Delphi Complete Works of Cornelius Nepos

by Cornelius Nepos

  6. Hinc invictus patriam defensum revocatus bellum gessit adversus P. Scipionem, filium eius Scipionis, quem ipse primo apud Rhodanum, iterum apud Padum, tertio apud Trebiam fugarat. [2] cum hoc exhaustis iam patriae facultatibus cupivit impraesentiarum bellum componere, quo valentior postea congrederetur. inde colloquium convenit, condiciones non convenerunt. [3] post id factum paucis diebus apud Zamam cum eodem conflixit; pulsus (incredibile dictu) biduo et duabus noctibus Hadrumetum pervenit, quod abest ab Zama circiter milia passuum trecenta. [4] in hac fuga Numidae, qui simul cum eo ex acie excesserant, insidiati sunt ei, quos non solum effugit, sed etiam ipsos oppressit. Hadrumeti reliquos e fuga collegit, novis dilectibus paucis diebus multos contraxit.

  VI. Being recalled, without having suffered any defeat, to defend his country, he maintained a war with the son of that Publius Scipio whom he had routed first on the Rhone, again on the Po, and a third time on the Trebia. As the resources of his country were now exhausted, he wished, by a treaty with him, to put a stop to the war for a time, in order that he might engage in it afterwards with greater vigour. He came to a conference with him, but the conditions were not agreed upon. A few days after this meeting, he came to battle with Scipio at Zama; and being defeated (incredible to relate! ) he made his way to Adrumetum, which is about three hundred miles from Zama, in two days and two nights. In the course of his retreat, some Numidians, who had left the field in his company, formed a conspiracy against him; however he not only escaped them, but deprived them of life. At Adrumetum he assembled those who had survived the defeat, and, with the aid of new levies, drew together, in a few days, a numerous force.

  7. Cum in apparando acerrime esset occupatus, Karthaginienses bellum cum Romanis composuerunt. ille nihilo setius exercitui postea praefuit resque in Africa gessit itemque Mago frater eius usque ad P. Sulpicium C. Aurelium consules. [2] his enim magistratibus legati Karthaginienses Romam venerunt, qui senatui populoque Romano gratias agerent, quod cum iis pacem fecissent, ob eamque rem corona aurea eos donarent simulque peterent, ut obsides eorum Fregellis essent captivique redderentur. [3] his ex senatus consulto responsum est: munus eorum gratum acceptumque esse; obsides, quo loco rogarent, futuros; captivos non remissuros, quod Hannibalem, cuius opera susceptum bellum foret, inimicissimum nomini Romano, etiamnum cum imperio apud exercitum haberent itemque fratrem eius Magonem. [4] hoc responso Karthaginienses cognito Hannibalem domum et Magonem revocarunt. huc ut rediit, rex factus est, postquam imperator fuerat, anno secundo et vicesimo: ut enim Romae consules, sic Karthagine quotannis annui bini reges creabantur. [5] in eo magistratu pari diligentia se Hannibal praebuit, ac fuerat in bello. namque effecit ex novis vectigalibus non solum ut esset pecunia, quae Romanis ex foedere penderetur, sed etiam superesset, quae in aerario reponeretur. [6] deinde anno post praeturam M. Claudio L. Furio consulibus Roma legati Karthaginem venerunt. hos Hannibal ratus sui exposcendi gratia missos, priusquam iis senatus daretur, navem ascendit clam atque in Syriam ad Antiochum perfugit. [7] hac re palam facta Poeni naves duas, quae eum comprehenderent, si possent consequi, miserunt, bona eius publicarunt, domum a fundamentis disiecerunt, ipsum exulem iudicarunt.

  VII. While he was most vigorously engaged in preparing for action, the Carthaginians made an end of the war by a treaty with the Romans. He had nevertheless afterwards the command of the army, and continued to act, as well as his brother Mago, in Africa, until the time when Publius Sulpicius and Caius Aurelius became consuls; for, during their term of office, ambassadors from Carthage went to Rome, to thank the Roman senate and people for having made peace with them, and to present them, on that account, with a crown of gold, requesting, at the same time, that their hostages might reside at Fregellae, and that their prisoners might be restored. An answer was made them, by a resolution of the senate, that “their present was acceptable and welcome, and that their hostages should live in the place which they desired, but that they would not restore the prisoners, because the Carthaginians retained Hannibal, by whose acts the war had been occasioned, and who was the bitterest of enemies to the name of Rome, in command of the army, as also his brother Mago.” The Carthaginians, on hearing this answer, recalled Hannibal and Mago home. When he returned, he was made praetor, in the two-and-twentieth year after he had been appointed king; for, as consuls are elected at Rome, so, at Carthage, two kings are annually chosen, retaining their office for a year. In that post Hannibal conducted himself with the same activity as he had exhibited in war; for he took care, not only that there should be money raised from new taxes, to be paid to the Romans according to the treaty, but that there should be a surplus to be deposited in the treasury.

