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HE life of this distinguished commander affords another of the numerous evidences that the prosperity of a nation depends upon the personal merits of its ruler. Long before the birth of Hannibal, which occurred B.C. 247, the Romans had been engaged in a war with Carthage, and his father Hamilcar, on leaving that city to take command of the army in Spain, led his son, then but nine years of age, to the temple of the tutelar deity, and in the presence of the assembled nobles, compelled him to take an oath of eternal enmity to Rome. The two great states were at that time at peace with each other; but it was felt that the interval of cessation from warfare was only the period of necessary repose, preparatory to the renewal of the exterminating strife. Carthage afforded the only example in the history of the world of African civilisation. The shores of the modern Tunis were then the abode of literature and science. Her arms were felt along the whole of the Mediterranean coast, and her commerce had penetrated to every part of the European continent. The aspirations of the Romans for universal conquest had gradually assumed the form of a consistent and settled policy, to which the genius of her statesmen, the efforts of her soldiers, and the spirit of her people, were equally devoted. Rome could not be victorious whilst Carthage was free, and without liberty it is n vain to dream of commercial greatness. Thus, in the time of Hannibal, war between the two countries had become a matter of destiny, and the stakes to be played for being all things most dear to human existence.

Before he had arrived at the age of maturity, Hannibal was entrusted with the command of a portion of the Carthaginian army in Spain, and on the death of the general in-chief, Hasdrubal, he conquered the remaining portion of the country. Alarmed at his progress, the inhabitants of Saguntum, (a neutral city) who had placed themselves under the protection of Rome, applied to the senate for assistance. That august body replied by sending an embassy to Hannibal, to inform him that the Saguntines were the allies of the Romans, and threatening to declare war against Carthage, if her troops were not instantly withdrawn. Hannibal paid no attention to the ambassadors; an interval of twenty years of peace had enabled Carthage to repair all her previous losses; every consequence of defeat had disappeared save the sense of humiliation; and, flushed with a long course of victory, and prompted no less by national

hatred than by personal ambition, he defied the power and the menaces of his hereditary enemy; and at once commenced operations against the city. The defence was long and obstinate, but the place was at length taken by storm; and in the ensuing spring the African chieftain poured like a torrent on the enemy. Africa he entrusted to the guardianship of the Spanish troops, who were replaced by an equal number of Africans in Spain; and expecting to be joined by the inhabitants of the north of Italy, he commenced his march with an army of 80,000 foot and 12,000 cavalry. His progress to the Pyrenees was opposed by the natives, but he made his way through all obstacles: crossed the Rhine in safety, having outmarched the Roman general Scipio, who was in pursuit, and crossed the Alps at the Great St. Bernard, having, as his historian believed, softened the rocks with vinegar. On his descent into Italy, the same good fortune attended him; the Romans, who had never before experienced the horrors of an invasion, hastened to meet him under the command of C. Scipio. The battle took place on the banks of the river Ticinus, and ended in the complete rout of the consul, who retreated in the utmost haste towards the army of his colleague the consul Sempronius, by whom he was soon afterwards joined. After the union of the combined forces, Scipio determined, against the remonstrances of his colleague, to try the effect of another contest, and was again defeated with irreparable loss; the survivors of his army spreading through all the subject states the most exaggerated statements of the wondrous prowess of the enemy. The more substantial fruits of this victory, was the submission of northern Italy, and the alliance of the tribes most hostile to the Roman dominion.

But the spirit of the Romans, though bowed by disaster, was still unbroken, and in the following year, they raised two fresh armies, under the command of the consuls for the year, Servilius and Flaminius. Hannibal advanced to meet them twice, but his army suffered greatly from the malaria in its march through the swamps of the Arno, and the general himself lost the sight of one of his eyes. Arrived in front of the Roman position, he sought, by ravaging the country around him, to force his enemy to an engagement. Flaminius needed but little urging to a step so consonant with his own inclination, and breaking up his camp, imprudently suffered himself to be attacked in the valley of the lake Thrasymene. The Carthaginians occupied the mountains, on one side was the lake, and on the other the narrow outlet by which alone escape was possible. Cooped up in a space which prevented the cavalry from operating, and rendered all efforts of skill useless, the Romans were thrown into confusion at the first onset, and Hannibal having posted his reserves on the inaccessible heights, was enabled to slaughter the foe in perfect security. In a short time the defeat became general, and nearly the whole of the Roman army was destroyed as it stood. Servilius was attacked in a few days afterwards, and met with a similar overthrow, so that the whole of Italy seemed to be placed at the mercy of the conqueror.

Hannibal now sought to detach the independent states from their alliance with Rome; and for this purpose entered into various negociations, but without obtaining any considerable accession of strength. After resting his army for a time, he advanced into Apulia, and suspended hostilities for the remainder of the season.

