76 



CARTHAGE. 



Carthage, which it forms at St Gem's. Here he entered Savoy, 

 ^^f ranging along the limits of the Vocontian dominions, 

 from this indent to the Sier. Hence he passed 

 through the country of the Tricorii to Geneva, with- 

 out impediment, crossing the Arve (Druentia) in his 

 march. From Geneva he proceeded to Martigny. 

 Here the hills have an opening to the south 80 paces 

 in width, which, in the days of Hannibal, formed the 

 only channel of communication between Gaul and 

 Italy. The Seduni had occupied this pass ; but 

 Hannibal, in the night, seized the heights which 

 commanded it, and obtained possession of their chief 

 city, now St Branchiere. Here the Salassi met him 

 in a friendly manner, and offered to conduct him to 

 Italy by a better road than that he was pursuing. 

 Treachery Under their guidance, he turned to the right into 

 of the the Val de Bagnes, where, in passing a defile, the 

 yatessi. Salassi fell upon him unawares. The steadiness of 

 his troops saved him from this imminent danger. His 

 infantry got possession of a white rock, (that on 

 which the village of JLultier now stands,) from whence 

 they resisted all the assaults of the enemy. Bewil- 

 dered by this treachery, he wandered through the 

 Alps for some days, and at last reached the regular 

 road only seven miles from the point at which he had 

 quitted it. It is uncertain by what pass he at last 

 actually reached Italy. Livy does not give any po- 

 sitive opinion. Many circumstances conspire to 

 prove, that it must have been by the Mons Peninus, * 

 (Great St Bernard.) Hence he descended to St 

 Remy, having excited the ardour of his troops, by 

 pointing out to them the rich vales of Italy, and the 

 site of Rome itself. At this point the road, which 

 was before steep, had, by a recent subsidence of the 

 earth, been rendered precipitous. The chasm ex.- 

 Tusagc of tended across the road to the distance of a thousand 

 the Alp. feet, f It was an even wall of stone, such that even 

 a man on foot could not descend it without difficulty. 

 Hannibal endeavoured to find a path by which he 

 might avoid this ravine, but his horses, elephants, and 

 baggage sunk in the snow, and he found it impossi- 

 ble to proceed. They rested on the bare ground 

 for the night. The next morning, the Carthaginians 

 employed themselves in felling a number of large 

 trees, and raised a vast pile of fuel on the crags. The 

 trees being of a resinous nature soon flamed, and the 

 rocks appeared glowing beneath them ; they then 

 applied vinegar to soften them, and finally opened a 

 path through the burning rocks with their pick axes. 

 This account has been derided by many historians as 

 an incredible fiction, yet, if stripped of the marvel- 

 lous circumstances which have been added to it by 

 -some writers, it contains nothing improbable, nothing 

 which could not have been effected by the ingenuity 



party. 



and indefatigable labour of such a leader, and such 

 an army.J 



The events of this war are so involved with the 

 affairs of Rome, or rather they form so completely 

 an integral part of the Roman history, that we must 

 refer the reader for its details to that article. The 

 domestic history of Carthage during this eventful pe- 

 riod, though it offers but few circumstances worthy 

 of observation, conveys a most important lesson. 



In all governments which are in any degree popu- 

 lar, there must be two parties in the state. Those 

 who conduct public affairs, must expect to have their 

 measures scrutinized and thwarted by all who are de- 

 sirous either of diminishing their influence, or suc- 

 ceeding to the possession of their power. In Car- 

 thage, a party such as this (which in modern times 

 we have taught ourselves to call " the opposition") 

 was regularly organized, and its exertions were sys- 

 tematic and incessant. The avowed leader of this Conduct 

 party was that Hanno, whose incapacity and mis- 

 conduct we have more than once had occasion to 

 notice. His constant object was to undermine and 

 destroy the influence which Hannibal, by his talents, 

 success, and family connections, possessed in the state. 

 So violent was his animosity against the Barcine par- 

 ty, that he appears to have disregarded all the real 

 interests of his country, so long as he could cripple 

 their exertions, and mar the execution of their de- 

 signs. The peculiar fault of the Carthaginian con- 

 stitution (as we have noticed in the outset), was, that 

 in all cases which produced a difference of opinion, 

 and, on this account, would deserve graver and more 

 mature deliberation, it lost its representative charac- 

 ter, and an appeal was directly made to the blindness 

 and party zeal, the narrow conceptions, and infuria- 

 ted prejudices of the populace. Hanno did not lose 

 sight of the power which this singular anomaly in the 

 constitution afforded him. He availed himself of it 

 on every occasion, and it enabled him to work the de- 

 struction of his political opponents ; but his country 

 fell with him. The power of Carthage was annihil- 

 ated on the plains of Zama ; and the short remainder Summary 

 of its history contains nothing but a detail of insolent view of 

 aggressions on the part of its victorious rival. These l ^ e ' ater 



were met by the Carthaginians on their side by the v *^* . 

 lu TU v, Carthage 



most unworthy concessions : 1 hey gave up their ge- H ; an 



neral, they submitted to endure the most unwarrant- history. 

 able interposition of their affairs ; in short, they 

 drank the cup of humiliation to its very dregs, in the 

 hope of protracting their existence. But the hope 

 was vain ; the haughty spirit of the Roman people 

 could not endure, that a city, which had for a long 

 time resisted the progress of their arms, and even 

 made them tremble in the Capitol, should continue to 



" So called, from a statue or temple of Jupiter Penninus erected on it. In the Celtic, pen signifies a peak, or headland. 



f Whitaker suggests, that " longitudinem" should be read for " altitudinem," in Livy, 21, 36; and the corresponding 

 passage in Polybius tends to support the conjecture. 



$That fire was commonly applied to divide rocks, may be proved from Diod. Sic. The effect of the vinegar might have 

 been only to act upon the rock by a sudden change of temperature. " The granites of these parts of the Alps are composed," 

 says Saussure, " of laminated rocks, abounding in quartz and mica. I admired, at St Remy, the very hard rocks which se- 

 parate of themselves into tables, perfectly even and perfectly dressed. Their matter is white quartz mixed with yellow mica; 

 and there are thin beds of this mica, the parts of which having little cohesion, make them to split according to their direction. 

 I measured one which was six feet long and three in breadth, and not more than two inches in thickness." {Saussure, iv. 221.) 



The supply of vinegar cannot be a subject of surprise, since it was the common drink of the soldiery. It was generally 

 called acetvm, sometimes jaorca. (Vid. Lips, in Not. Mil. Glor. fiauti. in. 2, 23. 



o 



