Nepos, Hamilcar 2

Ham. 2.1At ille ut Karthāginem vēnit, multō aliter ac spērārat rem pūblicam sē habentem cognōvit.

But when he came to Carthage he found the state in a far different condition from what he had hoped.

Note. multō aliter ac: 'far otherwise than'; ac (atque) means 'than' after words of comparison like aliter. spērārat = spērāverat. sē habentem: 'holding itself', i.e. in what condition the state was.

Ham. 2.1Namque diūturnitāte externī malī tantum exārsit intestīnum bellum, ut numquam in parī perīculō fuerit Karthāgō nisi cum dēlēta est.

For through the length of the foreign war such a great civil war had flared up that Carthage was never in equal danger except when it was destroyed.

Note. tantum … ut: 'so great … that'. The comparison is with 146 BC, when Rome destroyed Carthage in the Third Punic War.

Ham. 2.2Prīmō mercennāriī mīlitēs, quibus adversus Rōmānōs ūsī erant, dēscīvērunt, quōrum numerus erat vīgintī mīlium.

First the mercenary soldiers whom they had used against the Romans revolted, and their number was twenty thousand.

Note. The Mercenary War (241–237 BC): Carthage could not pay the soldiers who had fought in Sicily, and they revolted. utor takes the ablative: quibus … ūsī erant. vīgintī mīlium: genitive of description.

Ham. 2.2Iī tōtam abaliēnārunt Āfricam, ipsam Karthāginem oppugnārunt.

They turned the whole of Africa against Carthage and attacked Carthage itself.

Note. abaliēnārunt and oppugnārunt are contracted perfects (-āvērunt). The mercenaries were joined by the African towns that Carthage ruled.

Ham. 2.3Quibus malīs adeō sunt Poenī perterritī, ut etiam auxilia ab Rōmānīs petierint;

The Carthaginians were so terrified by these troubles that they even asked the Romans for help;

Note. adeō … ut: result clause. petierint is perfect subjunctive (contracted from petīverint). Rome did help in small ways, for example by forbidding trade with the rebels.

Ham. 2.3eaque impetrārunt.

and they obtained it.

Note. -que joins the sentence to the previous one: 'and they obtained them (the auxilia)'. impetrārunt = impetrāvērunt.

Ham. 2.3Sed extrēmō, cum prope iam ad dēspērātiōnem pervēnissent, Hamilcarem imperātōrem fēcērunt.

But at last, when they had come almost to despair, they made Hamilcar commander.

Note. extrēmō: 'at last' (an adverbial ablative). ad dēspērātiōnem: 'to the point of despair'.

Ham. 2.4Is nōn sōlum hostēs ā mūrīs Karthāginis remōvit, cum amplius centum mīlia facta essent armātōrum, sed etiam eō compulit, ut locōrum angustiīs clausī plūrēs fame quam ferrō interīrent.

He not only drove the enemy back from the walls of Carthage, though the armed men had grown to more than a hundred thousand, but even forced them into such a position that, shut in by narrow ground, more died of hunger than by the sword.

Note. nōn sōlum … sed etiam: 'not only … but also'. cum … facta essent: concessive, 'although'. plūrēs fame quam ferrō: Hamilcar trapped the main rebel army in a pass, the so-called 'Saw', where they were starved into surrender.

Ham. 2.4Omnia oppida abaliēnāta, in eīs Uticam atque Hippōnem, valentissima tōtīus Āfricae, restituit patriae.

All the towns that had been turned against Carthage, among them Utica and Hippo, the strongest in all Africa, he restored to his country.

Note. abaliēnāta agrees with oppida. valentissima: superlative of valēns. Utica and Hippo had gone over to the rebels.

Ham. 2.5Neque eō fuit contentus, sed etiam fīnēs imperiī prōpāgāvit, tōtā Āfricā tantum ōtium reddidit, ut nūllum in eā bellum vidērētur multīs annīs fuisse.

Not content with that, he also extended the frontiers of the empire, and brought such peace to all Africa that it seemed there had been no war in it for many years.

Note. eō … contentus: contentus takes the ablative. tōtā Āfricā: ablative of place without in, common with tōtus. vidērētur … fuisse: 'it seemed there had been'.