Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/458

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444 HANNIBAL HANNO stroyed in the battle on the Metaurus (207) the new army and every hope of Carthaginian success. Hannibal, into whose camp the head of his brother was thrown by the Romans, now despaired of the result, but still continued the struggle, at least for the military honor of his country, in Bruttium, the southernmost peninsula of Italy, until he was recalled in 203 to Africa, which was now invaded by Scipio, the conqueror of Spain". Immediately on his return, after so many years of absence and vic- tories, he created a new cavalry, and defeated Masinissa of Numidia, the ally of Scipio, but tried to induce the latter to negotiate. The statement that an interview occurred between Hannibal and Scipio is discredited by some historians. At all events, if they had an in- terview, it was without results. Hannibal was obliged to accept a battle at Zama (202), in which his large but motley host of Carthagin- ians, Libyans, Ligurians, Gauls, and Macedo- nians succumbed to the less numerous but well organized and disciplined army of Scipio. The terror of an eclipse of the sun, and a panic among the mercenaries, chiefly caused this crushing defeat. The second Punic war was soon over ; Rome dictated cruel and humiliating terms of peace, and Carthage accepted them (201). But Hannibal's career was not yet end- ed. Removed from military command through the influence of the Romans, he soon rose to the highest civil dignity in his state, and as suf- fete he evinced the same energy, boldness, and genius which distinguished him as a general. He detected, denounced, and abolished invet- erate abuses, reformed the judiciary, reorgan- ized the finances, restored the resources of the republic, and concluded new alliances. But his hostility to the embezzlers of the public revenues and monopolizers of offices increased and embittered his personal enemies, who de- nounced his patriotic schemes at Rome, and with a Roman commission sent to Africa even concerted a plot against his life. He sought safety in flight, escaped from the city, sailed to Tyre, and thence went to the court of Antiochus the Great of Syria, whom he soon induced to declare war against the Romans. But though the king treated him with the utmost honor, he was prevented by intrigues, and by jealousy of Hannibal's glory, from adopting his grand plans of a combined attack on Rome in Italy, as well as from giving him a proper share in the execution of his own. He was made com- mander of a fleet sent against the Rhodians, but failed in the expedition, though he person- ally distinguished himself. The Romans, hav- ing compelled Antiochus to an inglorious peace, asked the surrender of their old enemy, who was, however, informed in time to escape. He repaired to the court of Prusias, king of Bithy- nia (187), passing, it is said, through Gortyna in Crete, where he saved his treasures by placing sealed casks filled with lead under the protec- tion of the avaricious inhabitants, while his gold lay concealed in hollow statues on the open floor of the vestibule. Anxious to induce Pru- sias to aid him in his plans against Rome, he is said to have gained a victory over the fleet of his enemy Eumenes of Pergamus. There, too, the Romans persecuted him ; and no less a person than T. Q. Flamininus was sent to ask his surrender, and the Bithynian king was weak enough to command the arrest of his guest. But Hannibal was not unprepared, and determined to die a free enemy, and not a slave of the Romans. He took poison, and in his last hour expressed his contempt of his victo- rious but degraded enemies, and uttered im- precations on Prusias, their treacherous accom- plice. He had kept his oath. HAMO, a Carthaginian navigator of the 5th or 6th century B. C. He was commissioned by the government of Carthage to explore the western coast of Africa, and to plant colonies there. Setting sail accordingly with 60 pente- conters (vessels of 50 oars each), carrying 30,- 000 men and women, he passed the pillars of Hercules, and voyaged along the African coast as far as lat. 8 N., according to some writers. On returning to Carthage he caused an account of his voyage to be inscribed on a tablet, and then dedicated it in the temple of Saturn. It seems to have been written in the Punic lan- guage ; the version of it which remains is only a Greek translation. According to this tablet, known as a Periplus, it appears that one city was built not far from the strait of Gibraltar, and a few others along the coast, reaching to Cape Bojador. The first edition of Hanno's Periplus appeared at Basel in 1534, as an appendix to the edition of Arrian by Gelenius. It has also been published by Hudson in the first volume of his Geographi Minores (Oxford, 1698); and in 1797 an English translation of it by Fal- coner was issued from the Oxford press. It is still an open question at what time this Hanno lived, whose son he was, and how much of the statements of the Periplus can be regarded as trustworthy. Some authorities believe him to be either the father or the son of the Hamilcar who fell at Himera in 480 B. C. Others com- pute that the voyage was made about 570. The Periplus has recently been cited as evidence of the existence of the gorilla in those days. HANNO, surnamed the Great, a Carthagin- ian general and statesman, contemporary with Hamilcar Barca and Hannibal, died in old age, after the battle of Zama, 202 B. C. While yet a very young man he commanded a divi- sion of the Carthaginian army in Africa during the first Punic war, and took Hecatompylus, an opulent city of that continent. When the mercenaries returned from Sicily after the ter- mination of the first Punic war, Hanno was deputed to propose to them that they should waive their right to a part of the arrears due them ; and when they refused to accede to this and took up arms to enforce their claim, he was appointed to command the army sent to subdue them. His military abilities were not equal to the accomplishment of the enterprise,