  In the year after his praetorship, when Marcus Claudius and Lucius Furius were consuls, ambassadors from Rome came again to Carthage; and Hannibal, supposing that they were sent to demand that he should be delivered to the Romans, went secretly, before an audience of the senate was given them, on board a vessel, and fled into Syria to Antiochus. His departure being made public, the Carthaginians sent two ships to seize him, if they could overtake him. His property they confiscated; his house they razed to its foundations; and himself they declared an outlaw.

  8. At Hannibal anno quarto, postquam domo profugerat, L. Cornelio Q. Minucio consulibus, cum quinque navibus Africam accessit in finibus Cyrenaeorum, si forte Karthaginienses ad bellum inducere posset Antiochi spe fiduciaque, cui iam persuaserat ut cum exercitibus in Italiam proficisceretur. huc Magonem fratrem excivit. [2] id ubi Poeni resciverunt, Magonem eadem, qua fratrem, absentem affecerunt poena. illi desperatis rebus cum solvissent naves ac vela ventis dedissent, Hannibal ad Antiochum pervenit. de Magonis interitu duplex memoria prodita est: namque alii naufragio, alii a servulis ipsius interfectum eum scriptum reliquerunt. [3] Antiochus autem si tam in gerendo bello consiliis eius parere voluisset, quam in suscipiendo instituerat, propius Tiberi quam in Thermopylis de summa imperii dimicasset. quem etsi multa stulte conari videbat, tamen nulla deseruit in re. [4] praefuit paucis navibus, quas ex Syria iussus erat in Asiam ducere, iisque adversus Rhodiorum classem in Pamphylio mari conflixit. in quo cum multitudine adversariorum sui superarentur, ipse quo cornu rem gessit fuit superior.

  VIII. In the third year, however, after he had fled from home, and in the consulship of Lucius Cornelius and Quintus Minucius, Hannibal landed with five ships in Africa, on the coast of the Cyrenaeans, to try if he could move the Carthaginians to war, by giving them hope and confidence in Antiochus, whom he had now persuaded to proceed with his forces to Italy. Thither he summoned his brother Mago; and, when the Carthaginians knew of the circumstance, they inflicted on Mago the same penalties as they had laid on his absent brother. When they had let loose their vessels, and sailed off, in despair of success, Hannibal went to join Antiochus. Of Mago’s end two accounts have been given; for some have left on record that he perished by shipwreck, others that he was killed by his own slaves.

  Antiochus, if he had been as ready to obey Hannibal’s advice in conducting the war as he had resolved to be when he undertook it, might have fought for the empire of the world nearer the Tiber than Thermopylae. Hannibal, however, though he saw him attempt many things imprudently, left him in nothing unsupported. He took the command of a few ships, which he had been directed to bring from Syria into Asia, and with these he engaged the fleet of the Rhodians in the Pamphylian sea, and though his men were overpowered in the struggle by the number of the enemy, he had the advantage himself in the wing in which he acted.

  9. Antiocho fugato verens ne dederetur, quod sine dubio accidisset, si sui fecisset potestatem, Cretam ad Gortynios venit, ut ibi, quo se conferret, consideraret. [2] vidit autem vir omnium callidissimus in magno se fore periculo, nisi quid providisset, propter avaritiam Cretensium: magnam enim secum pecuniam portabat, de qua sciebat exisse famam. [3] itaque capit tale consilium. amphoras complures complet plumbo, summas operit auro et argento. has praesentibus principibus deponit in templo Dianae, simulans se suas fortunas illorum fidei credere. his in errorem inductis statuas aenea
s, quas secum portabat, omni sua pecunia complet easque in propatulo domi abicit. [4] Gortynii templum magna cura custodiunt, non tam a ceteris quam ab Hannibale, ne ille inscientibus iis tolleret sua secumque duceret.

  IX. After Antiochus was put to flight, Hannibal, fearing that he should be delivered to the Romans (an event which would doubtless have come to pass, if he had given the king an opportunity of securing him), went off to the people of Gortyn, in Crete, that he might there consider in what place he should settle himself. But, as he was the most perspicacious of all men, he saw that unless he took some precautions, he should be in great danger from the covetousness of the Cretans; for he carried with him a large sum of money, of which he knew that a report had gone abroad. He therefore adopted the following contrivance; he filled several pots with lead, covering the upper part with gold and silver, and deposited them, in the presence of the leading men , in the temple of Diana, pretending that he trusted his fortune to their honesty. Having thus deceived them, he filled the whole of some brazen statues, which he carried with him, with his money, and threw them down in an open place at his own residence. The Gortynians, meanwhile, guarded the temple with extreme care, not so much against others as against Hannibal himself, lest he should remove any thing without their knowledge, and carry it off with him.

