Maharbal

Maharbal, Carthaginian military commander who served as one of Hannibal’s lieutenants in the Second Punic War (218–201 bce) against Rome. He was a leader of Hannibal’s Numidian cavalry and pivotal to early Carthaginian successes in Italy.

In his history of Rome, Livy introduces Maharbal as the son of Himilco and credits him with various successes that enhanced Hannibal’s Italian campaigns. Likewise, Polybius, in his history of Rome, also places Maharbal in significant roles in several battles. Maharbal distinguished himself at the siege of Saguntum (219 bce) by taking the offensive and breaking into the city while Hannibal was away. Maharbal’s next recorded appearance was in 218, when he brought needed cavalry to the Battle of Ticinus against the Romans assembled under Publius Cornelius Scipio.

At the Battle of Trasimene in 217, in which the Carthaginians annihilated a Roman army under Gaius Flaminius, Maharbal captured 6,000 Romans as they attempted to flee the field. He also intercepted a relief column under Gaius Centinius as it marched from Ariminum (Rimini), killing or capturing most of the 4,000 Romans in that force.

Maharbal’s most famous moment came after Hannibal’s victory in the Battle of Cannae in 216. Livy describes a possibly apocryphal exchange between Maharbal and Hannibal, with the former claiming that the Carthaginians could be in Rome in five days, presumably by a quick cavalry march. When Hannibal showed reluctance, Maharbal, by Livy’s account, responded, “So the gods have not blessed one man with every gift. You know how to win a victory, Hannibal, but not how to use it.” Even though Hannibal was unlikely to have forced a well-protected Rome into submission by marching to the fortified city, this paradox came to be applied to Hannibal ever afterward.