Corn. Nep. in Juftin. 1. 32. c. 4. Liv.1. 35. a Temple, and Hannibal left at full: Liberty, as it was believed that his Treafures were fecured. But he had concealed them in hollow Statues of Brafs which he always carry'd about with him. He laid hold on a favourable Opportunity for his Escape, and went next to the Court of Prufias King of Bithynia. IT appears that he made fome Stay in the Court of this Prince, who immediately engaged in a War against Eumenes King of Pergamus, the declared Friend of the Romans. Hannibal made the Troops of Prufias fuccefsful in feveral Engagements both by Land and Sea b. SERVICES fo important feemed to affure Hannibal of an undisturbed Afylum with that Prince. But the Romans left him no Repofe, and deputed 2 Flaminius to Prufias, to complain of the Protection given by him to Hannibal. It was not difficult for Hannibal to guefs at the Subject of this Embaffy, but he waited not till his Enemies had him in their Power. At first he attempted to fave himself by Flight, but perceiving that the feven conceal'd Palfages, which he had contrived out of his House, were all feized by the Soldiers of Prufias, who by this Perfidy defired to make his Court to the Romans, he ordered the Poifon which he had long kept for this melancholy Occafion to be brought, and holding it in his Hands, "Let us, faid he, free the Romans from the Care which has fo long tormented them, fince they have not Patience to a Thefe Statues were thrown out by him in a publick Place as Things of little Value. Corn. Nep. Juftin mentions a Stratagem made Ufe of by Hannibal in a Naval Engagement against Eumenes. He ordered feveral Earthen Pots to be fill'd with all sorts of Serpents, and, during the En gagement, thrown into the Ships of the Enemy. The Thing was laugh'd at at firft, but the serpents pouring out in greater Numbers upon the Decks, difordered the Soldiers, and obliged the Navy of Eumenes to feek its Safety in a flight. L. 32. c. 4. walt wait for an old Man's Death. Flaminius will reap no great Honour from a Victory over a Man "difarm'd and betray'd. This Day will be a lasting Testimony of the Degeneracy of the Romans. Their Fathers cautioned Pyrrhus, while he was tr in Arms, and in the Bowels of Italy, against the "intended Treachery of his own Servant, and their "Pofterity have deputed a Man of Confular Digni ty, to prevail with Prufias impioufly to murder "his Friend and his Hoft." After folemn Execrations of Prufias, and Invocations of the Gods, the Protectors and Avengers of the violated Rights. of Hofpitality, to pour their Curfes on his Head, he fwallowed the Poifon, and died feventy Years of Age. THIS Year was famous for the Deaths of three great Men, Hannibal, Philopamen, and Scipio, who had this in common, that they all died out of their Country by a Death little correfpondent to the Glory of their Actions. The two firft died by Poison, Hannibal betray'd by his Hoft, and Philopœmen, taken Prisoner in an Action against the Meffenians, and thrown into a Dungeon, was forced to drink Poifon. Scipio went into a voluntary Banishment to avoid an unjuft Impeachment defigned against him at Rome, and ended his Days in a fort of Obscurity. The Elogy and Character of HANNIBAL HERE would be a proper Place to difplay the excellent Qualities of Hannibal who has done fo < Plutarch, according to his Cuftom, affigns him three different kinds of Death. Some, fays he, report, that having wrapped his Cloak about bis Neck, be ordered bis Servant to fix bis Knee againft his Buttocks, and not leave twifting it till be bad frangled him. Others fay, that in Imitation of Themiftocles and Midas, be drank Bulls Blood. Livy writes, that be mix'd a Poison always carry'd about with him, and taking the Cup into his Hands, faid, Let us free, &c. In vita Flaminii. much Fourth Vol. much Honour to Carthage. But as I have attemptof the Me ed his Character in another Place, and endeavour'd bod of to give a juft Idea of him by comparing him with Scipio, I think it not neceffary to be very prolix in his Character here. Study. PERSONS deftin'd to the Profeffion of Arms cannot too much study this great Man, whom the learned in War regard as the greatest, the most accomplished Soldier in all the Art of War, that any Age has produced. IN the Space of seventeen Years that the War continu'd, he is only charged with two Overfights: The firft was his Neglect to lead his victorious Troops to the Siege of Rome, immediately after the Battle of Canne; the fecond was his fuffering their Courage to be foftened in the Winter Quarters at Capua: Overfights these which only fhew that great Quintil. Men are not always fo; Summi enim funt, homines tamen; and yet perhaps they may be partly excufed. BUT to these few