Scanned text contains errors.

On this page: Hammonius – Hampsicora – Hannibal

HAMPSICORA.

any authority from Carthage ; and, on the com­plaints of the Romans, the Carthaginian govern­ment passed sentence against him of banishment and confiscation of his property. (Liv. xxxi. 1.9.)

14. Surnamed the Samnite, on what account we know not. He was one of the leaders of the demo­cratic party at Carthage during the dissensions which divided that state after the close of the second Punic war ; and one of those who instigated Car-thalo to attack the troops of Masinissa. [car-thalo, No. 3.] At a subsequent period (b. c. 151), the democratic party having expelled from the city those who were considered to favour Masinissa, that monarch sent his two sons, Gulussa and Mi-cipsa, to demand the restoration of the exiles ; but the two princes were refused admission within the gates; and as they were retiring, Hamilcar attacked them, and killed many of the followers of Gulussa, who himself escaped with difficulty. This outrage was one of the immediate causes of the war with Masinissa, which ultimately led to the third Punic war. It is probable that Hamilcar, though not mentioned by name, was included in the proscrip­tion of Hasdrubal, Carthalo, and the other leaders of the war party, by which the Carthaginians sought to appease the anger of Rome, when the danger of war with that power became imminent. (Appian, Pun. 68, 70, 74.)

15. One of the five ambassadors sent by the Carthaginians to Rome at the beginning of the third Punic war, b. c. 149. They were furnished with full powers to act as they deemed best, in order to avert the impending danger ; and finding, on their arrival at Rome, that the senate had already passed a decree for war, and would no longer enter into negotiation, they determined on offering unqualified submission. This declaration was favourably re­ceived, but 300 hostages were required, as a proof of the sincerity of their countrymen, and, with this demand, the ambassadors returned to Carthage. (Polyb. xxxvi. 1, 2.)

16. There is a Carthaginian author, of the name of Hamilcar, mentioned (together with Mago) by Columella (xii. 4) as having written on the details of husbandry ; but nothing more is known con­ cerning him. [E. H. B.]

HAMMONIUS. [ammonius.]

HAMMONIUS, C. AVIA'NUS, a freedman of M. Aemilius Avianus, whom Cicero recom­mended, in b. c. 46, to Ser. Sulpicius, governor of Achaia. (Cic. ad Fam. xiii. '21, 27.)

HAMPSICORA, a Sardinian chief, who, after the battle of Cannae (b. c. 216), entered into secret negotiations with the Carthaginians, inviting them to send over a force to Sardinia, to recover that important island from the dominion of Rome. His overtures were eagerly listened to, and Hasdrubal, surnamed the Bald, dispatched with a fleet and army, to support the intended revolt. But before the arrival of Hasdrubal, and while Hampsicora himself was engaged in levying troops in the in­terior of the island, his son Hiostus rashly allowed himself to be led into an engagement with the Roman praetor, T. Manlius, in which he was de­feated, and his forces dispersed. The arrival of Hasdrubal for a moment changed the face of af­fairs, but he and Hampsicora having advanced with their united forces against Caralis, the capital of the Roman province, they were met by Manlius, when a decisive battle took place, in which the Romans were cqmpletely victorious. Hiostus fell in the

'331

HANNIBAL.

action, and Hampsicora, who had made his escape from the field of battle, on learning the death of his son, put an end to his own life. These events occurred in the summer of B. c. 215. (Liv. xxiii. 32, 40, 41.) [E. H. B.]

HANNIBAL ('Awteas). Many persons of this name occur in the history of Carthage, whom it is not always easy to distinguish from one an­other, on account of the absence of family names, and even of patronymics, among the Carthaginians* The name itself signifies, according to Geseniiis (Ling. Phoen. Monum. p. 407), "the grace or fa-v&ur of Baal; " the final syllable bal9 of such common occurrence in Punic names, always having reference to this tutelary deity of the Phoenicians.

1. A son of Hasdrubal, and grandson of Mago, mentioned only by Justin (xix. 2), according to whom this Hannibal, together with his brothers, Hasdrubal and Sappho, carried on successful wars against the Africans, Numidians, and Mauritanians, and was one of those mainly instrumental in estab­lishing the dominion of Carthage on the continent of Africa.

2. Son of Gisco, and grandson of the Hamilcar who was killed at Himera b.c. 480. [hamilcar, No. ] .J He was one of the suffetes, or chief ma­gistrates, of Carthage at the time that the Seges-tans, after the defeat of the great Athenian ex­pedition to Sicily, implored the assistance of the Carthaginians, to protect them against the Selinun-r tines. The senate of Carthage, having determined to avail themselves of the opportunity of extending their power and influence in Sicily, Hannibal was appointed to conduct the war: a small force was sent off immediately to the support of the Segesr tans, and Hannibal, having spent the winter in assembling a large body of mercenaries from Spain and Africa, landed at Lilybaeum the following spring (b. c. 409), with an army, according to the lowest statement, of not less than 100,000 men-. His arms were first directed against Selinus, which, though one of the most powerful and opulent cities of Sicily, appears to have been ill prepared for de­fence, and Hannibal pressed his attacks with such vigour, that he made himself master of the city, after a siege of only nine days: the place was given up to plunder, and, with the exception of some of the temples, almost utterly destroyed. From hence Hannibal proceeded to lay siege to Himera, into which place Diocles had thrown himself, at the head of a body of Syracusans and other auxiliaries; but the latter, after an unsuccessful combat, in which many of his troops had fallen, became alarmed for the safety of Syracuse itself, and with­drew, with the forces under his command, and a part of the citizens of Himera, leaving the rest to their fate. The remnant thus left were unable to defend their walls, and the city fell the next day into the power of Hannibal, who, after having abandoned it to be plundered by his soldiers, razed it to the ground, and sacrificed all the prisoners that had fallen into his hands, 3000 in number, upon the field of battle, where his grandfather Ha­milcar had perished. After these successes, he returned in triumph to Carthage. (Diod. xiii. 43, 44, 54—62 ; Xen. Hell. i. 1. § 37.)

It appears that Hannibal must have been at this time already a man of advanced age, and he seems to have been disposed to rest content with the glory; he had gained in this expedition, so that when, three years afterwards (b. c. 406), -the Car-