This account of the life of the famous Carthaginian general who acquired distinction as a warrior by his desperate contests with the Romans was written for mature high school students and young adults. Its lively treatment of the Punic Wars depicts Hannibal's crossing of the Alps with his elephants, the battles he waged in Italy, and his eventual defeat. Although Hannibal is the central character, the book begins with a brief overview of the first Punic War, and ends with the destruction of Carthage following the third Punic war.

CARTHAGINIANS CROSSING INTO ITALY.

Preface

The author of this series has made it his special object to confine himself very strictly, even in the most minute details which he records, to historic truth. The narratives are not tales founded upon history, but history itself, without any embellishment or any deviations from the strict truth, so far as it can now be discovered by an attentive examination of the annals written at the time when the events themselves occurred. In writing the narratives, the author has endeavored to avail himself of the best sources of information which this country affords; and though, of course, there must be in these volumes, as in all historical narratives, more or less of imperfection and error, there is no intentional embellishment. Nothing is stated, not even the most minute and apparently imaginary details, without what was deemed good historical authority. The readers, therefore, may rely upon the record as the truth, and nothing but the truth, so far as honest purpose and a careful examination has been effectual in ascertaining it.