  10. Sic conservatis suis rebus omnibus Poenus illusis Cretensibus ad Prusiam in Pontum pervenit. apud quem eodem animo fuit erga Italiam neque aliud quicquam egit quam regem armavit et exacuit adversus Romanos. [2] quem cum videret domesticis opibus minus esse robustum, conciliabat ceteros reges, adiungebat bellicosas nationes. dissidebat ab eo Pergamenus rex Eumenes, Romanis amicissimus, bellumque inter eos gerebatur et mari et terra; [3] sed utrobique Eumenes plus valebat propter Romanorum societatem. quo magis cupiebat eum Hannibal opprimi, quem si removisset, faciliora sibi cetera fore arbitrabatur. ad hunc interficiundum talem iniit rationem. [4] classe paucis diebus erant decreturi. superabatur navium multitudine: dolo erat pugnandum, cum par non esset armis. imperavit quam plurimas venenatas serpentes vivas colligi easque in vasa fictilia conici. [5] harum cum effecisset magnam multitudinem, die ipso, quo facturus erat navale proelium, classiarios convocat iisque praecipit, omnes ut in unam Eumenis regis concurrant navem, a ceteris tantum satis habeant se defendere. id illos facile serpentium multitudine consecuturos. [6] rex autem in qua nave veheretur, ut scirent, se facturum: quem si aut cepissent aut interfecissent, magno iis pollicetur praemio fore.

  X. The Carthaginian, having thus saved his property, and deceived all the Cretans, went into Pontus to Prusias, with whom he showed himself of the same mind as to Italy; for he did nothing but excite the king to arms, and animate him against the Romans, and seeing that he was not at all strong in domestic resources, he induced other princes to join him, and united warlike nations on his side. Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was at variance with Prusias, and war was maintained between them by sea and land, for which reason Hannibal was the more desirous that he should be crushed. Eumenes had the superiority on both elements, and Hannibal thought that, if he could but cut him off, his other projects would be easier of execution. To put an end to his life, therefore, he adopted the following stratagem. They were to engage by sea in a few days; Hannibal was inferior in number of vessels, and had to use art in the contest, as he was no match for his enemy in force. He accordingly ordered as many poisonous serpents as possible to be brought together alive, and to be put into earthen vessels, of which when he bad collected a large number, he called the officers of his ships together, on the day on which he was going to fight at sea, and directed them all to make an attack upon the single ship of King Eumenes, and to be content with simply defending themselves against others, as they might easily do with the aid of the vast number of serpents; adding that he would take care they should know in what ship Eumenes sailed, and promising that, if they took or killed him, it should be of great advantage to them.

  11. Tali cohortatione militum facta classis ab utrisque in proelium deducitur. quarum acie constituta, priusquam signum pugnae daretur, Hannibal, ut palam faceret suis, quo loco Eumenes esset, tabellarium in scapha cum caduceo mittit. [2] qui ubi ad naves adversariorum pervenit epistulamque ostendens se regem professus est quaerere, statim ad Eumenem deductus est, quod nemo dubitabat quin aliquid de pace esset scriptum. tabellarius ducis nave declarata suis eodem, unde erat egressus, se recepit. [3] at Eumenes soluta epistula nihil in ea repperit nisi quae ad irridendum eum pertinerent. cuius rei etsi causam mirabatur neque reperiebat, tamen proelium atatim committere non dubitavit. [4] horum in concursu Bithyni Hannibalis praecepto universi navem Eumenis adoriuntur. quorum vim rex cum sustinere non posset, fuga salutem petiit, quam consecutus non esset, nisi intra sua praesidia se recepisset, quae in proximo litore erant collocata. [5] reliquae Pergamenae naves cum adversarios premerent acrius, repente in eas vasa fictilia, de quibus supra mentionem fecimus, conici coepta sunt. quae iacta initio risum pugnantibus concitarunt, neque quare id fieret poterat intellegi. [6] postquam autem naves suas oppletas conspexerunt serpentibus, nova re perterriti, cum, quid potissimum vitarent, non viderent, puppes verterunt seque ad sua castra nautica rettulerunt. [7] sic Hannibal consilio arma Pergamenorum superavit, neque tum solum, sed saepe alias pedestribus copiis pari prudentia pepulit adversarios.

