Hasdrubal Barca

“ My Ardia.
Ard. You love me, yet would die. Thou'rt mine!
And I will hold thee, yea, on this warm earth,
Not in some strange and tearless world!
[While they speak Barca moves up the pass and listens]
Barca. My lord?
Ber. Ay, Barca?
Barca. Men are on the pass. ”

“ He left with him, also, fourteen elephants. And as he thought it not improbable that the Romans might, in some contingency during his absence, make a descent upon the Spanish coast from the sea, he built and equipped for him a small fleet of about sixty vessels, fifty of which were of the first class. In modern times, the magnitude [Pg 63] and efficiency of a ship is estimated by the number of guns she will carry; then, it was the number of banks of oars. Fifty of Hasdrubal's ships were quinqueremes, as they were called, that is, they had five banks of oars. ”

“ The protection of the coast required a fleet, and as it was natural to suppose that the Romans would again make use of that arm in which they had been victorious before, Hasdrubal had assigned to him a fleet of 57 warships, including 50 quinqueremes, 2 quadriremes, and 5 triremes, but only 32 quinqueremes and the 5 triremes were ready for sea. From Gades he returned to the winter quarters of his army at New Carthage, and from New Carthage he commenced his march on Italy. Passing by the city of Onusa, he marched along the coast to the Ebro. ”

“ The latter was despot of all central Iberia and a strenuous supporter of the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal soon got news of the disaster and crossing the Ebro came to the rescue. Learning that the crews of the Roman ships had been left behind and were off their guard and unduly confident owing to the success of the land forces, he took with him about eight thousand infantry and a thousand cavalry from his own force, and finding the men from the ships scattered over the country, killed a large number of them and compelled the remainder to take refuge on board their vessels. ”

“ The army proceeded slowly up the right bank of the river. It was a fatiguing march; many men fell out, and all were wearied and dispirited. Early in the next day the Roman army came up, and Hasdrubal saw that he must fight. He posted his elephants as usual in front of the centre, with the Ligurians behind them. On the right were [Pg 223] his Spanish troops, veteran soldiers of his own, and of the very best quality. These were under his personal command. The Gauls were on the left, but seem to have taken but little part in the battle that followed. ”

“ Never was one and the same spirit more skilful to meet opposition, to obey or to command. It was hard to decide whether he was more dear to the chief or the army. Neither did Hasdrubal more readily place any one at the head when courage or activity was required, nor were the soldiers under any other leader so full of confidence and daring. He entered danger with the greatest mettle, he comported himself in danger with the greatest unconcern. By no difficulties could his body be tired, his ardor damped. ”

“ On their acknowledging the act, he set his army in motion, and gave the command of it to Amasis, while a fleet at the same time was entrusted to Badres, and both proceeded to take vengeance of the assassins. After a long and ineffectual siege, Barca was entered by treachery: and Amasis, who had passed his word to spare the lives of the Barceans, gave them over to the vengeance of Pheretime; by whom all who were concerned in the murder of her son were put to death in the most inhuman manner. ”

“ Barca. Will you walk on?
Ard. Yes, come.
Barca. [Listening] What's that?
A noise below!
Ard. Some one from Banissat!
I'll not be taken!
Barca. Come aside, my lady.
Here is good hiding.
[They go behind a great rock half hidden by cedars. Bertrand enters below. Ardia steps out and stands before him. He kneels]
Ber. Spirit, hast come for me? I'll join thee, love,
When I have climbed this peak and met the sword
That sets my honor free.
Ard. Nay, rise, my lord.
Ber. [Rising] Thy living self? Here in the night alone?
Ard. Barca is here, and Gaina. ”

“ Young though he is, his wonderful abilities are recognized by us all. His father, Hamilcar, had the very highest hopes of him, Hasdrubal has written again and again saying that in his young kinsman he recognized his superior, and that in loftiness of aim, in unselfish patriotism, in clearness of judgment, in the marvellous ascendency he has gained over the troops, in his talent in administration, and in the greatness of his military conceptions, he saw in him a genius of the highest order. ”

