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PUNCTUATION (Lat. punctum, a point)
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See also:PUNCTUATION (See also:Lat. punctum, a point) , the theory or See also:art of " pointing " a See also:literary See also:composition so as to See also:divide it properly into sentences and portions of sentences, which the " points " are used to See also:mark at their See also:close, with a view to precision in the meaning of a continuous set of written words, by the indication of what would be pauses or changes of expression if they were spoken. The uses of the See also:chief " points " are explained as follows in the " Rules for Compositors " at the See also:Oxford University See also:Press, compiled by Mr See also:Horace See also:Hart, the university printer: The "full stop " or "See also:period " (.) marks the end of a See also:sentence. The " See also:colon " (:)—See also:Greek Kcaov, a See also:limb—is at the transition point of the sentence. The " semicolon " (;) separates different statements. The " See also:comma " (,)—Gr. Koµµa, from Kb7rTEW, i.e. a piece cut off—separates clauses, phrases and particles. (The terms " period "—Greek Irep(olos—" colon," " comma," now identified in punctuation with the signs here given, were borrowed from the Greek grammarians, who originally described either the whole sentence or a longer or shorter See also:part of it respectively in this way.) Among other signs, the " dash " (—) marks abruptness or irregularity. The " exclamation " (I) marks surprise. The " interrogation " or " query " (?) asks a question. The See also:apostrophe (') marks elisions or the possessive See also:case. " Quotes," See also:quotation-marks or " inverted commas " (" ") define quoted words. Irregularities or interpolations in a sentence are marked by various forms of See also:bracket () or See also:parenthesis. Literary usage and the practice of See also:printing-houses vary, however, so much that it is impossible to define exactly and shortly the part played by some of these points in a reasonable See also:system of punctuation. The Oxford Rules already mentioned, which See also:deal also with spelling and other pitfalls in literary composition and printing, carry the authority of such experts as Dr J. A. H. See also: A second Roman armament, which subsequently reached See also:Africa after defeating the full Carthaginian fleet off Cape Hermaeum, did not venture to reopen the campaign, but withdrew all the remaining troops. The Romans now directed their efforts once more against Sicily. In 254 they carried the important fortress of Panormus (See also:Palermo) by an attack from the See also:sea; but when See also:Carthage threw reinforcements into the See also:island the war again came to a standstill. In 251 at last the Roman See also:general L. See also:Metellus brought about a pitched battle near Panormus in which the enemy's force was effectively crippled. This victory was followed by an investment of the chief Punic See also:base at Lilybaeum by land and sea. The besiegers met with a gallant resistance, and in 249 were compelled to withdraw by the loss of their fleet in a surprise attack upon the neighbouring See also:harbour of Drepanum (See also:Trapani), in which the See also:admiral See also:Claudius Pulcher was repulsed with a loss of 93 See also:ships. Meanwhile other losses in storms on the high seas so reduced the Roman fleet that the attack upon Sicily had to be suspended. At the same See also:time the Carthaginians, who See also:felt no less severely the See also:financial See also:strain of the prolonged struggle and had a war in Africa on their hands, reduced their armaments and made no See also:attempt to deliver a See also:counter-attack. The only noteworthy feature of the ensuing See also:campaigns is the skilful guerilla war waged by a new Carthaginian commander, Hamilcar See also:Barca, from his strong positions on Mt Ercte (247–244) and Mt Eryx (244–242) in Western Sicily, by which he effectually screened Lilybaeum from the Roman land army. In 242 Rome resumed operations on sea. By a magnificent effort on the part of private citizens a fleet of 200 warships was equipped and sent out to renew the See also:blockade of Lilybaeum. The Carthaginians hastily collected a See also:relief force, but in a battle fought off the Aegates or Aegusae islands (See also:west of Drepana) their fleet was caught at a disadvantage and mostly sunk or captured (See also: Invested with an unrestricted foreign command, he spent the See also:rest of his See also:life in See also:founding a See also:Spanish empire (236–228). His See also:work was continued by his son-in-See also:law See also:Hasdrubal and his son See also:Hannibal, who was placed at the See also:head of the army in 220. These conquests aroused the suspicions of Rome, which