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HANNIBAL

835

HANOVER

snow and ice and in fighting the native tribes which harassed his march. A part of his Spanish troops he was obliged to send home. When he reached Italy, he had but 26,000 men with whom to meet on their own ground a nation which could put 170,000 trained soldiers into the field. He met the Romans under Scipio at the River Ticinus. The Romans were driven back, and retreated beyond the Po. Hannibal crossed the river, and the first great battle was fought at the Trebia, resulting in the utter defeat of the Romans with a loss of 40,000 men. These battles were fought in 21$ B. C. The next year he annihilated the army of the consul Fla-minius, near Lake Trasimene, capturing 15,000 prisoners. The following spring he posted his army of 30,000 at Cannae on the Aufidus. Here he was attacked by a Roman army under the consuls ^Emilius Paulus and Terentius Varro. Hannibal drew his army across the mouth of a loop in the river, and ordered his center to retire before the attack of the Romans. The Roman legions pressed into the loop, when Hannibal's infantry, which were strongly posted on either side, fell upon the enemy's flanks, while the Numidian cavalry closed upon the rear. Thus assailed in front, flank and rear, the Roman army, confused and broken, was hewn down through eight hours of carnage till 50,000 men lay dead on the field. "Send me on with the horse, general," cried Maherbal, the leader of the Numidian cavalry; "and in five days thou shalt sup in the capital." But Hannibal knew that his forces were unequal to the task of storming a walled city, garrisoned by a population of fighting men. The soundness of judgment, the patience and self-control he evinced in this hour of intoxicating triumph are hardly less marvelous than the genius by which his success had been won.

Hitherto Hannibal had swept everything before him, but after the battle of Cannae the tide turned. His niggardly, shortsighted countrymen denied him the support without which success was impossible Still, through long years of struggle in Italy, he was never defeated, and overcame the Roman army again and again. But in 207 B. C. his brother, Hasdrubal, marching from Spain to his aid, was surprised, defeated and slain at the Metaurus by the consul Nero. This battle sealed the fate of "the lion's brood" of the great Hamilcar; but for years Hannibal stood at bay, defying with his thinned army every general sent against him, until in 202 B. C. he was recalled to Africa to repel the Roman invasion. In the same year he met Scipio at Zama; his raw levies fled; his veterans were cut to pieces where they stood; and Carthage was at the mercy of "R-ome. So ended the Second Punic War,

which has well been called the war of a man with a nation and perhaps the most wonderful war in all history. When peace was made, Hannibal became the highest officer in his state and effected many reforms in the government of Carthage. These reforms made him enemies, who caused the Romans to demand his surrender to them. To avoid this, he left Carthage, and years later baffled his enemies by finally taking poison, which, we are told, he carried with him in a ring, and died at Libyssa about 183 B. C. There is not in all history so wonderful an example of what a single man of genius may achieve against tremendous odds as is found in Hannibal, the greatest captain the world has seen. See Carthage and the Carthaginians by Bosworth Smith; Life by Arnold; and Hannibal, by Dodge, in the Great Commanders Series.

Hannibal, a city in Marion County, Mo., on the west bank of the Mississippi, which has grown steadily during the last 20 years. It has excellent facilities for shipping, having eight railroads, six of which terminate there, and competing river-steamers-. The city has broad, handsome and well-paved streets, lighted by electricity. The water-supply is obtained from the river, two miles above the city; it first passes by gravity through a system of filters, and is then pumped into reservoirs. The principal manufactures are stoves, shoes, furniture, flour, cigars, lumber, car-wheels and foundry and machineshop products. It is well-equipped with churches and banks, and has an excellent school-system, which includes public, parish and colored high-schools, besides a free public library of 10,000 volumes. Population 18,443.

Hanno'ver, formerly a kingdom of northern Germany, in 1866 became a part of Prussia. Its area is 14,869 square miles; population 2,942,546. It is a part of the great North German plain, except in the south where are the Harz Mountains. It is watered by the Elbe, Weser, Ems and their tributaries. The people are engaged in mining, farming and stockraising. The mines produce iron, silver, zinc, copper, lead and coal. Among Hannover's more important industries are manufactures of linen, woolen and cotton goods, iron, glass, paper and pottery. Gottingen is the seat of a university, and the capital is Hannover, situated 158 miles west of Berlin. It is a center of the North German railroad system and has varied and important manufactures. Population 302,384. Low German is spoken in the rural districts, but high German is the language of the educated classes and is spoken with more purity than in any other part of the empire.

Handover, a small town in New Hampshire, on the Connecticut River, 55 miles northwest of Concord. Dartmouth Col-