Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/371

Rh HASDRUBAL. of the son of Hamilcar and the brother of Hannibal. The loss on his side had amounted, according to Polybius, to 10,000 men, while it is exaggerated by the Roman writers (who appear anxious to make the battle of the Metaurus a compensation for that of Cannae), to more than 50,000. But the amount of loss is unimportant ; the battle was de- cisive of the fate of the war in Italy. (Polyb. xi. 1 — 3 ; Liv. xxvii. 36', 39, 43 — 49 ; Appian, Hisp. 28, Annib. 52, 53 ; Zonar. ix. 9 ; Oros. iv. 18 ; Eutrop. iii. 18.) The consul, C. Nero, hastened back to Apulia almost as speedily as he had come, and is said to have announced to Hannibal the defeat and death of his brother, by throwing down before his camp the severed head of Hasdrubal. (Liv. xxvii. 51.) The merits of Hasdrubal as a general are known to us more by the general admission of his enemies, who speak of him as a worthy rival of his father and his brother, than from any judgment we can ourselves form from the imperfect and perverted accounts that have been transmitted to us. Of liis personal character we know nothing : not a single anecdote, not a single individual trait, has been preserved to us by the Roman writers of the man who for so many years maintained the struggle against some of their ablest generals. We can only conjecture, from some of the events of the Spanish war, that he possessed to a great degree the same power over the minds of men that was evinced by other members of his family ; and his conduct towards the subject tribes seems to have been re- garded as presenting a favourable contrast to that of his namesake, the son of Gisco. (Polyb. ix. 11.) 7. A member of the senate of Carthage, who, according to Zonaras (viii. 22), took the lead in recommending the rejection of the demands of Rome, and the declaration of war, when the Roman embassy arrived at Carthage, after the fall of Sa- guntum, B.C. 219. He is not mentioned by any other writer. 8. An officer of high rank in the army of Han- nibal. He is first mentioned as being entrusted by that general with the care of transporting his army over the Po (Polyb. iii. QQ) ; and we afterwards find him employed in preparing the arrangements for the well-known stratagem by which Hannibal eluded the vigilance of Fabius, and effected his escape from Campania through the passes of the Apennines. {Id. iii. 93 ; Liv. xxii. 16.) He at this time held the chief direction of all military works (o etii Xnrovpyi&v Tsrayfieyos) ; but there is little doubt that it is the same person whom we afterwards find in command of Hannibars camp at Geronium on the occasion of his action with Mi- nucius (Polyb. iii. 102), and who also commanded the left wing of the Carthaginian army at the battle of Cannae (b. c. 216). On that memorable day, Hasdrubal rendered the most important services. The Spanish and Gaulish horse under his command, after an obstinate combat, obtained the victory over the Roman cavalry to which they were opposed, cut to pieces the greater part of them, and dispersed the rest. As soon as he saw his victory in this quarter complete, Hasdrubal hastened to recal his troops from the pursuit, and led them to the sup- poit of the Numidian cavalry of the right wing, against whom the Roman allies had hitherto main- tained their ground, but took to flight on perceiving the approach of Hasdrubal He thereupon left it HASDRUBAL. 357 to the Nuraidians to pursue the enemy, and, bring- ing up his cavalry to the centre of the field, by a well-timed charge upon the rear of the Roman in- fantry, at the same time that they were engaged both in front and flank with Hannibal's African and Spanish foot, effectually decided the fortune of the day. (Polyb. iii. 115— 118 ; Liv. xxii. 46— 48.) Appian, whose account of the battle of Cannae (Annib. 20 — 24) differs very much from that of Polybius, and is far less probable, assigns the command of the left wing of the Carthaginian army to Hanno, and that of the right to Mago, and does not mention Hasdrubal at all. ,It is more singular, that after this time his name does not occur again either in Polybius or Livy. 9. Surnamed the Bald (Calvus), commander of the Carthaginian expedition to Sardinia in the Se- cond Punic War, B. c. 215. The revolt of Hamp- sicora in Sardinia having excited in the government of Carthage hopes of recovering that important island, they placed under the command of Hasdru- bal a fleet and army equal to those sent into Spain under Mago, with which he put to sea ; but a storm drove his armament to the Balearic islands, where he was obliged to remain some time in order to refit. Meanwhile, affairs in Sardinia had taken an unfavourable turn, notwithstanding which, he landed his forces in the island, and uniting them with those of Hampsicora, marched straight upon Caralis, when they were met by the Roman praetor, T. Manlius. A pitched battle ensued, which ended in the total defeat of the Cartliaginian anny. Has- drubal himself was made prisoner, and carried in triumph to Rome by Manlius. (Liv. xxiii. 32, 34, 40, 41 ; Zonar. ix. 4 ; Eutrop. iii. 13.) 10. Son of Gisco. one of the Carthaginian generals in Spain during the Second Punic War. He is first mentioned as arriving in that country, with a con- siderable army, in B.C. 214, and as cooperating with Hasdrubal and Mago, the two sons of Ha- milcar, in the campaign of that year. But, not- withstanding the union of their three armies, they were able to effect nothing decisive. The outline of the events which marked the Spanish war from this year until the departure of Hasdrubal the son of Hamilcar to Italy, has been already given in the life of the latter [No. 6], and it seems un- necessary to recapitulate it, in order to point out the share which the son of Gisco took in the suc- cesses or reverses of the Carthaginian arras. From an early period of the war, dissensions arose be- tween the three generals, which doubtless con- tributed not a little to the fluctuations of its success, and which appear to have risen to a still greater height after the defeat and death of the two Scipios (b. c. 212) had left them apparently un- disputed masters of Spain. The particular part which the son of Gisco took in these is nowhere mentioned, but it is difficult to avoid the conjecture that they were in great part owing to his jealousy of the sons of Hamilcar ; and Polybius expressly charges him (ix. 11, x. 35, 36) with alienating the minds of the Spaniards by his arrogance and rapacity, among others that of Indibilis, one of the chiefs who had been most faithfully attached to the Carthaginian cause. [Indibilis.] When Hasdrubal the son of Hamilcar, after hia defeat at Baecula by Scipio (b. c. 209), moved northwards across the Tagus, he was joined by his two colleagues, and, at the council of war held by them, it was agreed, that while the son of Htimilcar A A 3