First Cause of the Second Punic War
I do not allude to Fabius and his annals from any fear of
their wearing such an air of probability in themselves as to
gain any credit,—for the fact is that his assertions are so contrary to reason, that it does not need any argument of mine to
help his readers to perceive it,—but I wished to warn those
who take up his books not to be misled by the authority of his
name, but to be guided by facts. For there is a certain class
of readers in whose eyes the personality of the writer is of more
account than what he says. They look to the fact that
Fabius was a contemporary and a member of the Senate, and
assume without more ado that everything he says may be
trusted. My view, however, is that we ought not to hold the
authority of this writer lightly: yet at the same time that we
should not regard it as all-sufficient; but in reading his writings
should test them by a reference to the facts themselves.
This is a digression from my immediate subject, which is
The Hannibalian or Second Punic war. First cause. |
the war between
Carthage and
Rome. The
cause of this war we must reckon to be the
exasperation of Hamilcar, surnamed Barcas, the
father of Hannibal. The result of the war in
Sicily had not
broken the spirit of that commander. He regarded himself as
unconquered; for the troops at
Eryx which he commanded
were still sound and undismayed: and though he yielded so
far as to make a treaty, it was a concession to the exigencies
of the times brought on by the defeat of the Carthaginians at
sea. But he never relaxed in his determined purpose of revenge; and, had it not been for the mutiny of the mercenaries at
Carthage, he would at once have sought and made
another occasion for bringing about a war, as far as he was
able to do so: as it was, he was preoccupied by the domestic
war, and had to give his attention entirely to that.