red in war,
and which he considered as his peculiar inheritance, was too great for a
man who fought only under the ensigns of another: that none but the king
ought to be the general and conductor of the war, and that it was
incumbent on him to draw upon himself alone the eyes and attention of all
men; whereas, should Hannibal be employed, he (a foreigner) would have the
glory of all the successes ascribed to him." "No minds,"(829) says Livy,
on this occasion, "are more susceptible of envy, than those whose merit is
below their birth and dignity; such persons always abhorring virtue and
worth in others, for this reason alone, because they are strange and
foreign to themselves." This observation was fully verified on this
occasion. Antiochus had been taken on his weak side; a low and sordid
jealousy, which is the defect and characteristic of little minds,
extinguished every generous sentiment in that monarch. Hannibal was now
slighted and laid aside: however, he was greatly revenged on Antiochus, by
the ill success this prince met with; and showed how unfortunate that king
is whose soul is accessible to envy, and his ears open to the poisonous
insinuation of flatterers.

In a council held some time after, to which Hannibal, for form sake, was
admitted, he, when it came to his turn to speak, endeavoured chiefly to
prove, that Philip of Macedon ought, on any terms, to be engaged to form
an alliance with Antiochus, which was not so difficult as might be
imagined.(830) "With regard," says Hannibal, "to the operations of the
war, I adhere immovably to my first opinion; and had my counsels been
listened to before, Tuscany and Liguria would now be all in a flame: and
Hannibal (a name that strikes terror into the Romans) in Italy. Though I
should not be very well skilled as to other matters, yet the good and ill
success I have met with must necessarily have taught me sufficiently how
to carry on a war against the Romans. I have nothing now in my power, but
to give you my counsel, and offer you my service. May the gods give
success to all your undertakings!" Hannibal's speech was received with
applause, but not one of his counsels was put in execution.

Antiochus, imposed upon and lulled asleep by his flatterers, remained
quiet at Ephesus, after the Romans had driven him out of Greece;(831) not
once imagining that they would ever invade his dominions. Hannibal, who
was now restored to favour, was for ever assuring him, that the wa