120. Factors in the struggle. We have seen what enormous
numbers of men were at the disposal of Rome. But we must
bear in mind that these forces were a raw militia, brave but
untrained, and that the cavalry was always a weak point in the
Roman armies. On the other hand the army of Hannibal was
no longer a mere mercenary force hastily got together, like the
old Carthaginian armies, but a highly-trained force, used to war-
fare and accustomed to follow a great leader in whom they had
full trust. The cavalry was particularly efficient, as events were
to prove. The elephants may be ignored, as they were of no
service. Hannibal's greatest advantage was in his own genius
and independent control of his army. Roman generals were a
succession of honest soldiers, who had not learnt to handle large
bodies of troops with effect, and who were on the Roman system
superseded just when they were beginning to learn. The strain
of the war forced the Roman government to give up this system
of constant changes for the time, but it was revived after the war.
On the other hand the citizen-generals were backed up by Rome
with all available resources, while Hannibal received hardly any
support from Carthage. Hannibal's party at home could prevent
concessions to Rome and so virtually declare war. But they seem
to have been unable or even unwilling to carry on the government
in exact accord with the instructions of their absent leader. And
so it came that the resources of Carthage were not, as they needed
to be, effectively directed by a single mind. The mismanagement
that resulted from this is clearly shewn in the Carthaginian naval
policy. The war was not a naval war. Not a single great sea-fight
occurred in the course of it. But it was surely of the first import-
ance to gain the mastery at sea and to keep in touch with the
Punic leader in Italy. The sea was not swept by Roman fleets
able to stop a great armada from Carthage. That Hannibal was
able to communicate with Carthage by sea shews that it would
have been possible to send him men and money enough, if the
Punic government had only chosen to do so.

121. But we shall see that the Punic government chose to
judge for themselves rather than follow the better judgment of
Hannibal, and with fatal results. There was however a weak
point in the calculations of Hannibal also. In boldly invading
Italy he reckoned on finding support from two quarters. By
representing himself as come to put an end to Roman supremacy

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