“ He met and checked Hasdrubal, but could not prevent him from crossing the Pyrenees, and so turned his attention to Cartagena, the wealthy city on the southern coast. So well timed were his movements that his fleet and army arrived there the same day, and leading his soldiers through a shallow lake, where the fortifications were the weakest, after fierce fighting he drove the defenders from the citadel, took the city, and put every warrior to the sword. ”

“ Hasdrubal the handsome, as he was well called, the true patriot, the great general, the eloquent orator, the soul of generosity and patriotism, our leader and hope, dead! Surely it cannot be.”
“It is too true, Hamilcar. Hasdrubal is dead—slain by the knife of an Iberian, who, it seems, has for months been in his service, awaiting the chance for revenge for some injuries which his family or people have suffered from our arms. ”

“ Barca. God gave her eyes, and Sir Vairdelan is good to see. When I look at him I feel somehow as if the sun were just up and everybody had another chance.
Gaina. A man who lets his sword rust at home while he goes about tootle-de-rooling on a flute! And she could be the princess of Avesta if she'd look in the right place. Well, if she had my eyes!
Barca. What! You would have your mistress marry Banissat? An unbeliever?
Gaina. A prince is a prince,—and I'd say the same if my mistress were my own daughter.
Barca. And you a Christian!
Gaina. A Christian of Corinth, I'd have you know. ”

“ Hasdrubal, intervening between the father and the son, held the command for about eight years. He was first endeared to Hamilcar, as they say, on account of his youthful beauty, and then adopted by him, when advanced in age, as his son-in-law, on account of his eminent abilities; and, because he was his son-in-law, he obtained the supreme authority, against the wishes of the nobles, by the influence of the Barcine faction, [13] which was very powerful with the military and the populace. ”

“ Understanding that Barca could not be taken by force, he set about doing this. He dug by night a wide ditch, on which he laid planks of little strength, and above the planks he heaped on earth in such a way that the surface was level with the rest of the soiL At daybreak he invited the men of Barca to a conference. At last, sacrificing over the hidden ditch, the leaders on both sides said that the oath should remain while that earth remained firm; that the men of Barca promised to pay money to the Great King: the Persians, that they would do nothing fresh against the men of Barca. ”

“ There were increasing symptoms of discontent among the allies, while the news from Spain left little doubt that the long prepared expedition of Hasdrubal over the Alps to join his brother in Italy was at last to be realized. Rome strained every nerve to meet the impending danger. The number of legions was increased from twenty-one to twenty-three. The preparations were incomplete, when the news came that Hasdrubal was crossing the Alps by the same route which his brother had taken eleven years before. The consuls for the new year were M. Livius Salinator and G. Claudius Nero. ”

“ We are in a deuce of a fix, between the devil and the deep sea, so to speak. On one hand, Barcelo, sulky and savage, and threatening to blow the British fleet off the map. On the other hand, Fairbanks so scrupulous he's ready to throw the gifts of the gods back into their arms, at the slightest excuse. When I left you yesterday at Miramonte's I hurried south to run down rumors. I've caught up with the rumors but haven't accomplished anything else. I have men watching Barcelo's movements. ”

“ He had come accordingly with a cargo of African corn, and was taking a light return lading of olive oil and salt fish. But those who walked along the harbour front remarked that the Bozra was hardly a common merchantman. She was a “sea-mouse,” long, shallow, and very fast under sail; she also carried again an unwontedly heavy crew. When [pg 373] Hasdrubal’s cargo seemed completed, he lingered a couple of days, alleging he was repairing a cable; then the third morning after his nocturnal adventure a cipher letter to Democrates sent the Carthaginian to sea. ”

“ At dawn, however, they sent the cavalry ahead to pursue the enemy and they themselves followed. Hasdrubal made a stand against the cavalry, deeming them an isolated troop, but the consuls came up and routed him and followed after the fugitives, of whom they slaughtered many. Even the elephants were of no help to the Carthaginians. Inasmuch as some of them that had been wounded did more harm to those in charge of them than had been done by the enemy, Hasdrubal gave orders to those seated upon them to slay the beasts as fast as they got wounded. ”

