Death of Hamilcar (229); Hasdrubal replaces it
Agitated by worries and regrets, he had barely concluded peace with Rome when, to restore the power of Carthage, he waged war in Africa for five years, then in Spain for nine years. There is no doubt that he was planning an expedition of greater importance. If his career had been prolonged, the Carthaginians would, under his orders, have waged the war in Italy which his son subsequently waged there; it was postponed only by this death which so aptly occurred, and by Hannibal's infancy. A gap of nearly eight years between father and son was filled by the authority of Hasdrubal. At first a favorite of Amilcar, who saw the flower of youth shining in him; later becoming his son-in-law because of his eminent qualities, and, thereby, leader of the Barcine faction, so powerful with the soldiers and the people, he remained, in spite of the great, sole master of the empire. More political than warrior, by offering hospitality to the petty princes of Africa, he won the affection of subjects through the monarchs, and
thus increased, no less than through war and the weapons, the power of Carthage.
However peace did not save him. A barbarian, irritated by what he had killed his master, assassinated him in the midst of his guards:arrested on the spot, he showed an air as
satisfied as if he escaped; and even when he was torn by the tortures, he kept such a countenance that joy overcame his pain, and that he even seemed to smile at his executioners. Hasdrubal's skill in winning over peoples and submitting them to his laws had induced the Romans to renew the treaty of alliance with him, on the conditions that the Hebre would be the limit of the two empires, and that Sagunto, placed between the
two powers, would retain its freedom.