in a treaty with Hasdrubal confined the Carthaginians to the See also:south of the See also:Ebro, and also guaranteed the See also:independence of See also:Saguntum, a See also:town on the See also:east See also:coast which pretended to a Greek origin. In 219 Hannibal laid See also:siege to Saguntum and carried the town in spite of a stubborn See also:defence. It has always been a debateable point whether his attack contravened the new treaty. The Romans certainly took this view and sent to Carthage to demand Hannibal's surrender. But his defiant policy was too popular to be disavowed; the Carthaginian See also:council upheld Hannibal's See also:action, and See also:drew upon itself an immediate declaration of war. Second Punic War (218–201 B.e.): a. The "Hannibalic" War.—It seemed as though the superiority of the Romans at sea must enable them to choose the field of battle. They decided to embark one army for Spain and another for Sicily and Africa. But before their preparations were complete Hannibal began that See also:series of operations by which he dictated the course of the war for the greater part of its duration. Realizing that so See also:long as Rome commanded the resources of an undivided Italian confederacy no foreign attack could See also:beat her down beyond recovery, he conceived the See also:plan of cutting off her See also:supply of strength at the source by carrying the war into See also:Italy and causing a disruption of the See also:League. His chances of ever reaching Italy seemed small, for the sea was guarded by the Roman fleets and the land route was long and arduous. But the very boldness of his enterprise contributed to its success; after a six months' march through Spain and See also:Gaul and over the See also:Alps, which the Romans were nowhere in time to oppose, Hannibal arrived in the See also:plain of the Po with 20,000 See also:foot and 6000 See also:horse, the pick of his African and Spanish levies (autumn 218: for details see HANNIBAL). His further advance was here disputed by some Roman troops which had been recalled from the Spanish expedition. But the superiority of the Carthaginian cavalry and the spread of insurrection among the Gaulish inhabitants forced the defenders to fall back upon the See also:Apennines. At the end of the See also:year the Roman army was reinforced by the See also:division from Sicily and led out to battle on the See also:banks of the See also:Trebia. Hannibal, by See also:superior tactics, repelled the assailants with heavy loss, and thus made his position in See also:north Italy secure. In 217 the campaign opened in See also:Etruria, into which the invading army, largely reinforced by Gauls, penetrated by an unguarded pass. A rash pursuit by the Roman field force led to its being entrapped on the See also:shore of See also:Lake See also:Trasimene and destroyed with a loss of 40,000 men. This See also:catastrophe left Rome completely uncovered; but Hannibal, having resolved not to attack the See also:capital before he could collect a more overwhelming force, directed his march towards the south of Italy, where he hoped to stir up the peoples who had formerly been Rome's most stubborn enemies. The natives, however, were everywhere slow to join the Carthaginians, and a new Roman army under the See also:dictator Q. See also:Fabius See also:Maximus (" Cunctator "), which, without ever daring to close with Hannibal, persistently dogged his steps on his forays through See also:Apulia and See also:Campania, prevented his acquiring a permanent base of operations. The eventful campaign of 216 was begun by a new aggressive move on the part of Rome. An exceptionally strong field army, estimated at 85,000 men, was sent forth in See also:order to crush the Carthaginians in open battle. On a level plain near See also:Cannae in Apulia, which Hannibal had chosen for his battle-ground, the Roman legions delivered their attack. Hannibal deliberately allowed his centre to be driven in by their superior See also:numbers, while Hasdrubal's cavalry wheeled See also:round so as to take the enemy in flank and See also:rear. The Romans, surrounded on all sides and so cramped that their superior numbers aggravated their See also:plight, were practically annihilated, and the loss of citizens was perhaps greater than in any other defeat that befel the See also:Republic. The moral effect of the battle was no less momentous. The south Italian nations at last found courage to secede from Rome, the leaders of the See also:movement being the people of See also:Capua, the second greatest town of Italy. Reinforcements were sent from Carthage, and several neutral See also:powers prepared to throw their See also:weight into the See also:scale on Hannibal's behalf. At first sight it seems See also:strange that the battle of Cannae did not decide the war. But the resources