m
had been taken and destroyed by Hannibal, and that the Carthaginians,
far from offering any satisfaction for the wrong, assumed the
responsibility of it themselves, and were preparing for war.

Thus Hannibal accomplished his purpose of opening the way for waging
war against the Roman power. He prepared to enter into the contest
with the utmost energy and zeal. The conflict that ensued lasted
seventeen years, and is known in history as the second Punic war. It
was one of the most dreadful struggles between rival and hostile
nations which the gloomy history of mankind exhibits to view. The
events that occurred will be described in the subsequent chapters.

CHAPTER III.

OPENING OF THE SECOND PUNIC WAR.

B.C. 217

Fall of Hanno's party.--Power of Hannibal.--Desperate valor of the
Saguntines.--Hannibal's disposition of the spoils.--Hannibal chosen
one of the suffetes.--Nature of the office.--Great excitement at
Rome.--Fearful anticipations.--New embassy to Carthage.--Warm
debates.--Fruitless negotiations.--The embassadors return.--Reply of
the Volscians.--Council of Gauls.--Tumultuous scene.--Repulse of the
embassadors.--Hannibal's kindness to his soldiers.--He matures his
designs.--Hannibal's plan for the government of Spain in his
absence.--Hannibal's brother Hasdrubal.--He is left in charge of
Spain.--Preparations of the Romans.--Their plan for the war.--The
Roman fleet.--Drawing lots.--Religious ceremonies.--Hannibal's
march.--The Pyrenees.--Discontent in Hannibal's army.--Hannibal's
address.--The discontented sent home.--Hannibal's sagacity.--The
Pyrenees passed.

When the tide once turns in any nation in favor of war, it generally
rushes on with great impetuosity and force, and bears all before it.
It was so in Carthage in this instance. The party of Hanno were thrown
entirely into the minority and silenced, and the friends and partisans
of Hannibal carried not only the government, but the whole community
with them, and every body was eager for war. This was owing, in part,
to the natural contagiousness of the martial spirit, which, when felt
by one, catches easily, by sympathy, in the heart of another. It is a
fire which, when once it begins to burn, spreads in every direction,
and consumes all that comes in its way.

Besides, when Hannibal gained possession of Saguntum, he found immense
treasures there, which he employed, not to increase his own private
fortune, but to strengthen and confirm his