Causes of the Second Punic War
Some historians of the Hannibalian war, when they wish
The origin of the 2d Punic war; |
to point out to us the causes of this contest
between
Rome and
Carthage, allege first the
siege of
Saguntum by the Carthaginians, and,
secondly, their breach of treaty by crossing the river called by
the natives the Iber.
But though I should call these the
first actions in the war, I cannot admit them
to be its causes. One might just as well say
that the crossing of Alexander the Great into
Asia was the
cause of the Persian war, and the descent of
Antiochus upon
Demetrias the
cause of his war
with
Rome.
In neither would it be a probable or ture statement. In the first case, this action of Alexander's could not be
called the cause of a war, for which both he and his father
Philip in his lifetime had made elaborate preparations: and in
the second case, we know that the Aetolian league had done
the same, with a view to a war with
Rome, before Antiochus
came upon the scene. Such definitions are only worthy of men
who cannot distinguish between a first overt act and a cause or
pretext; and who do not perceive that a
cause is the first in
a series of events of which such an overt act is the last. I
shall therefore regard the first attempt to put into execution
what had already been determined as a "beginning," but I
shall look for "causes" in the motives which suggested such
action and the policy which dictated it; for it is by these, and
the calculations to which they give rise, that men are led to
decide upon a particular line of conduct. The Soundness of
this method will be proved by the following considerations.
The true causes and origin of the invasion of
Persia by Alexander are patent
to everybody.
They were,
first, the return march of the Greeks under
Xenophon through the country from the upper Satrapies;
in the course of which, though throughout
Asia all the populations were hostile, not a single barbarian ventured to face
them: secondly, the invasion of
Asia by the
Spartan king Agesilaus, in which, though he was
obliged by troubles in
Greece to return in the middle of his
expedition without effecting his object, he yet found no resistance of any
importance or adequacy. It was these circumstances which convinced Philip of the cowardice and inefficiency
of the Persians; and comparing them with his own high state
of efficiency for war, and that of his Macedonian subjects, and
placing before his eyes the splendour of the rewards to be
gained by such a war, and the popularity which it would bring
him in
Greece, he seized on the pretext of avenging the injuries done by
Persia to
Greece, and determined with great
eagerness to undertake this war; and was in fact at the time
of his death engaged in making every kind of preparation for it.
Here we have the
cause and the
pretext of the Persian war.
Alexander's expedition into
Asia was the
first action in it.