The United Service Journal, and the Naval and Military Magazine, 1832, Vol. 2 (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from The United Service Journal, and the Naval and Military Magazine, 1832, Vol. 2

But independent of these precautions, the genius of Hannibal was itself an antidote to the evils which naturally resulted from entrust ing an army _of foreigners with the maintenance of a people's rights, or the vindication of their honour. Under such a general, a compara tively short period would do much towards transforming a mixed and heterogeneous mass into a regular and orderly body of disciplined sol diers and still more, perhaps, towards gaining for him over all under his command, no matter how little known or attached to him before, that influence and ascendancy, the power of acquiring which is an emi uently characteristic attribute of every great military leader. Hannibal, however, had full time both to perfect the discipline and possess him self of the confidence of the army, which he marched into Italy; and we may be certain that the success with which veterans who had so long served under his father and himself, disputed with the mistress of the world possession of even her central seat of empire, was nowise greater than they were entitled to, as well by their own merits as those 'of their incomparable commander. The achievements of this great man, which throw so pre-eminent a lustre over the declining glory of Car thage, prove to what a' height of power and dominion she might have been exalted, had it not been for that capital defect in her military system Which so often rendered her warlike operations feeble and inef fectual. The evils which resulted from depending on other people for the support of her rights in war, wereno sooner neutralised by the energies and resources of one powerful mind, than, weakened as she had been by the disasters of her first war with the Romans, by the mutiny of her troops, and the loss of one of her most important pos sessions, she rose, as it were, with renovated strength, and having shown herself equal to the conquest of a country which. At a subse quent period, was among the very last to acknowledge even the supre macy of Rome, proceeded, in the occupation of the fairest provinces of Italy for sixteen years together, to give conspicuous proof how wor thy she was to be the antagonist of the imperial city itself in the competition for empire.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The United Service Journal, and the Naval and Military Magazine, 1832, Vol. 2

The spirit of commercial enterprise, which Carthage inherited from her founder, soon raised her to eminence. The extensive trade which she carried on, not only with the interior of the continent on which she stood, but with every part of the coast, and all the considerable islands of the Mediterranean, was productive of the most valuable fruits wealth, naval power, the spread of her empire in Africa, and the ac quisition of foreign dominion. A treaty made with the Romans in the year of the expulsion of their kings, proves her to have been even then in possession of Sardinia and parts of Sicily; and twenty-eight years after we find her considered a power of such importance, as to induce the Persian monarch to court her alliance, and request the aid of her services towards the furtherance of the expedition against Greece. According to the agreement with Xerxes, Carthage was to attack the Greek settlements in.sicily and her very first expedition in pursuance of this object excites astonishment at the vast extent of her resources. Two thousand ships of war, with three thousand transports, are re corded to have sailed for this island, and landed troops, - an amount of force which would quite stagger belief, did we not recollect that the immense wealth of Carthage was devoted almost exclusively to the maintenance of her fleets and armies. Her operations in refer ence to Sicily at later periods, were conducted on a similar scale of magnitude, and continued with little intermission, till the star of Rome gained the ascendant, and in the end totally eclipsed the most illus trions of her rivals. From the period of her first introduction into Spain, when the Tyrians entreated her interference in favour of their colony at Cadiz, Carthage had kept up a commercial intercourse with the natives, and the produce of the Spanish mines was always one great source of her opulence; but the conquest of the country was scarcely attempted till the time of Hamilcar, and only completed by his son, Hannibal. No part of Carthaginian, we might perhaps say.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.