A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

'330 HAMILCAR. IIAMILCAR.
progress which the arms of Hamilcar had made in we are now speaking is the same as the Hiimilco
the peninsula may be in some measure estimated whom Livy had previously mentioned (xxiii. 28)
by the circumstance that the fatal battle in which as being sent into Spain with a large force to suphe perished is stated to have been fought against port Hasdrubal. [HIMILCO, No. 7.]
the Vettones, a people who dwelt between the 11. A Carthaginian admiral, who commanded
Tagus and the Guadiana. (Corn.; Nep. Hamilc. the fleet of observation which the Carthaginians
4; Strab. iii. p. 139.) According to Livy (xxiv. kept up during the second Punic war, to watch' the
41), it occurred near a place called Castrum Album, movements of the Romans in Sicily. (Polyb. viii.
but the exact site is unknown. The circumstances 3. ~ 8.) He is probably the same who in the
of his defeat and death are very differently told by summer of 210 ravaged the coasts of Sardinia with
Diodorus: and by Appian. The account of the a fleet of 40 ships (Liv. xxvii. 6); and whom we
latter author is confirmed by Zonaras; but all find holding the chief naval command at Carthage
writers agree that he displayed the utmost personal when the seat of war was transferred to Africa.
bravery in the fatal conflict, and that his death was (Appian, Pun. 24.) After the defeat of Hasdrubal
not unworthy of his life. It took place in 229 and Syphax by Scipio in 203, Hamilcar made a
B. C., about ten years before his son Hannibal was sudden attack upon the Roman fleet as it lay at
able to commence the realisation of the great de- anchor before Utica. He had hoped to have taken
signs in the midst of which: he was thus himself cut it by surprise, and destroyed the whole; but the
off. (Polyb. ii. 1; Diod. Ecx. Hoescl7el. xxv. 2; vigilance of Scipio anticipated his design, and after
Zonar. viii. 19 Corn. Nep. Hamilc. 4; Liv. xxi. an obstinate combat he was only able to carry off
1, 2; Oros. iv, 13.)' six ships to Carthage. In a subsequent attack he
We know very little concerning the private effected still less. (Appian, Pun. 24, 25, 30'; Liv.
character of Hamilcar:- an anecdote of him pre- xxx. 10).
served by Diodorus (Exe. Val. xxiv. 2, 3) repre- 12. An officer in the army of Hannibal, in Italy,
sents in a favourable light his liberality and even during the second Punic war. In 215 he was degenerosity of spirit; and we have seen that he at tached, together with Hanno, into Bruttium, where
firstdisplayed much leniency towards the insurgents he succeeded in reducing the important town of
in the African war, though the atrocities of his Locri. (Liv. xxiv. 1.) He appears to have been
opponents afterwards led him' to acts of frightful appointed governor of his new conquest, which he
cruelty by way of retaliation. His political rela- held with a Carthaginian garrison till.the year 205,
tions are so obscure that it is difficult to form a when the citadel was surprised by Q. Pleminius.
judgment concerning his conduct in this respect; Hamilcar still held out in another fort that combut there certainly seems reason to suppose that, manded the town, and Hannibal himself advanced
like many. other great men, the consciousness of his to his relief, but the unexpected arrival of Scipio
own superiority rendered him impatient of control; disconcerted his plans, and he was compelled to
and it is not improbable that he sought in Spain abandon Locri to its fate. Hamilcar made his esgreater freedom of action and a more independent cape in the night, with the remains of his garrison.
career than existing institutions allowed him at According to the Roman historians, his conduct
home. An odious imputation cast on his relations during the period he had held the command at
with Hasdrubal was probably no more than a Locri was marked by every species of cruelty and
calumny of the opposite faction. (Corn. Nep. extortion, which were however, according to their
Hamilc. 3; Liv. xxi. 2, 3.) Of the military genius own admission, far exceeded by those of his Roman
of Hamilcar our imperfect knowledge of the details successor. (Liv. xxix. 6-8, 17.)
of his campaigns scarcely qualifies us to judge, but 13. A Carthaginian, who had remained in Cisalthe concurrent testimony of antiquity places him in pine Gaul after the defeat of Hasdrubal at the
this respect almost on a par with his son Hannibal. Metaurus (B. c. 207), or, according to others, had
He left three sons, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, and been left there by Mago when he quitted Italy.
Mago, all of whom bore a distinguished part in the In 200, when the Romans were engaged in the
second Punic war. Macedonian war, and had greatly diminished their
9. Son of Gisco, was the Carthaginian governor forces in Gaul, Hamilcar succeeded in exciting a
of Malta at the beginning, of the second Punic war. general revolt, not only of the Insubrians, BoYans,
He surrendered the island, together with his gar- and Cenomanni, but several of the Ligurian tribes
rison of 2000 men, into the hands of the Roman also. By a sudden attack, he took the Roman coconsul, Ti. Sempronius Longus, B. C. 218. (Liv. lony of Placentia, which he plundered and burnt,
xxi. 51.). and then laid siege to Cremona; but that place,
10. Son of Bomilcar (probably the Suffete of though unprepared for defence, was able to hold
that name: see BOMILCAR No. 2), is mentioned out until the Roman praetor, L. Furius, arrived to
as one of the generals in Spain in B. C. 215, together its relief with'an army-from Ariminum. A pitched
with Hasdrubal and Mago, the two sons of Barca. battle ensued, in which the Gauls were totally deThe three generals, with their united armies, were feated, and in which, according to one account,
besieging the city of Illiturgi, when the two Scipios Hamilcar was slain: but another, and a more
came up to its relief; and notwithstanding the probable statement, represents him as continuing
great inferiority of their forces, totally' defeated the to take part in the war of the Gallic tribes, not
Carthaginians, and compelled them to raise the. without frequent successes, until the year 197,
siege. (Liv. xxiii. 49.) No other mention is when he was taken prisoner, in the great battle on
found of this Hamilcar, unless he be the same that the river Mincius, in which the Insubrians were
is named by Polybius (iii. 95) as commanding the overthrown by the consul Cethegus. He is said to
fleet of Hasdrubal in 217. That officer-is, how- have adorned the triumph celebrated by the vic-.ever, called by Livy (xxii. 19) Himilco. From torious consul. (Liv. xxxi. 10, 21, xxxii. 30,
the perpetual confusion between these two names xxxiii. 23; Zonar. ix. 15, 16.) In these proit seems not. impossible that the person of whom ceedings, it is clear that Hamilcar acted without