Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/917

MAGO. the passage of Pyrrhus. (Diod. Exc. Hoeschel. xxii. 9, p/496.) 5. Son of Hamilcar Barca, and brother of the famous Hannibal. He was the youngest of the three brothers, and must have been quite a youth when he accompanied Hannibal into Italy, B. c. 218. But his whole life had been spent in camps, under the eye of his father or brother, and young as he was, he had already given proofs not only of personal courage, but of skill and judgment in war, sufficient to justify Hannibal in entrusting him with services of the most important character. The first occasion on which he is mentioned is the passage of the fo, which he effected successfully at the head of the cavalry : according to Caelius Antipater, he and his horsemen crossed the river by swimming. (Liv. xxi. 47.) At the battle of the Trebia shortly afterwards, he was selected by his brother to command the body of chosen troops placed in ambuscade among the thickets of the bed of the river, and by his well-timed attack on the rear of the Roman army contributed mainly to the success of the day. (Polyb. iii. 71, 74 ; Liv. xxi. 54, 55 ; Frontin, Strateg. ii. 5. ^ 23.) We next find him commanding the rear-guard during the attempt to cross the Apennines, and in the dan- gerous and toilsome march . through the marshes of Etruria. At Cannae he was associated with his brother in the command of the main body of the Carthaginian army : such at least is the statement of Polybius and Livy: Appian, on the contrary, assigns him that of the right wing : in either case, it is clear that he held no unimportant post on that great occasion. (Polyb. iii. 79, 114 ; Liv. xxii. 2, 46 ; Appian. Annib. 20.) After the battle he was detached by tLannibal with a considerable force, to complete the subjugation of Samnium: as soon as he had effected this he marched southwards into Bruttium, and after receiving the submission of many cities in that part of Italy, crossed over in person to Carthage, where he v/as the first to an- nounce the progress and victories of his brother. The tidings naturally produced a great effect, and, notwithstanding the opposition of Hanno, the Car- thaginian senate came to the resolution of sending powerful reinforcements to Hannibal in Italy. A force of 12,000 foot and 1500 horse, with twenty elephants and sixty ships, was accordingly assem- bled, and placed under the command of Mago, but just as he was about to sail intelligence arrived of the alarming state of the Carthaginian affairs in Spain, which induced the government to alter their plan of operations, and Mago, with the forces under his command, was despatched to the support of his brother Hasdrubal in that country, b c. 2 1 5. (Liv. xxiii, I, 11, 13, 32; Appian, Hisp. 16; Zonar. ix. 2, 3.) It is hardly necessary to point out in detail the part borne by Mago in the subsequent operations in Spain, a sketch of which is given under Has- drubal, No. 6. We find him mentioned as co- operating in the siege of Illiturgi (b. c. 215), in the defeat of the two Scipios (b. c. 212), and on several other occasions. (Liv. xxiii. 49,xxiv. 41,42, xxv. 32, 39, xxvi. 20; Appian, Hisp. 24.) His position during these campaigns is not quite clear, but it would seem that though frequently acting indepen- dently, he was still in some degree subject to the superior authority of his brother, as well as of Has dnibal, the son of Gisco : perhaps it was the some- what ambiguous character of their relations to one MAGO. 903 another that led to the dissensions and jealousies among the three generals, of which we hear as one of the chief causes that led to the disasters of the Carthaginian arms. (Polyb. x. 6.) At length, in 209, it was determined at a council of the three generals, held shortly after the battle of Baecula, that while Hasdrubal, the son of Barca, set out on his adventurous march into Italy, Mago and the other Hasdrubal should carry on the war in Spain ; the former repairing in the first instance to the Balearic islands, in order to raise fresh levies for the approaching campaign. (Liv. xxvii, 20.) The wliole of the following year is a blank, so far as the Spanish war is concerned ; but in 207 we had Mago in Celtiberia at the head of an army com- posed mainly of troops levied in that country, but to which Hanno, who had just arrived in Spain, had lately joined his new army of Cartliaginian and African troops. Their combined forces were, however, attacked by M, Silanus, one of the lieu- tenants of Scipio, and totally defeated ; Hanno himself was taken prisoner, while Mago, with a , few thousand men, effected his escape, and joined Hasdrubal, the son of Gisco, in the south of Spain. Here they once more succeeded in assembling a numerous array, but the next year (b. c. 206) their decisive defeat by Scipio at Silpia [Hasdrubal, p. 358] crushed for ever all hope of re-establishing the Carthaginian power in Spain. (Liv. xxviii. 1, 2, 12—16; Polyb. xi. 20—24; Appian, Hisp. 25—27; Zonar, ix. 8.) After this battle Mago retired to Gades, where he shut himself up with the troops under his command ; and here he re- mained long after Hasdrubal had departed to Africa, still keeping his eye upon the proceedings of the Romans, and not without hope of recovering his footing on the main land ; for which purpose he was continually intriguing with the Spanish chiefs, and even it is said fomenting the spirit of discon- tent among the Roman troops themselves. The formidable insurrection of Indibilis and Mandonius, and the mutiny of a part of the Roman army, for a time gave him hopes of once more restoring the Carthaginian power in that country ; but all these attempts proved abortive. His lieutenant Haniio was defeated by L. Marcius, and Mago, who had himself repaired to his assistance with a fleet of sixty ships, was compelled to return to Gades without effecting anything. At length, therefore, he began to despair of restoring the fortunes of Carthage in Spain, and was preparing to return to Africa, when he received orders from the Car- thaginian senate to repair with such a fleet and army as he could still muster to Liguria, and thus transfer the seat of war once more into Italy. The command was well suited to the enterprising cha- racter of Mago ; but before he finally quitted Spain he was tempted by intelligence of the defenceless state of New Carthage to m.ake an attempt on that city, in which however he was repulsed with con- siderable loss. Foiled in this quarter, he returned to Gades, but the gates of that city were now shut against him, an insult he is said to have avenged by putting to death their chief magistrates, whom he had decoyed into his power, under pretence of a conference ; after this he repaired to the Balearic islands, in the lesser of which he took up his quarters for the winter. (Liv. xxviii. 23, 30, 31, 36, 37; Appian, Hisp. 31, 32, 34, 37; Zonar. ix. 10.) The memory of his sojourn there is still preserved, in the name of the 3 M 4