troops whose pay had been held back, and soon an army of seventy
thousand men under a good general was marching upon Carthage. So
widespread was the revolt that it took Hamilcar, to whom the people had
insisted on giving absolute power, three years to quell the revolt; but
at length he triumphed, punishing the leaders, and pardoning those who
had only been led.

Peace having been restored, Hamilcar was immediately despatched to look
after affairs in Spain, where both Carthage and Rome had many colonies.
Strange to say, he took with him his three little boys, Hannibal,
Hasdrubal, and Mago, and before they sailed he bade Hannibal, then only
nine, come with him into the great temple, and swear to the gods that he
would be avenged on Rome.

If you read this story you will see how Hannibal kept his oath.

* * * * *

As this is a history of Hannibal, and not of his father, I have not room
to tell you how Hamilcar took measures to carry out the purpose of his
life, namely, the destruction of Rome. To this end he fortified the
towns that had hitherto only been used as manufactories or store-houses,
turned the traders into steady soldiers, sent for heavy armed African
troops from Libya, and the celebrated light horse from Numidia, made
friends with the Iberian (or Spanish) tribes, and ruled wisely and well
from the straits of Gibraltar to the river Ebro. But, busy as he might
be, he always had time to remember his three boys, and saw that they
were trained in the habits and learning of a soldier. All three were apt
pupils, and loved flinging darts and slinging stones, and shooting with
the bow, though in these arts they could not rival their masters from
the Balearic isles, however much they practised.

[Illustration: All three were apt pupils.]

When Hannibal was eighteen, Hamilcar was killed in a battle with some of
the native tribes who had refused to submit to the sway of Carthage. In
spite of the hatred that he cherished for everything Roman, he had
earned the undying respect of the noblest among them. 'No king was
equal to Hamilcar Barca,' writes Cato the elder, and the words of Livy
the historian about Hannibal might also be applied to his father.

'Never was a genius more fitted to obey or to command. His body could
not be exhausted nor his mind subdued by toil, and he ate and drank only
what he needed.' He had failed in his aim, but, dying, he left it as a
heritage to his son, who