Overfights, let us oppose the excellent Qualities of Hannibal. What and how extensive were his Views from his tenderest Infancy! What Grandeur of Soul; what Intrepidity; what Prefence of Mind in the Fire and Heat of Action to take every Advantage; what Dexterity in the Management of Mens Tempers; fo that in an Army composed of fo many different Nations, and often deftitute of both Provifions and Money, not one Mutiny was ever heard of in his Camp, either against himself, or any of his Generals! What must his Equity, his Moderation have been towards his new Allies whom he always kept inviolably attach'd to his Perfon and Intereft, tho' he in a manner laid the whole Load of the War upon their Shoulders by quartering his Soldiers, and unavoidable Contributions levy'd upon them! Laftly, how great must his Capacity and Invention have been to find out ftill new Refources for the Continuance of fo long a War a War in a diftant Country, and this at a Time when a powerful Faction oppofed him at home, denied him the neceffary Supplies, and crofs'd all his Defigns. It may be faid, that during fo long a War, Hannibal appeared the only Prop of the State, and the Soul of the Carthaginian Empire, which could never believe itfelf vanquished, till Hannibal owned that he was fo. BUT it is by no means fufficient for Hannibal's Character to confider him only at the Head of Armies. His fecret Intelligence with Philip King of Macedon, the wife Counfels which he gave to Antiochus King of Syria, the double Reformation which he effected at Carthage in the Treasury and the Courts of Juftice, discover in him a compleat Statef man in every Refpect. His extenfive and mafterly Genius took in all the Parts of Government, and his natural Talents qualified him to fuftain with. Repu tation all its Offices. He was as confummate a Politician as he was a Soldier, and equally capable of Civil and Military Employs. In one word, he united the different Merits of the Profeffions of the Sword, the Gown, and the Treasury. NOR did he want a good Share of Learning, but, employ'd as he was in military Labours and endless Wars, he found Time for the Cultivation of Letters. Numbers of ingenious Repartees preferved in History discover the Superiority of his Wit; which he compleated by the beft Education which thofe Times and that Republick could afford him. He fpoke Greek tolerably well, and even writefome Books in that Language. He had a Lacedemonian Preceptor called Sofilus, who, with Phienius, another Lacedemonian, attended him in his Wars; and both laboured in compofing the Hiftory of his great Actions. d Atque hic tantus vir tantifque bellis diftri&tus nonnihil temporis tribuit litteris. Nam que aliquot ejus Libri funt Græ co fermone confecti. Corn. Nep. in rita Hannib. His Religion and Morality are by no means fo Lib. 21.n. bad as they are represented by Livy*, Inhuman Cruelty more than Carthaginian Perfidy, no Truth, no Honesty, no Reverence of the Gods, no Regard to Excerpt. Oaths, no manner of Religion. Polybius fays, that he e Polyb. rejected with Horror a favage Proposal made to p. 1384, him, before he entered Italy, of eating human Flesh 1385 Ed. in a Scarcity of Provifions. Some Years after this, Gronov. inftead of treating with Barbarity the dead Body Excerpt. of Sempronius Gracchus fent to him by Mago, as e Diod. fome about him would have had him to do, he Liv. 1. 25. paid it the laft Honours in the Sight of all his Ar n. 17. my. We have seen him on many Occafions exprefs Lib. 32. a great Reverence for the Gods; and Justin, who copied from Trogus Pompeius, an Author very worthy of Credit, obferves that his Chastity was fo confpicuous amidft, a Number of illuftrious and beautiful Captives, that no body would have believed him born in Africk †, where Inconftancy was a national Vice. His Difintereftedness, amidst so many Opportunities of inriching himfelf by the Spoils of vanquifh'd Cities and Nations, inftructs us that he knew the true Use which a General ought to make of Riches, by gaining with them the Hearts of his Soldiers, fixing his Allies to his Interefts, bestowing feafonable Liberalities, and never fparing to reward: A Quality this of the laft Importance to a General, and yet but rarely feen. Hannibal made no other Ufe of Money but to purchafe Succefs, convinced that a Man at the Head of Affairs finds all the reft in the Glory of that. HE led a Life always Auftere and Sober, even in the Times of Peace and in the midft of Carthage while he fuftained the firft Dignity. And History Inhumana crudelitas, perfidia plus quam Punica: Nihil veri, nihil fanti, nullus deûm metus, nullum jusjurandum, nulla religio. † Pudicitiamque eum tantam inter tot Captivas habuiffe, ut in Africa natum quivis negaret. obferves |