CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



state-loan in Egypt, could for the present con- 

 tinue the struggle no longer ; and the whole ol 

 Sicily, except the territory of Hicro of Syracuse 

 who had been a firm ally of the Romans, passed 

 into the hands of the victors, who constituted it a 

 Roman province, and placed it under the govern- 

 ment of a pnctor. A lapse of 23 years occurred 

 before the second Punic War began, but during 

 that interval neither Romans nor Carthaginians 

 hail l)con itlle. The former, with worse than 

 ' Tunic faith,' had bullied their weak and ex- 

 hausted rival into surrendering Sardinia and 

 Corsica, which, like Sicily, were transformed into 

 a Roman province. In addition, they had carried 

 on a series of Gallic wars in Northern Italy (231- 

 H.C), the result of which was the complete 

 humiliation of the barbarian Boii, Insubrcs, &c. 

 and the extension of Italy to its natural boundary 

 thr Alps. Meanwhile, the descent of Hamil- 

 car on the Spanish coast was followed by the 

 establishment of a new Carthaginian empire, or 

 at least a protectorate, in the west ; and thus, 

 almost before the Romans were aware of it, their 

 hated rival had made good her losses again, 

 and was even able to renew the struggle in a 

 more daring fashion than before. How confi- 

 dent the bearing of the Carthaginians had now 

 become, may be seen from the fearless spirit in 

 which they accepted the Roman challenge, and 

 entered on the second Punic or (as the Romans 

 called it) the Hannibalic War, the grand events 

 of which were the crossing of the Alps by Han- 

 nibal, the terrible disasters of the Romans at 

 Lake Trasimene and Cannae, and the final over- 

 throw of Hannibal at Zama, 202 B.C. by Scipio, 

 which once more compelled the Carthaginians to 

 sue for peace. It was with Carthage as with 

 Samnium. The second war virtually sealed her 

 fate, and the third displayed only the frantic 

 heroism of despair. Her Spanish possessions, like 

 her Sicilian, passed to the Romans (who formed 

 out of them the provinces of Hispania Citerior 

 and Hispania Ulterior) ; so did her protectorate 

 over the Numidian sheiks. She was forced to 

 surrender her whole navy (excepting ten triremes), 

 and all her elephants, and to solemnly swear never 

 to make war either in Africa or abroad, except 

 with the consent of her vanquisher. Her relations, 

 indeed, to the conquered Italian nationalities be- 

 came much harsher than they had formerly been, 

 for, after the first victories of Hannibal, these had 

 risen against her. The Picentes, Bruttii, Apulians, 

 and Samnites were deprived either of the whole 

 or the greater part of their lands some com- 

 munities were actually turned into serfs the 

 Greek cities in Lower Italy, most of which had also 

 sided with Hannibal, became the seats of burgess- 

 colonies. But the loss of life and of vital pros- 

 perity was frightful. ' Numbers of flourishing town- 

 ships,' says Mommsen, '400 it was reckoned, 

 were destroyed and ruined.' During 201-196 B.c. 

 the Celts in the valley of the Po, who, with the 

 fiery unwisdom of their race, had recommenced 

 hostilities at the very moment Rome was freed 

 from her embarrassments, were thoroughly subju- 

 gated ; their territory was Latinised, but they them- 

 selves were declared incapable of ever acquiring 

 Roman citizenship ; and so rapidly did their 

 nationality dissolve, that when Polybius, only 30 

 years later, visited the country, nearly all traces of 

 Celtic characteristics had disappeared. The Boii 



106 



were finally extirpated about 193 B.C. ; the Ligu- 

 rians were subdued 180-177 B.C. ; and the interior 

 of Corsica and Sardinia about the same time. The 

 wars in Spain were troublesome and of longer 

 duration, but they were not at all serious. The 

 natives were indeed perpetually in arms, and the 

 Romans suffered frequent defeats from their 

 sudden and impetuous insurrections ; but in the 

 end the superior discipline of the legions always 

 prevailed, and the fiery and chivalrous tribes had 

 of course to make ignominious submission. So 

 little reliance, however, could be placed on these 

 forced submissions, that the Romans felt it neces- 

 sary to hold Spain by military occupation, and 

 hence arose the first Roman standing armies. 

 Forty thousand troops were maintained in the 

 Spanish peninsula year after year. The most 

 distinguished successes were those achieved by the 

 younger Scipio, by Quintus Minucius (197-196 

 B.C.), by Marcus Cato (195 B.C.), by Lucius 

 /Emilius Paullus (189 B.C.), by Caius Calpurnius 

 (185 B.C.), by Quintus Fulvius Flaccus (181 B.C.), 

 and by Tiberius Gracchus (179-178 B.C.). 



MACEDONIAN AND GREEK WARS. 



The causes that led to the interference of Rome in 

 the politics of the East are too complicated to be 

 given here, but the Macedonian Wars were owing 

 immediately to the alliance formed by Philip V. of 

 Macedon with Hannibal after the battle of Cannae. 

 Like the Samnite and Punic, the Macedonian 

 Wars were three in number. The first (214-205 

 B.C.) was barren of results, mainly because the 

 whole energies of Rome were directed to Spain and 

 Lower Italy; but the second (200-197 B.C.), though 

 it lasted only a third of the time occupied by the 

 first, taught Philip that another and not he must 

 rule in Greece. The battle of Cynoscephal<z (' Dogs' 

 Heads' Hills, a range in Thessaly) was followed 

 by a treaty which compelled him to withdraw his 

 garrisons from the Greek cities, to surrender his 

 fleet, and to pay 1000 talents towards the expenses 

 of the war. Philip was thoroughly quelled, and 

 during the remaining 18 years of his life, he 

 adhered (like old Hiero of Syracuse, though less 

 sincerely) to his Roman alliance. But the /Eto- 

 lians, who had formed an alliance with Rome 

 against Philip, quarrelled with their powerful 

 'friends,' and persuaded Antiochus of Syria 

 to come over seas to Thessaly and fight them. 

 A similar fate befell him to what had befallen 

 Philip. After a war of three years, he found 

 riimself obliged to surrender all his possessions 

 m Europe and Asia Minor, all his elephants 

 and ships, and to pay 15,000 Euboic talents 

 (,3,660,000) within twelve years. Next year the 

 /Etolians were crushed ; and a little later, the 

 quarrels between the Achaians and Spartans led 

 to a general Roman protectorate over the whole 

 of Greece. 



Philip of Macedon dying (179 B.C.), was suc- 

 ceeded on the throne by his eldest son Perseus, 

 who resolved once more to tiy the fortune of war 

 with the Romans ; and in 172 B.C. the //Vv/and 

 last Macedonian War began, the result of which, 

 after four years of fighting, was the utter destruc- 

 ion of the Macedonian army at Pydna (168 B.C.) 

 >y the Roman consul Lucius /Emilius Paullus 9 

 :he capture of the king, who adorned the triumph 

 of the conqueror, and the dismemberment of the 