“ In 207 the arrival of a fresh invading force produced a new crisis. Hasdrubal, who in 209–208 had marched overland from Spain, appeared in north Italy with a force scarcely inferior to the army which his brother had brought in 218. After levying contingents of Gauls and Ligurians he marched down the east coast with the object of joining hands with his brother in central Italy for a direct attack upon Rome. By this time the drain of men and money was telling so severely upon her confederacy that some of her most loyal allies protested their inability to render further help. ”

“ To which Hasdrubal replied: “I want you to go as our ambassador to the Roman commander, and to undertake for us that we will obey every injunction; only I beg of you both to abstain from harming this wretched city.” Then said Gulussa: “Your demand appears to me to be quite childish! Why, my good sir, what you failed to get by your embassies from the Romans, who were then quietly encamped at Utica, and before a blow had been struck,—how can you expect to have granted you now, when you have been completely invested by sea and land, and have almost given up every hope 514 of safety?” ”

“ A rumour, too, like those Pan sends to dismay soldiers, ran quickly from heart to heart, rather than from lip to lip. It was that Hasdrubal had circled the rear and, falling upon the allied cavalry, had scattered the left wing as he had the right; that the Numidians pursued and slaughtered: but where now were the cavalry of Gaul and Spain, the winners of two victories? ”

“ The ship reeled to and fro like a drunken man, and the passengers, as usual in such cases, performed various involuntary evolutions, cutting right angles, sliding, spinning round, and rolling over, as if Oberon's magic horn were playing an occasional blast amidst the roaring winds; whilst the stewards alone, like Horace's good man, walked serene amidst the wreck of crockery and the fall of plates. Driven from our strong hold on deck, indiscriminately crammed in below like figs in a drum ”

“ A hawker passes, balancing a basket full of live and crawling crabs. Barges filled with Brenta water or Mirano wine take up their station at the neighbouring steps, and then ensues a mighty splashing and hurrying to and fro of men with tubs upon their heads. The brawny fellows in the winebarge are red from brows to breast with drippings of the vat. And now there is a bustle in the quarter. A barca has arrived from S. Erasmo, the island of the market-gardens. It is piled with gourds and pumpkins, cabbages and tomatoes, pomegranates and pears—a pyramid of gold and green and scarlet. ”

“ Then the Spanish and Gaulish horse charged the Romans front to front, and maintained a standing fight with them, many leaping off their horses and fighting on foot, till the Romans, outnumbered and badly armed, without cuirasses, with light and brittle spears, and with shields made only of ox-hide, were totally routed and driven off the field. Hasdrubal, who commanded the Gauls and Spaniards, followed up his work effectually ”

“ He would have to venture upon a startling innovation, and though at the outset it might create as much alarm among his own countrymen as amongst the enemy, it would, when carried through, turn their great fear into great rejoicing. Hasdrubal's despatches he sent on to the senate together with one from himself explaining his project. As Hasdrubal had written to say that he would meet his brother in Umbria, he advised the senators to recall the Roman legion from Capua, raise troops in Rome, and with this City force oppose the enemy at Narnia. ”

“ At last, their affairs becoming desperate, forty thousand men, and (what is hardly credible) with Hasdrubal at their head, surrendered themselves. How much more nobly did a woman behave, the wife of the general, who, taking hold of her two children, threw herself from the top of her house into the midst of the flames, imitating the queen that built Carthage. ”

“ Hasdrubal at once sent a despatch to Carthage pointing out what mischief the mere rumour of his departure had caused, and also that if he did really leave Spain it would pass into the hands of the Romans before he crossed the Ebro. He went on to say that not only had he neither a force nor a general to leave in his place, but the Roman generals were men whom he found it difficult to oppose even when his strength was equal to theirs. ”