In the ensuing year the Romans again determined to try the chances of battle; and assembling a force which has been estimated to consist of 80,000 foot, and 6,000 cavalry, under the command of the consuls L. Æmilius Paulus,

and B. Terentius Varro, engaged Hannibal at Cannæ, in Apulia, whose army was by this time reduced to little more than half that number. The battle was the most fatal which the Romans had ever been engaged in. The whole of their army was destroyed, and all Italy placed at the mercy of the conqueror. It was the genius of Hannibal which Rome had to fear, and not the number of his soldiers, or the magnitude of the confederacy which he organised against her amongst the various subject states; and hence, when he wintered in Apulia, instead of pursuing the advantages of victory, the republic was enabled to make head once more. But the measure of their calamities was not yet full; the army sent to Spain to oppose Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was destroyed in an engagement with that general, both the Scipios falling in the battle. Hasdrubal now set out to join his brother, and succeeded in entering Italy, and even advanced to Placentia without opposition; but here he was encountered, his army destroyed, and himself slain. This blow was terribly felt by Hannibal, who was now obliged to confine himself to the defensive, till his departure from the country.

The younger Scipio, having wholly recovered Spain, invaded Carthage, and Hannibal was hastily recalled to defend his native country against the daring attempt of the Roman commander. The fountain of his fortune had now dried up. In his first encounter with this new antagonist, he was utterly beaten, with the loss, in killed and prisoners, of 40,000 men. This blow put an end to the war, the Carthaginians being obliged to sue for peace, after having maintained the contest for the space of eighteen years.

His

The war being thus ended, Hannibal sought to realise some of the blessings of which his countrymen had been so long deprived, in the reform of the government, and the impartial administration of justice. But the aristocracy called in the aid of the Romans against him, and he was obliged to quit the city. first retreat was at the court of Antiochus, king of Syria, whom he assisted in his war with the Romans, at the conclusion of which he was forced to take refuge with Prasius, king of Bithynia. But the earth was not wide enough to afford, at the same time, shelter to Hannibal and Rome. He was demanded of Prasius, to be given up to the ambassadors of that power, and only avoided that doom by swallowing poison, in the 65th year of his age. Rollin says:— "So superior and universal was his genius, that it took in all parts of government; and so great were his natural abilities, that he was capable to acquit himself in all the various functions of it with glory. Hannibal shone as conspicuously in the cabinet as in the field; equally able to fill the civil or the military employments. In a word, he united in his own person, the different talents and merits of all professions, the sword, the gown, and the finances.

"He had some learning; and though he was so much employed in military labours, and engaged in so many wars, he, however, found leisure to cultivate the muses. Several smart repartees of Hannibal, which have been transmitted to us, shew that he had a great fund of natural wit; and this he improved, by the most polite education that could be bestowed at that time, in such a republic as Carthage. He spoke Greek tolerably well, and wrote several books in that language. His preceptor was a Lacedæmonian (Solsius,) who, with Philenius, another Lacedæmonian, accompanied him in all his expeditions. "His disregard of wealth, at a time when he had so many opportunities to enrich himself, by the plunder of the cities he stormed, and the nations he subdued, shews, that he knew the true and genuine use which a general ought

to make of riches, viz. to gain the affection of his soldiers, and to attach allies to his interest, by diffusing his beneficence on proper occasions, and not being sparing in his rewards; a very essential quality, but very uncommon in a commander. The only use Hannibal made of money was to purchase success; firmly persuaded, that a man who is at the head of affairs is sufficiently recompensed by the glory derived from victory."

MADEMOISELLE CLAIRON.

C. H. LEYRIS DELATUDE, known by the name of Clairon, was born in the year 1722, of indigent parents: she came prematurely into the world in a state of such weakness that her life was long despaired of. Ill suited to follow her mother's profession, she complains in her memoirs of the ill treatment she received, which induced her to turn her attention to the stage. She commenced her dramatic career with a strolling company, from which she passed to the theatre at Rouen, and performed successively at those of Ghent and Dunkirk from whence she was advanced to the Royal Academy of Music. In this line she continued some months; but feeling that her talents were more suited to declamation than to song, she made her debut on the Theatre Français, in the part of Phædra, with prodigious success, and was soon placed on the first rank, as an actress in regal characters.

A particular intrigue, and the refusal to perform with her colleague Dubois, notwithstanding the repeated clamour of the pit, caused her to be sent to Fort l'Eveque. To be released from thence it was required that she should make a public submission: at this humiliation her pride revolted. She then solicited her apostolical dismissal, which, as it could not be refused, was immediately assented to. She was at that time forty-two years of age. The excommunication levelled against players in general, not a little contributed to prevent her resuming her theatrical career. She attached considerable importance to what had passed; her colleagues laughed at her, but she still adhered to her resolution. An income of £1,000 a year, an intimacy with several ladies of quality, and a rich and amiable lover, were no doubt objects of consolation under her disgrace; but she lost almost at the same time her protector and her fortune. The Margrave of Anspach then invited her into his dominions, from whence she was afterwards dismissed. On her return to Paris she lived in obscurity, and died on the 31st of January, 1803, at the age of eighty-four.

Mademoiselle Clairon carried to a ridiculous extent the high opinion which she entertained of her talents, and never spoke to her friends, or her attendants, but in the tone of a theatrical princess. The stage is, however, indebted to her for many useful regulations. She was the first actress who rigidly observed in her attire the costume suitable to persons and to ages; she also cleared the stage of a crowd of impertinent spectators with whom it was formerly filled.

Mademoiselle Clairon published her memoirs in the year 1798, containing several judicious precepts on the dramatic art, intermixed with an abundance of self-love, and a belief in the existence of apparitions-excited no doubt by the flattery and cunning of her companions.