ned men who had escaped with him from Cannae. Before them all
Varro was thanked because he had not despaired of the Republic. Well
might Hannibal feel that even after Cannae Rome was not conquered. It
was not conquered because the spirit of its people was unbroken. Rome
stood firm. The rich came forward giving or lending all they had to the
State; men of all classes flocked to the new armies; heavy taxes were
put on and no one complained. If the ordinary man was ready to give his
life, the least the well-to-do could do was to give his money. The
people of Central Italy stood by Rome. In the south rich cities like
Capua opened their gates to Hannibal; some of the southern peoples
joined him. But there was no big general rising. Nor did the help
Hannibal needed come from home, Carthage, or from his other allies in
Sicily and Macedonia. The people of Carthage were not like those of
Rome. They were sluggish and a big party there was jealous of Hannibal
and would do nothing to support him.

Marcellus, the general who took the field after Cannae, was a fine
soldier who believed with Fabius that the way to defeat Hannibal was to
wear him down. In Marcellus Hannibal found an enemy he must respect.
When Marcellus was killed at last and brought into the Carthaginian camp
Hannibal stood for a long time silent, looking at his dead enemy's face.
Then he ordered the body to be clothed in splendid funeral garments and
burned with all the honours of war. He had the ashes placed in a silver
urn and sent to Marcellus's son. He had in the same way buried Aemilius
with all honourable ceremony.

Time was on the Roman side. Yet for eleven years Hannibal, with a small
army, kept the whole might of Rome at bay. He was driven further south,
that was all. His great hope was that though the Carthaginians would not
stir, his brothers Hasdrubal and Mago would send him help from Spain. In
Spain after his own departure the Romans had reconquered most of the
country, but four years after Cannae Publius Scipio (defeated on the
Ticinus) and his brother Cneus were both defeated and killed, and during
the next few years Hasdrubal won nearly the whole of Spain. In 208 he
was able to move north. He crossed the Pyrenees; spent the winter in
Gaul; and in the spring, as soon as the snows melted, crossed the Alps
by an easier pass than that taken by his great brother. Before any one
expected him he was in Italy. The danger, if he could join Hannibal, was
extre