of Rome, though terribly reduced in respect both of men and of See also:money, were not yet exhausted. In north and central Italy the insurrection spread but little, and could be sufficiently guarded against with small detachments. In the south the Greek towns of the coast remained loyal, and the numerous Latin colonies continued to render important service by interrupting free communication between the rebels and detaining part of their forces. In Rome itself the quarrels between the nobles and See also:commons, which had previously unsettled her policy, gave way to a unanimity unparalleled in the See also:annals of the Republic. The guidance of operations was henceforth left to the See also:senate, which by maintaining a See also:firm and persistent policy until the conflict was brought to a successful end earned its greatest See also:title to fame. The subsequent campaigns of the Italian War assume a new See also:character. Though the Romans contrived at times to raise 200,000 men, they could only spare a moderate force for field operations. Their generals, among whom the veterans Fabius and M. Claudius See also:Marcellus frequently held the most important commands, rarely ventured to engage Hannibal in the open, and contented themselves with observing him or skirmishing against his detachments. Hannibal, whose recent accessions of strength were largely discounted by the See also:necessity of assigning troops to protect his new See also:allies or secure their wavering See also:loyalty, was still too weak to undertake a vigorous offensive. In the ensuing years the war resolved itself into a multiplicity of See also:minor engagements which need not be followed out in detail. In 216 and 215 the chief seat of war was Campania, where Hannibal vainly attempted to establish himself on the coast and experienced a severe repulse at See also:Nola. In 214 the See also:main Carthaginian force was transferred to Apulia in hopes of capturing See also:Tarentum. Though Croton and See also:Locri on the Calabrian coast had fallen into his hands, Hannibal still lacked a suitable harbour by which he might have secured his oversea communications. For two years he watched in vain for an opportunity of surprising the town, while the Romans narrowed down the See also:sphere of re-volt in Campania and defeated other Carthaginian commanders. In 212 the greater part of Tarentum and other cities of the See also:southern seaboard at last came into Hannibal's power. But in the same year the Romans found themselves strong enough to See also:place Capua under blockade. They severely defeated a Carthaginian relief force, and could not be permanently dislodged even by Hannibal himself. In 211 Hannibal made a last effort to relieve his allies by a feint upon Rome itself, but the besiegers re-fused to be See also:drawn away from their entrenchments, and eventually Capua was starved into surrender. Its fall was a sign that no power could in the long run uphold a See also:rival Italian See also:coalition against Rome. After a year of desultory fighting the Romans in 209 gained a further important success by recovering Tarentum. Though Hannibal from time to time still won isolated engagements, yet slowly but surely he was being driven back into the extreme south of the See also:peninsula. In 207 the arrival of a fresh invading force produced a new crisis. Hasdrubal, who in 209–208 had marched overland from Spain, appeared in north Italy with a force scarcely inferior to the army which his See also:brother had brought in 218. After levying contingents of Gauls and Ligurians he marched down the castcoast with the See also:object of joining hands with his brother in central Italy for a direct attack upon Rome. By this time the drain of men and money was telling so severely upon her confederacy that some of her most loyal allies protested their inability to render further help. Yet by a supreme effort the Romans raised their war See also:establishment to the highest See also:total yet attained and sent a strong field army against either Carthaginian See also:leader. The danger to Rome was chiefly averted by the prompt insight and enterprise of the See also:consul C. See also:Nero, who commanded the main army in the south. Having discovered that Hannibal would not advance beyond Apulia until his brother had established communications with him, Nero slipped away with part of his troops and arrived in time to reinforce his colleague Livius, whose force had recently got into See also:touch with Hasdrubal near Sena Gallica (Sinigaglia). The combined Roman army frustrated an attempt of Hasdrubal to elude it and forced him to fight on the banks of the Metaurus. The battle was evenly contested until Nero by a dexterous flanking movement cut the enemy's See also:retreat. Hasdrubal himself See also:fell and the bulk of his army was destroyed.
