ts of piracy. In B.C. 219 the Consul L. AEmilius Paullus crossed
the Adriatic, and soon brought this second Illyrian war to an end.
Demetrius fled to Philip of Macedon, where we shall shortly afterward
see him prompting this king to make war against Rome. The greater part
of Illyria was restored to the native chiefs; but the Romans retained
possession of Corcyra, and of the important towns of Apollonia and
Oricum on the coast.

Meanwhile Hamilcar had been steadily pursuing his conquests in Spain.
The subjugation of this country was only a means to an end. His great
object, as already stated, was to obtain the means of attacking, and, if
possible, crushing that hated rival who had robbed his country of
Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica. His implacable animosity against Rome is
shown by the well-known tale that, when he crossed over to Spain in B.C.
235, taking with him his son Hannibal, then only nine years old, he made
him swear at the altar eternal hostility to Rome. During the eight years
that Hamilcar continued in Spain he carried the Carthaginian arms into
the heart of the country. While he conquered several states in war, he
gained over others by negotiation, and availed himself of their services
as allies or mercenaries. He fell in battle in B.C. 229, and was
succeeded in the command by his son-in-law Hasdrubal. His plans were
ably carried out by his successor. The conciliatory manners of Hasdrubal
gained him the affections of the Spaniards; and he consolidated the
Carthaginian empire in Spain by the foundation of New Carthage, now
Cartagena, in a situation admirably chosen on account of its excellent
harbor and easy communication with Africa, as well as from its proximity
to the silver mines, which supplied him with the means of paying his
troops. The conduct of his warlike enterprises was intrusted to the
youthful Hannibal, who had been trained in arms under the eye of his
father, and who already displayed that ability for war which made him
one of the most celebrated generals in ancient or modern times. The
successes of Hamilcar and Hasdrubal could not fail to attract the notice
of the Romans, and in B.C. 227 they concluded a treaty with the latter,
by which the River Iberus (Ebro) was fixed as the northern boundary of
the Carthaginian empire in Spain.

Hasdrubal was assassinated in B.C. 221 by a slave whose master he had
put to death. Hannibal had now acquired such a remarkable ascendency
over the army that the s