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purfuing this method, the Romans be- 

 came, at laft, in appearance, invincible by 

 any power on earth, as they not only poflef- 

 fed a great degree of military fkill, but were 

 capable of overpowering, by numbers, the few 

 nations who could contend with them, for a 

 fhort time, in the field ; and, had it not been 

 for their diflipation and divifions, the certain 

 forerunners of definition to all empires, they 

 might have continued much longer. 



In the time of the firft Punic war, Hamil- 

 car, the father of the great Hannibal, cleariy 

 perceived the fources from whence the im- 

 menfe power of the Romans was derived. He^ 

 therefore, projedled the conquefl of Spain, a 

 country equal, in extent to Italy, and which, 

 of confequence, would be capable of furnifh- 

 ing fufficient i efources for recruiting his ar- 

 mies, in time of war, without having recourfe 

 to the dangerous expedient of hiring merce- 

 naries. 



It would be foreign to our purpofe, to enter 

 minutely into the caufes of Hannibal's fai- 

 lure, in his attempt to fubdiie the Romans. 

 It is fufficient to obferve, that his country- 

 men differed totally in their ideas, and fancied 



themfelves 



