was made, that
it is impossible to find any reasonable pretext or ground
for the Roman action.
No excuse for the Roman claim on Sardinia. |
The Carthaginians were beyond
question compelled by the necessities of their position, contrary
to all justice, to evacuate
Sardinia, and to pay this enormous sum
of money. For as to the allegation of the Romans, that they
had during the Mercenary war been guilty of acts of hostility
to ships sailing from
Rome,—that was barred by their own act
in restoring, without ransom, the Carthaginian prisoners, in
gratitude for similar conduct on the part of
Carthage to
Romans who had landed on their shores; a transaction which
I have spoken of at length in my previous book.
1
These facts established, it remains to decide by a thorough
investigation to which of the two nations the origin of the
Hannibalian war is to be imputed.