The campaign of 207 decided the war in Italy. Though Hannibal still maintained himself for some years in See also:Calabria, this was chiefly due to the exhaustion of Rome after the prodigious strain of past years and the consequent reduction of her armaments. In 203 Italy was finally cleared of Carthaginian troops. Hannibal, in accordance with orders from home, sailed back to Africa, and another expedition under his brother See also:Mago, which had sailed to See also:Liguria in 205 and endeavoured to rouse the slumbering discontent in Cisalpine Gaul and Etruria, was driven back on the coast and withdrawn about the same time.
b. The Subsidiary Campaigns.—Concurrently with the See also:great struggle in Italy the Second Punic War was fought out on several other See also:fields. It will suffice merely to allude to the First Macedonian War (214–205) which See also: The diversions which Roman See also:diplomacy provided for Philip in See also:Greece and the See also:maintenance of a See also:patrol See also:squadron in the Adriatic prevented any effective co-operation on his part with Hannibal. In view of the complete stagnation of See also:agriculture in Italy the Romans had to look to Sardinia and Sicily for their See also:food supply. Sardinia was attacked by a Carthaginian Sardinia armament in 215, but a small Roman force sufficed and skify. to repel the invasion. In Sicily a more serious conflict broke out. Some isolated attacks by Punic squadrons were easily frustrated by the strong Roman fleet. But in 215 internal complications arose. The See also:death of See also:Hiero II., Rome's steadfast friend, left the See also:kingdom of See also:Syracuse to his inexperienced See also:grandson Hieronymus. Flattered by the promises of Carthaginian emissaries the See also:young See also:prince abruptly broke with the Romans, but before hostilities commenced he was assassinated. The Syracusan people now repudiated the See also:monarchy and resumed their republican constitution, but they were misled by false threats of terrible See also:punishment at the hands of Rome to See also:play into the hands of the Carthaginians. The attacks of a Roman army and fleet under Marcellus which speedily appeared before the town were completely baffled by the See also:mechanical contrivances of the Syracusan mathematician See also:Archimedes (213). Meantime the revolt against Rome spread in the interior, and a Carthaginian fleet established itself in the towns of the south coast. In 212 Marcellus at last broke through the defence of Syracuse and in spite of the arrival of a Carthaginian relief force mastered the town by slow degrees. A guerilla warfare succeeded in which the Carthaginians maintained the upper See also:hand until in 210 they lost their base at See also:Agrigentum. Thereupon they were rapidly dislodged from their remaining positions, and by the end of the year Sicily was wholly under the power of Rome. The conflict in Spain was second in importance to the Italian War alone. From this See also:country the Carthaginians drew large supplies of troops and money which might serve sPainreinforce ce Hannibal; hence it was in the See also:interest of the Romans to See also:challenge their enemy within his Spanish domain. Though the force which Rome at first spared for this war was small in numbers and rested entirely upon its own resources, the generals Publius and Gnaeus Scipio by skilful See also:strategy and diplomacy not only won over the peoples north of the Ebro and defeated the Carthaginian leader Hasdrubal Barca in his attempts to restore communication with Italy, but carried their arms along the east coast into the See also:heart of the enemy's domain. But eventually their successes were nullified by a rash advance. Deserted by their native contingents and cut off by Carthaginian cavalry, among which the Numidian prince See also:Massinissa rendered conspicuous service, the Roman generals were slain and their troops were destroyed in detail (212 or 211). Disturbances in Africa prevented the Punic commanders from See also:reaping the full See also:fruit of their success. Before long the fall of Capua enabled Rome to See also:transfer troops from Italy to Spain, and in 209 the best Roman general of the See also:day, the young son and namesake of the recently slain P. Scipio, was placed in command. The new leader signalized his arrival by a bold and successful coup-de-main upon the great See also:arsenal of Carthago Nova. Though