Nero is a hero
You have changed History! As Emerson said, "A foolish consistency
is the hobgoblin of little minds." Nero was wise enough to recognize
that he must risk anything to prevent Hannibal and Hasdrubal from
uniting. This choice might have guaranteed the defeat of Rome, and
changed all of Western History as we know it. It is very doubtful
that Livius would have defeated Hasdrubal, and Nero could not allow Hannibal
to gain any inspiration. Scroll down...
Nero proved
that Romans could be sneaky too. He realigned his troops, so that
there would appear to be more men than there were. Then, under
cover of darkness, he took about 8000 of his best soldiers out of the camp,
and proceeded north. With similar subterfuge, he sneaked these men
into the camp of Livius, so that Hasdrubal would not be aware that his
plans had been discovered. When the battle was joined, the
extra men of Nero made all the difference in the outcome. Hasdrubal
was utterly defeated, and, according to legend, threw himself into the
middle of the battle, preferring to fight to the death, rather than be
captured. Propaganda was very important to
the fighting spirit of men in those days. The Carthaginians had often
heard rumors that they had been abandoned and would not receive help.
It is to their credit that they never believed in these rumors, and continued
to fight their hardest. Imagine, then their despair, when the head
of Hasdrubal was thrown into their camp by a Roman messenger. We
may doubt that this actually occurred, but we can imagine how terrible
Hannibal must have felt, not only for the death of his brother, but for
the realization that his great dream would not likely come to pass.
Only a few more decisions remained.
It was now
204 BC, and the war had been continuing for most of one generation.
One of new consuls in Rome was Scipio, son of the previous Scipio we met.
Following the Battle of Cannae, this Scipio was one of the few leaders
to remain faithful to Rome, and pledged to defend her to his death.
He had had great successes in Spain, and was awarded a triumph for
them. He is considered one of Rome's greatest heroes. In the drawing of lots for the
division of the armies, Scipio drew Sicily, with the freedom to go elsewhere
outside of Italy. Still, he had in his heart the motive of revenge
for the death of his father, caused indirectly by Hannibal. This
left him with an important choice. Should he accept his lot and go
to Sicily, or try to use his political and social popularity to persuade
the Senators to let him go after Hannibal? What would you
do?