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only to meet the indemnity payments but even created a surplus for the treasury, with no
suggestion of dissent:
Namque effecit ex novis vectigalibus non solum ut esset pecunia quae
Romanis ex foedere penderetur, sed etiam superesset quae in aerario
reponeretur.
Nepos, Hann. 7.5
For by means of new taxes he provided, not only that there should be
money to pay the Romans according to the treaty, but also that there
should be a surplus to be deposited in the treasury.
Rolfe, 1984, 271
Despite their differences over exactly how Hannibal solved the economic problem, both
presentations by Cornelius Nepos and Livy depict Hannibal as the person responsible
for solving the economic woes of Carthage and saving them from retributive
punishment. 414 Indeed, Hoyos believes that Hannibal‟s services to Carthage during his
time as sufete outweighed his achievements as a general and that it was Hannibal‟s
political success that made him more enemies within Carthage. 415
These representations of Hannibal saving Carthage economically bear a striking
parallel to accounts of Hamilcar Barca saving Carthage from a similar situation after the
Mercenaries war of 241-237 (Polybius, Hist. 2; Diodorus Siculus, 25.8). Indeed,
Polybius‟ depiction of Hamilcar Barca led to an analysis by Hoyos which resembles that
of Lancel on Livy‟s representation of Hannibal noted above, that Hamilcar Barca aimed
to „to make himself and his family virtual rulers of the city and its growing empire.‟ 416
The different solutions that Hannibal and Hamilcar applied (taxation vs. invading Spain)
reflect the different circumstances of their times, but the outcome for Carthage was the
same in each case, that reparations due to Rome were paid and the city was not
destroyed. Nevertheless, the repetition in the portraits between father and son „saving
Carthage‟ economically is striking.
414 Hoyos, 2003, 194 suggests that Nepos either misunderstood Hannibal‟s anti-corruption measures or
that the taxes were imposed on allies and subjects, not Carthaginians. He notes that the financial recovery
continued beyond Hannibal‟s rule because, during Rome‟s war against Antiochus, the Carthaginians
offered to help by paying the entire remaining 40 years‟ indemnity in one lump sum: Livy, 36.4.7-9.
415 Hoyos, 2003, 200.
416 Hoyos, 1999, 1 „The saviour of Carthage from its domestic foes, Hamilcar Barca...;‟ Hoyos, 1998, 142
notes the similar accusations made against the Gracchi.
195