would ever invade his dominions. Hannibal, who was now reftored to favour, was for ever affuring him, that the war would foon be removed into Afia, and that he would foon fee the enemy at his gates: That he must refolve, either to abocate his throne, or oppofe vigorously a people who grasped ac the empire of the world. This difcourfe waked, in fome litre measure, the king out of his lethargy, and prompted him to make fome weak efforts. But as his conduct was uniteadv, after sustaining a great many confiderable loffes, he was forced to terminate the war by an ignominious peace; one of the articles of which was, that he fhould deliver up Hannibal to the Romans. However, the latter did not give him opportunity to put it in execution, retiring to the island of Crete, to confider there what course it would be beft for him to take. (r) The riches he had brought along with him, of which the people of the island got fome notice, had like to ave proved his ruin. Hannibal was never wanting in stratagems, and he had occafion to employ them now, to fave both himfelf and his treasure. He filled several veffels with molten lead, which he just covered over with gold and filver. Thefe he depofited in the temple of Diana, in prefence of feveral Cretans, to whofe honefty, he said, he confided all his trea A ftrong guard was then posted on the temple, and Hannibal left full at liberty, from a fuppofition that his riches > were fecured. But he had concealed them in hollow ftatues. of brafs, which he always carried along with him. (s) And then, embracing a favourable opportunity he had to make his efcape, he fled to the court of Prufias king of Bithynia. It appears from history, that he made fome ftay in the court of this prince, who foon engaged in war with Eumenes king' of Pergamus, a profeffed friend to the Romans. By means of Hannibal, the troops of king Prufias gained feveral vicories both by land and fea. (1) He employed a ftratagem, of an extraordinary kind, in a fea-fight. The enemy's fleet, confifting of more flips than bis, he had recourfe to artifice. He put into earthen veffels, all kinds of ferpents, and ordered thefe veffels to be thrown into the enemy's fhips. His chief aim in this was, to dearoy Eumenes; and for that purpose, it was 'neceffary for him to B 5 (r) Corn. Nep. in Annib, c. 9 & 19. Juftin, 1. xxxii. c. 4. (1) A M. 3820. A. Rom. 564. Corn. Nep. in Annib. c. 10, 11. fun. 1. xxxi, c. (r) Juftio. I. xxxii. c. 4. Corn, Nep in vit. Annib. 4. Thefe ftatues were thrown out by him, in a place of publick refort, as thin s of little value. Corn. Nep. find out which fhip he was on board of. This Hannibal difcovered, by fending out a boat, upon pretence of conveying. a letter to him. Having gained his point thus far, he ordered the commanders of the refpective veffels to employ the chief force of their attacks against Eumenes's thip. They obeyed, and would have taken it, had he not outfailed his purfuers. The rest of the fhips of Pergamus fuftained the fight with great vigour, till the earthen veffels had been thrown into them. At first they only laughed at this, and were very much furprised to find fuch weapons employed against them. But feeing themselves furrounded with ferpents which flew out of thefe veffels, when they flew to pieces, they were feined with dread, retired in diforder, and yielded the victory to the enemy, (u) Services of fo important a nature, feemed to fecure for ever to Hannibal an undisturbed asylum at that prince's court. However, the Romans would not fuffer him to be easy there, but deputed Q. Flaminius to Prufias, to complain of the pro-. tection he gave Hannibal. The latter easily gueffed the mo tive of this embaffy, and therefore did not wait till his enemies had an opportunity of delivering him up. At first he attempted to fecure himfelf by flight; but perceiving that the feven fecret outlets, which he had contrived in his palace,. were all feized by the foldiers of Prufias, who, by this perfi dy, was defirous of making his court to the Romans; he or dered the poifon, which he had long kept for this melancholy occafion, to be brought him, and taking it in his hand, Let.. 66 us, faid he, free the Romans from the difquiet with which "they have fo long been tortured, fince they have not pati66 ence to wait for an old man's death. The victory which Flaminius gains over a naked, betrayed man, will not do "him much honour. This fingle day will be a lafting tefti"mony of the great degeneracy of the Romans. Their fa"thers fent notice to Pyrrhus, to defire he would beware of a "traitor who intended to poifon him, and that at a time "when this prince was at war with them in the very centre of Italy; but their fons have deputed a perfon of confular dignity, to fpirit up Prufias, impiously to murther one, who is not only his friend, but his gueft." After calling down curfes upon Prufias, and having invoked the gods, the protectors and avengers of the facred rights of hofpitality, he fwallowed the poifon, and died at feventy years of age. This (s) A. M. 1822. A. Rom. 566. Liv. 1. xxxix. n. 51. Plutarch, according to bis cuftom, faya be, relate, that having wrapped affigns bim three different deaths. Some, his cloak about bis neck, be ordered bis Jer This year was remarkable for the death of three great men, Hannibal, Philopamen, and Scipio, who had this in common, that they all died out of their native countries, by a death little correfpondent to the glory of their actions. The two first died by poifon; Hannibal was betrayed by his hott and Philopamen being taken prifoner, in a battle against the Meffenians, and thrown into a dungeon, was forced to fivallow a dofe of poifon. As to Scipio, he banished himself, to avoid an unjuft profecution which was carrying on against himat Rome, and ended his days in a kind of obfcurity. The Character and Eulogium of HANNIBAL. " This would be the proper place for reprefenting the excellent qualities of Hannibal, who reflected fo much glory on Carthage. But as I have attempted to draw his character elsewhere, and to give a juft idea of him, by making a com parison between him and Scipio, I think myfelf difpenfed from giving his eulogium at large in this place. Perfons who devote themselves to the profeffion of arms, cannot spend too much time in the ftudy of this great man, who is