a military operation of doubtful value, and it may be questioned whether Hannibal himself regarded it as successful.  Only in so speaking we may not pronounce an absolute censure on the general:  we see well the defects of the plan of operations pursued by him, but we cannot determine whether he was in a position to foresee them—­his route lay through an unknown land of barbarians—­or whether any other plan, such as that of taking the coast road or of embarking at Cartagena or at Carthage, would have exposed him to fewer dangers.  The cautious and masterly execution of the plan in its details at any rate deserves our admiration, and to whatever causes the result may have been due —­whether it was due mainly to the favour of fortune, or mainly to the skill of the general—­the grand idea of Hamilcar, that of taking up the conflict with Rome in Italy, was now realized.  It was his genius that projected this expedition; and as the task of Stein and Scharnhorst was more difficult and nobler than that of York and Blucher, so the unerring tact of historical tradition has always dwelt on the last link in the great chain of preparatory steps, the passage of the Alps, with a greater admiration than on the battles of the Trasimene lake and of the plain of Cannae.

Notes for Chapter iv

1.  Our accounts as to these events are not only imperfect but one-sided, for of course it was the version of the Carthaginian peace party which was adopted by the Roman annalists.  Even, however, in our fragmentary and confused accounts (the most important are those of Fabius, in Polyb. iii. 8; Appian.  Hisp. 4; and Diodorus, xxv. p. 567) the relations of the parties appear dearly enough.  Of the vulgar gossip by which its opponents sought to blacken the “revolutionary combination” (—­etaireia ton ponerotaton anthropon—­) specimens may be had in Nepos (Ham. 3), to which it will be difficult perhaps to find a parallel.

2.  The Barca family conclude the most important state treaties, and the ratification of the governing board is a formality (Pol. iii. 21).  Rome enters her protest before them and before the senate (Pol. iii. 15).  The position of the Barca family towards Carthage in many points resembles that of the Princes of Orange towards the States-General.

3.  It was not till the middle ages that the route by Mont Cenis became a military road.  The eastern passes, such as that over the Poenine Alps or the Great St. Bernard—­which, moreover, was only converted into a military road by Caesar and Augustus—­are, of course, in this case out of the question.

4.  The much-discussed questions of topography, connected with this celebrated expedition, may be regarded as cleared up and substantially solved by the masterly investigations of Messrs. Wickham and Cramer.  Respecting the chronological questions, which likewise present difficulties, a few remarks may be exceptionally allowed to have a place here.