he failed to prevent Hasdrubal Barca from marching away to Italy, Scipio profited by his departure to push back the remaining hostile forces the more rapidly. A last effort by the Carthaginians to retrieve their losses with a fresh army was frustrated by a great victory at Ilipa (near Corduba), and by the end of 206 they were completely driven out of the peninsula. In 205 Scipio, who had returned to Rome to hold the consul-See also:ship, proposed to follow up his victories by an attack upon the The War home territory of Carthage. Though the presence m Africa. of Hannibal in Italy at first deterred the senate from sanctioning this policy, the general popularity of the scheme overbore all resistance. Scipio was granted a force which he organized and supplemented in Sicily, and in 204 sailed across to Africa. He was here met by a combined levy of Carthage and King Syphax of See also:Numidia, and for a time penned to the shore near See also:Utica. But in'the See also:winter he extricated himself by a surprise attack upon the enemy's camp, which resulted in the total loss of the allied force by See also:sword or See also:flame. In the campaign of 203 a new Carthaginian force was destroyed by Scipio on the Great Plains not far from Utica, their ally Syphax was captured, and the renegade Massinissa (q.v.) See also:rein-stated in the kingdom from which Syphax had recently expelled him. These disasters induced the Carthaginians to sue for peace, but before the very moderate terms which Scipio offered could be definitely accepted a sudden reversal of See also:opinion caused them to recall Hannibal's army for a final trial of war, and to break off negotiations. In 202 Hannibal assumed command of a composite force of citizen and See also:mercenary levies stiffened with a See also:corps of his See also:veteran Italian troops. After an abortive See also:conference with Scipio he prepared for a decisive battle at Zama (an inland site not yet identified with certainty). Scipio's force was smaller in numbers, but well trained throughout and greatly superior in cavalry. His See also:infantry, after evading an.attack by the Carthaginian elephants, cut through the first two lines of the enemy, but was unable to break the reserve corps of veterans. The battle was ultimately decided by the cavalry of the Romans and their new ally Massinissa, which by a manoeuvre recalling the tactics of Cannae took Hannibal's See also:line in the rear and completely destroyed it. The Carthaginians having thus lost their last army again applied for peace and accepted the terms which Scipio offered. They were compelled to cede Spain and the Mediterranean islands still in their hands, to surrender their war-ships, to pay an indemnity of ro,000 talents (about £2,400,000) within fifty years and to forfeit their independence in affairs of war and foreign policy. The Second Punic War, by far the greatest struggle in which either power engaged, had thus ended in the complete See also:triumph of Rome. This triumph is not to be explained in the main by any faultiness in the Carthaginians' method of attack. The See also:history of the First Punic War, and that of the Second outside of Italy, prove that the Romans were irresistible on neutral or Carthaginian ground. Carthage could only See also:hope to win byinvading Italy and using the enemy's home resources against him. The failure of Hannibal's brilliant endeavour to realize these conditions was not due to any strategical mistakes on his part. It was caused by the indomitable strength of will of the Romans, whose character during this period appears at its best, and to the compactness of their Italian confederacy, which no See also:shock of defeat or strain of war could entirely disintegrate. It is this spectacle of individual See also:genius overborne by corporate and persevering effort which lends to the Second Punic War its See also:peculiar interest. The Third Punic War (149-146 B.e.)