06-30-2001, 11:29 PM
Your downplaying the man.First of all,Hannibal never had the consent of the Carthaginian senate & it's government.It was primarily a Barca affair,the war with Rome.The seed was planted by Hamilcar in Spain,& finished by Hannibal,albeit none too successfully.Hannibal had barely any support from Carthage during the war,and as the war progressed these layed the grounds for his defeat.In fact,if not for his brothers & their entreaties he would barely have gotten a respectable size of an army into Italy.The fact that he accomplished so much speaks in grand volumes how much an individual could accomplish against great adversity.Do not compare Scipio to Hannibal for he was merely a student of the great man,brilliant as he was.Hannibal in command of Roman troops?He may have conquered more than Alexander did!Study their miltary skills & compare the weight of their achievements & one would see who clearly excels the most.The fact that Hannibal brought Rome to her knees for all the 15 years he spent on her soil with increasingly weakening & inferior forces but still managing to instill dread & fear to his enemies is unparalled in history.The Romans could have crushed Hannibal with their vastly numerous & superior troops,but with their awe & fear barely touched swords with him,except when they knew they had the advantage.Never did they dare go to his territory or provoke him;every Roman general that did got burned.And if Carthage wasn't able to control Hannibal,as Rome couldn't Scipio,& Scipio was merely a protege,how could Rome have controlled Hannibal?And would one argue against success,something which Hannibal would definitely & undoubtedly have with his superior martial skills commanding the indomitable Roman legion? And Hannibal's legend did not derive from his defeat against the Romans alone;his miltary record & what he did to Rome & the reasons why & how Rome was able to defeat him is partly what made the man leave an inimitable legacy. <p></p><i></i>
