A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

The Character of Hannibal 387
skill, courage, and ability, when one looks to the length l^^^^^'^^'
of time during which he displayed those qualities, and Hannibal,
reahzes to one's self the pitched battles, the skirmishes poiybius ri.
and sieges, the revolutions and counter-revolutions of ^^
states,
the vicissitudes of fortune, and in fact the whole
course of his design and its execution?
For sixteen continuous years Hannibal maintained the
war wdth Rome in Italy, without once releasing his army
from service in the field, but keeping those vast numbers
under control, like a good pilot,
without any sign of dissatisfaction
toward himself or toward one another.
he did in spite of
This
the fact that the troops in his service,
so far from being of the same tribe, were not even of the
same race. He had Libyans, Iberians, Ligurians, Celts,
Phoenicians, Itahans, and Greeks, who naturally had
nothing in common with one another,—neither laws nor
customs nor language. Yet the skill of the commander
was such that these differences, so manifold and so wide,
did not disturb obedience to one word of command and
to a single will.
And yet circumstances were not by any means unvarying;
for though the breeze of fortune set strongly in his
favor, it as often blew adversely. We have therefore good
ground for admiring Hannibal's display of ability in war;
and we should not hesitate to say that had he reserved
his attack upon the Romans until he had first subdued
other parts of the world, not one of his projects would
have eluded his grasp. As it was, he began with those
whom he should have attacked last, and with them accordingly
he began and ended his career.