looked upon, by the judges, as the most compleat general, in almost every refpect, that ever the world produced. During the whole feventeen years, (the time the war lafted) two errors, only, are objected to him: Firft, his not marching, immediately after the battle of Cannæ, his victorious. army to Rome, in order to befiege that city Secondly, his fuffering their courage to be foftened and enervated, during their winter quarters in Capua: Errors, which only fhew, that great men are not fo in all things; † fummi enim funt, hamines tamen; and which, perhaps, may be partly excufed. But then, for thefe two errors, what a multitude of fhining qualities appear in Hannibal! How extenfive were his views and defigns, even in his most tender years! What greatness of foul! What intrepidity! What prefence of mind must he have poffeffed, to be able, even in the fire and heat of action, to take all advantages With what furprising addrefs mut he have managed the minds of men, that, amidft fo great a variety of nations which compofed his army, who often were in want both of money and provifions, his camp was not once B 6 dif ways carried about bim; and taking the ferwant to fix bis knees against bis but- VOL. I. Of the method of Audy ing and teaching the Belles Lettres t Quintil. turbed with any infurrection, either against himself or any of his generals! With what equity, what moderation must he have behaved towards his new allies, to have prevailed fo far, as to attach them inviolably to his fervice, though he was reduced to the neceffity of making them fuftain almost the whole burthen of the war, by quartering his army upon them, and levying contributions in their feveral countries! In fine, how fruitful muft he have been in expedients, to be able to carry on, for fo many years, a war in a remote country, in fpite of the violent oppofition made by a powerful domeftick faction, which refused him fupplies of every kind, and thwarted him on all occafions! It may be affirmed, that Hannibal, during the whole feries of this war, feemed the only prop of the ftate, and the foul of every part of the empire of the Carthaginians, who could never believe themfelves conquered, till Hannibal confeffed that he himself was fo. But that man muft know the character of Hannibal very imperfectly, who fhould confider him only at the head of ar mies. The particulars we learn from hiftory, concerning the fecret intelligence he held with Philip of Macedon; the wife counfels he gave to Antiochus, king of Syria; the double regulation he introduced in Carthage, with regard to the management of the publick revenues, and the administration of juftice, prove, that he was a great statesman in every refpect. So fuperior and univerfal was his genius, that it took in all parts of government; and, fo great was his natural abilities, that he was capable to acquit himself in all the various func tions of it with glory, Hannibal fhone as confpicuously in the cabinet as in the field; equally able to fill the civil or the military employments. In a word, he united in his own per fon the different talents and merits of all profeffions, the fword, the gown, and the finances. He had fome learning; and though he was fo much employed in military labours, and engaged in fo many wars, he however found leifure to cultivate the mufes *. Several fmart. repartees of Hannibal, which have been tranfmitted to us, fhew, that he had a great fund of natural wit; and this he improved by the most polite education that could be bestowed. at that time, in fuch a republick as Carthage. He fpoke: Greek tolerably well, and wrote fome books in that language. His præceptor was a Lacedæmonion (Solfius) who, with Phi lenius, another Lacedæmonian, accompanied him in all his expe Atque hic tantus vir, tantifque | tribuit litteris, &c. Corn. Nep. in bellis diftriétus, non nihil tempor.s | vita Annib. cap. 13. expeditions. Both thefe undertook to write the hiftory of this renowned warrior. With regard to his religion and moral conduct, he was not fo profligate and wicked as he is reprefented by (w) Livy, "cruel even to inhumanity, more perfidious than a Cartha"ginian; regardless of truth, of probity, of the facred ties "of oaths; fearless of the gods, and utterly void of religion." Inhumana crudelitas, perfidia plufquam Punica; nibil veri, nihil fan&ti, nullus deûm metus, nullum jusjurandum, nulla religio. (x) According to Polybius, he rejected a barbarous propofal that was made him, before he entered Italy, and this was, to eat human flesh, at a time when his army was in abfolute want of provifions. (y) Some years after, fo far from treating with barbarity, as he was advised to do, the dead body of Sempronius Gracchus which Mago had fent him; he caused his funeral obfequies to be folemnized, in prefence of the whole army. We have seen him, on many occafions, fhewing the highest reverence for the gods; and (x) Juftin, who copied Trogus Pompeius, an author worthy of credit, obferves, that he always fhewed uncommon wisdom and continence, with regard to the great number of women taken by him during the courfe of fo long a war; infomuch that no one would have imagined he had been born in Africa, where incontinence is the predominant vice of the country. Pudicitiamque eum tantam inter tot captivas babuiffe, ut in Africa natum quivis negaret. His difregard of wealth, at a time when he had fo many opportunities to enrich himself by the plunder of the cities he formed, and the nations he fubdued, fhews, that he knew the true and genuine ufe which a general ought to make of riches, viz. to gain the affection of his foldiers, and to attach allies to his intereft, by diffufing his beneficence on proper occafions, and not being fparing in his rewards: a very effential quality, and at the fame time as uncommon in a commander. The only use Hannibal made of money was to purchafe fuccefs; firmly perfuaded, that a man who is at the head of affairs, is fufficiently recompenfed by the glory derived from victory. * He always led a very regular, auftere life; and even in times of peace, and in the midst of Carthage, when he was invested (w) Lib. xxi, n, 4. Diod. p. 282. Liv. 1. xxv. n. 17. (x) Excerpt, e Polyb. p. 33. (y) Excerpt, e Cibi potionifque, defiderio Liv, 1. xxi. sali, non foluptate, modus finiturnat Annibalem nec tum cùm Ro |