  XI. After this exhortation was given to the soldiers, the fleets were brought out for action by both parties. When the line of each was formed, and before the signal was given for battle, Hannibal, in order to show his men where Eumenes was, despatched to him a letter-carrier in a boat with a herald’s staff; who, when he reached the enemy’s line of vessels, held out a letter, and signified that he was looking for the king; he was therefore immediately taken to Eumenes, because nobody doubted that there was something written in the letter relating to peace. The messenger, having thus made the king’s ship known to his party, returned to the same place from which he had come. Eumenes, on opening the letter, found nothing in it but what was meant to ridicule him; and though he wondered as to the motive of it, and none could be discovered, yet he did not hesitate to come at once to battle. In the conflict, the Bithynians, according to the direction of Hannibal, fell all at once upon the ship of Eumenes. That prince, as he was unable to withstand their onset, sought safety in flight, but would not have found it, had he not taken refuge behind his guards, which had been posted on the neighbouring shore. As the rest of the Pergamenian ships bore hard upon the enemy, the earthen pots, of which we have previously spoken, began suddenly to be hurled into them. These, when thrown, at first excited laughter among the combatants, nor could it be conceived why such a thing was done; but when they saw their ships filled with serpents, and, startled at the strangeness of the occurrence, knew not what to avoid first, they put about their ships, and retreated to their camp upon the coast. Thus Hannibal, by his stratagem, prevailed over the force of the Pergamenians. Nor was this the only occasion; but often, at other times, he defeated the enemy with his troops on land, and with equally skilful management.

  12. Quae dum in Asia geruntur, accidit casu ut legati Prusiae Romae apud T. Quintium Flamininum consularem cenarent, atque ibi de Hannibale mentione facta ex iis unus diceret eum in Prusiae regno esse. [2] id postero die Flamininus senatui detulit. patres conscripti, qui Hannibale vivo numquam se sine insidiis futuros existimarent, legatos in Bithyniam miserunt, in eis Flamininum, qui ab rege peterent, ne inimicissimum suum secum haberet sibique dederet. his Prusia negare ausus non est; [3] illud recusavit, ne id a se fieri postularent, quod adversus ius hospitii esset: ipsi, si possent, comprehenderent: locum, ubi esset, facile inventuros. Hannibal enim uno loco se tenebat, in castello quod ei a rege datum erat muneri, idque sic aedificarat, ut in omnibus partibus aedificii exitus haberet, scilicet verens ne usu veniret, quod accidit. [4] huc cum legati Romanorum venissent ac multitudine domum eius circumdedissent, puer ab ianua prospiciens Hannibali dixit plures praeter consuetudinem armatos apparere. qui imperavit ei, ut omnes fores aedificii circumiret ac propere sibi nuutiaret,
num eodem modo undique obsideretur. [5] puer cum celeriter, quid vidisset, renuntiasset omnesque exitus occupatos ostendisset, sensit id non fortuito factum, sed se peti neque sibi diutius vitam esse retinendam. quam ne alieno arbitrio dimitteret, memor pristinarum virtutum venenum, quod semper secum habere consuerat, sumpsit.

  XII. While these transactions were taking place in Asia, it happened accidentally at Rome that certain ambassadors from Prusias took supper at the house of Lucius Quintius Flamininus, one of the consuls; and there, as mention was made of Hannibal, one of them observed that he was in the dominions of Prusias. This information Flamininus communicated the next day to the senate. The conscript fathers, who thought that they would never be free from plots as long as Hannibal was alive, sent ambassadors to Bithynia, and among them Flamininus, to request the king not to keep their bitterest enemy with him, but to deliver him up to them. To this embassy Prusias did not dare to give a refusal; he made some opposition, however, to one point, begging them not to require of him what was contrary to the rights of hospitality, saying that they themselves might make Hannibal prisoner, if they could, as they would easily find out the place where he was. Hannibal indeed confined himself to one place, living in a fortress which had been given him by the king; and this he had so constructed that it had outlets on every side of the building, always fearing lest that should happen which eventually came to pass. When the Roman ambassadors had gone thither, and had surrounded his house with a number of men, a slave, looking out at a gate, told Hannibal that several armed men were to be seen, contrary to what was usual. Hannibal desired him to go round to all the gates of the castle, and bring him word immediately whether it was beset in the same way on all sides. The slave having soon reported how it was, and informed him, that all the passages were secured, he felt certain that it was no accidental occurrence, but that his person was menaced, and that his life was no longer to be preserved. That he might not part with it, however, at the pleasure of another, and dwelling on the remembrance of his past honours, he took poison, which he had been accustomed always to carry with him.