He was
defeated not by this or that Roman general but by the Roman people. His
genius broke against their steady endurance, grim patience, and devotion
to Rome. Hannibal could and did win battles, but no victory brought him
nearer to his great object, that of dividing Italy and breaking the
dominance of Rome. Except for the southern tribes and Capua the Italians
stood solid; in Rome there was never any talk of giving in. When Varro,
after a rout, partly due to his own recklessness, which left the road to
Rome open to Hannibal, brought his remnant back to the city, the
senators came out to meet him, and instead of uttering reproaches or
lamentations, thanked him because he had not despaired of the Republic.
This spirit Hannibal could not break. Behind him there was nothing of
this kind. He had his genius and the soldiers he had made; but the
people of Carthage only gave him grudging support.

Hannibal's invasion of Italy failed: but it is one of the most wonderful
stories in the whole history of war, and he is one of the great men of
history.

His father, Hamilcar Barca ('Barca' means 'lightning'), was a brilliant
general; that the Carthaginians lost their first war with Rome was their
fault, not his. Of his three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and Mago,
Hannibal the eldest was the dearest to him and most like himself in
strength of will, in the power to form a purpose and hold to it unshaken
by all that happened to him or that other people said. Soon after the
war with Rome was ended Hamilcar left Carthage, taking his sons with
him. Before he left he made young Hannibal, then nine years old, swear
on the altars never to be friends with Rome. They sailed for Spain.
Spain, Hamilcar saw, could be worth more than Sicily, if the people were
trained as soldiers and taught the arts of agriculture and mining. The
country was rich in metals. His sons helped him, and he meantime taught
them not only everything connected with war and the training and
handling of men, but languages and all that was then known of history
and of art, so that although their boyhood was spent in camps they were
as well taught as the noblest Roman.

At the age of six-and-twenty Hannibal was chosen by the army to command
the Carthaginian forces in Spain. Although young in years Hannibal's
purpose in life had long been clear to him: since his father's death he
had lived and thought for nothing else. He had trained the army in Spain
for this purpose; his c