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Article ON PUBLIC INGRATITUDE TO GREAT CHARACTERS. ← Page 4 of 6 →
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On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
parodoxical the opinion may be , there is nevertheless good reason t ° suppose Hannibal a man neither so cruel , nor perfidious , nor impi . ais , as-Livy and the Roman historians have represented him . It should be remembered , that between Rome and Carthage was a most implacable hatred ; and that this hatred , heightened by the enemy ' s successes , and adtled to the partiality which every writer naturally feels for his own countryprovoked the Roman historians to
calum-, niate , without temper or justice , the Carthaginian General . It docs hot , however , appear probable , that a Commander , with all the vices imputed to him by his enemies , should be able to keep' together , for so long a period ' , an army composed of troops drawn from so many different quarters . But , however the Romans may have judged of his characterwhatever his conduct may have been towards them ,
, from his own countrymen he merited the hi ghest admiration , lie deserved the most honourable rewards . Yet what recompence did Hanno ' s faction procure for the labours and sti cesses of this veteran , gallant beyond example , till he wintered at Capua ? To ruin Hannibal , the interests of his country were sacrificed by that turbulent , invidious demagogue : for it was Hanno that dragged the leader of
their armies from the very quarter where the Romans could be most sensibly affected by a harassing war , from the heart of Italy , which the Carthaginians had ravaged for more than sixteen years : it was Hanno , that by the intrigues of his party compelled Hannibal , in his old age , to flee disguised from Carthage . The generous Scipio respected his enemy : at their conference , before their final engagement ,
he took the hand of his adversary : when he had conquered Hannibal , he demanded not his being banished , as a condition of peace , nor did he insult ever the misfortunes of the vanquished hero : when he met him in exile at Eplicsus , Scipio conversed with him freely and familiarly . The brave love fortitude , even in an enemy . From Hanno , from the desperate fiction that was working the ruin of their devoted city , did Hannibal experience the effects of malevolence and
iniquity . On their deliverance from the massacre and conflagration , which , with his profligate accomplices , that most nefarious of villains , Catiline , had meditated to put in execution , the Roman people hailed Cicero with the most exalted of all titles , they saluted him as Father of his Country . But how sad was the reverse of fortune which in some few years succeeded ! Pie , who had been " conducted home
in a kind of triumph by the whole body of the Senate and the Kni ghts ; he , for whom the streets had been illuminated , that women and children at the windows and tops of houses might see him pass ; he , whom the multitude had proclaimed their Saviour and Deliverer , " ( see Middleton , vol . i . p . 231 ;) was afterwards obliged to relreat precipitately from the city , in fear for his life ; was condemned to banishment by an illegal sentence ; was spoiled of his most valuable possessions ; was assailed by every engine of malice which could be raised against him by Claudius , that patron of incendiaries and assassins
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On Public Ingratitude To Great Characters.
parodoxical the opinion may be , there is nevertheless good reason t ° suppose Hannibal a man neither so cruel , nor perfidious , nor impi . ais , as-Livy and the Roman historians have represented him . It should be remembered , that between Rome and Carthage was a most implacable hatred ; and that this hatred , heightened by the enemy ' s successes , and adtled to the partiality which every writer naturally feels for his own countryprovoked the Roman historians to
calum-, niate , without temper or justice , the Carthaginian General . It docs hot , however , appear probable , that a Commander , with all the vices imputed to him by his enemies , should be able to keep' together , for so long a period ' , an army composed of troops drawn from so many different quarters . But , however the Romans may have judged of his characterwhatever his conduct may have been towards them ,
, from his own countrymen he merited the hi ghest admiration , lie deserved the most honourable rewards . Yet what recompence did Hanno ' s faction procure for the labours and sti cesses of this veteran , gallant beyond example , till he wintered at Capua ? To ruin Hannibal , the interests of his country were sacrificed by that turbulent , invidious demagogue : for it was Hanno that dragged the leader of
their armies from the very quarter where the Romans could be most sensibly affected by a harassing war , from the heart of Italy , which the Carthaginians had ravaged for more than sixteen years : it was Hanno , that by the intrigues of his party compelled Hannibal , in his old age , to flee disguised from Carthage . The generous Scipio respected his enemy : at their conference , before their final engagement ,
he took the hand of his adversary : when he had conquered Hannibal , he demanded not his being banished , as a condition of peace , nor did he insult ever the misfortunes of the vanquished hero : when he met him in exile at Eplicsus , Scipio conversed with him freely and familiarly . The brave love fortitude , even in an enemy . From Hanno , from the desperate fiction that was working the ruin of their devoted city , did Hannibal experience the effects of malevolence and
iniquity . On their deliverance from the massacre and conflagration , which , with his profligate accomplices , that most nefarious of villains , Catiline , had meditated to put in execution , the Roman people hailed Cicero with the most exalted of all titles , they saluted him as Father of his Country . But how sad was the reverse of fortune which in some few years succeeded ! Pie , who had been " conducted home
in a kind of triumph by the whole body of the Senate and the Kni ghts ; he , for whom the streets had been illuminated , that women and children at the windows and tops of houses might see him pass ; he , whom the multitude had proclaimed their Saviour and Deliverer , " ( see Middleton , vol . i . p . 231 ;) was afterwards obliged to relreat precipitately from the city , in fear for his life ; was condemned to banishment by an illegal sentence ; was spoiled of his most valuable possessions ; was assailed by every engine of malice which could be raised against him by Claudius , that patron of incendiaries and assassins