—The See also:political power of Carthage henceforth remained quite insignificant, but its See also:commerce and material resources revived in the 2nd See also:century with such rapidity as to excite the. See also:jealousy of the growing See also:mercantile See also:population of Rome and the alarm of its more timid statesmen. Under the See also:influence of these feelings the conviction —sedulously fostered by See also:Cato the See also:Elder, the See also:Censor—that " Carthage must be destroyed " overbore the scruples of more clear-sighted statesmen. A cases See also:belli was readily found in a formal breach of the treaty, committed by the Carthaginians in 154, when they resisted Massinissa's aggressions by force of arms. A Roman army was despatched to Africa, and although the Carthaginians consented to make reparation by giving hostages and surrendering their arms, they were goaded into revolt by the further stipulation that they must emigrate to some inland site where they would be debarred from commerce. By a desperate effort they created a new war equipment and prepared their See also:city for a siege (149). The Roman attack for two years completely miscarried, until in 147 the command was given to a young officer who had distinguished himself in the See also:early operations of the war—Scipio Aemilianus, the adoptive grandson of the former conqueror of Carthage. Scipio made the blockade stringent by walling off the See also:isthmus on which the town See also:lay and by cutting off its See also:sources of supplies from oversea. His main attack was delivered on the harbour See also:side, where he effected an entrance in the See also:face of a determined and ingenious resistance. The struggle did not cease until he had carried See also:house by house the streets that led up to the citadel. Of a population probably exceeding See also:half a million only 50,000 remained at the final surrender. The survivors were sold into See also:slavery; the city was razed to the ground and its site condemned by See also:solemn imprecations to See also:lie desolate for ever. The territory of Carthage, which had recently been much narrowed by Massinissa's encroachments, was converted into a Roman See also:province under the name of " Africa." The subsidiary authorities are : Diodorus, bks. 20-27, 32;. See also:Appian, Res Libycae, Hispanicae, Hannibalicae; See also:Zonaras's See also:epitome of Dio See also:Cassius, frs. 43, 54, 57; See also:Plutarch's Lives of Fabius and Marcellus; See also:Cornelius See also:Nepos's Lives of Hamilcar and Hannibal, and See also:short references in See also:Justin, See also:Eutropius, Aurelius See also:Victor and See also:Orosius. The sources and methods of composition of these authors have been discussed in numerous articles and See also:dissertations, mostly See also:German, of which the most important are mentioned in Niese's work (quoted below). These essays have brought out few certain results, but they tend to show that the narratives, so far as they are not based on See also:Polybius or earlier authorities, are of little value.
2. See also:Modern See also:Works. a. For general accounts, see the respective passages in the general histories of Rome, especially See also:Mommsen (Eng. trans., 1894, vol. ii.), and Ihne (Eng. trans., vol. H.); also C. See also:Neumann, Das Zeitalter der punischen, Kriege (See also:Breslau, 1883), and R. B. See also: For the First War.—O. Meltzer, Geschichte der Karthager, ii. 252—356 (See also:Berlin, 1879—1886) ; J. Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, vol. iii. pt. i. pp. 664—684 (See also:Strassburg, 1893—1904) ; B. Niese, Geschichte der griechischen and makedonischen Staaten, ii. 174—199 (See also:Gotha, 1893—1903) ; W. W. See also:Tarn, " The Fleets of the First Punic War," in See also:Journal of Hellenic Studies (1907), pp. 48—6o. For the See also:chronology, see F. See also:Reuss, in Philologus (1901), pp. 102–148, and especially P. See also:Varese, in Studi di storia antica, vol. iii. (Rome, 1902).
c. For the period 241–238.—0. See also: T. Arnold; London, 1886); T. A. See also:Dodge, Great Captains, Hannibal (See also:Boston and New See also:York, 1889); G. See also:Bossi, in Studi di storia e diritto, vols. x.–xiii.; P. Cantalupi, Le Legioni romane nella guerra d'Annibale (Studi di storia antica, 1891, i. 3–48) ; Th. Zielinski, See also:Die letzten Jahre See also:des zweiten punischen Krieges (Leipzig, 188o). e. See also:Special articles.—On Sicily: Niese, op. cit. ii. 505-561. On Spain : J. Frantz, Die Kriege der Scipionen in Spanien (See also:Munich, 1883). For further See also:bibliographical references consult B. Niese, Grundriss der romischen Geschichte, pp. 8i–88, 94-108, 138–142 (Munich, 1906). See also the articles on chief personages (especially HANNIBAL and SciP1o), and under ROME: See also:Ancient History; CARTHAGE; SICILY. (M. O. B. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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