Both Sides Are in the Wrong
These things being so, they argued that it was beyond
controversy that
Saguntum had accepted the protection of
Rome, several years before the time of Hannibal. The
strongest proof of this, and one which would not be contested
by the Carthaginians themselves, was that, when political disturbances broke out at
Saguntum, the people chose the
Romans, and not the Carthaginians, as arbitrators to settle the
dispute and restore their constitution, although the latter were
close at hand and were already established in
Iberia.
I conclude, then, that if the destruction of
Saguntum is to
be regarded as the cause of this war, the Carthaginians must be acknowledged to be in
the wrong, both in view of the treaty of Lutatius, which
secured immunity from attack for the allies of both parties,
and in view of the treaty of Hasdrubal, which disabled
the Carthaginians from passing the Iber with arms.
1 If
on the other hand the taking
Sardinia from them, and imposing the heavy money fine which accompanied it, are to
be regarded as the causes, we must certainly acknowledge
that the Carthaginians had good reason for undertaking
the Hannibalian war: for as they had only yielded to the
pressure of circumstances, so they seized a favourable turn in
those circumstances to revenge themselves on their injurers.
