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Hannibal and Africanus

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26. Hannibal and Africanus

This conversation took place about 193 B. C. when Hannibal was an exile at the court of Antiochus and Scipio Africanus came there on an embassy.

Hannibal implies that his conqueror, Scipio, is the greatest of all military commanders.

Claudius P. Africanum in ea fuisse lēgātiōne tradit, eumque Ephesi collocutum cum Hannibale, et sermōnem unum etiam refert: quaerenti Africanō, quem fuisse maximum imperatorem Hannibal crederet, respondisse, Alexandrum Macedonum rēgem, 5 quod parvā manu innumerabilēs exercitus fūdisset, quodque ultimas oras, quas vīsere suprā spem hūmānam esset, peragrasset. Quaerenti deinde, quem secundum pōneret, Pyrrhum dixisse; castra mētārī prīmum docuisse; ad hoc neminem ele- 10 gantius loca cepisse, praesidia disposuisse; artem etiam conciliandī sibi homines eam habuisse, ut Italicae gentes rēgis externi quam populi Romānī, tam diu principis in ea terra, imperium mallent. Exsequenti, quem tertium duceret, haud dubiē 15 semet ipsum dixisse. Tum rīsum obortum Scipiōnī, et subiecisse: Quidnam tu dīcerēs, sī mē vīcissēs?' Tum vērō me' inquit et ante Alexandrum et ante Pyrrhum et ante aliōs omnēs imperātōrēs esse.'

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LIVY xxxv 14, 5.

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The Good Old Days

27. The Good Old Days

Horace has traced the disasters of Rome to the low standard of family life, and here says that the Italian soldiers, who beat all invaders, were born of very different parents and brought up in a very different way.

Nōn his iuventus orta parentibus
Infecit aequor sanguine Pūnicō,
Pyrrhumque et ingentem cecidit
Antiochum Hannibalemque dīrum;

Sed rusticōrum mascula militum
Prōlēs, Sabellis docta ligōnibus
Versare glaebās, et sevērae

Mātris ad arbitrium recisōs
Portare fustēs, sōl ubi montium
Mūtāret umbras et iuga dēmeret
Bōbus fatigatis, amīcum
Tempus agens abeunte currū.

28.

HORACE, Odes iii 6, 33-44.

The Creation of Animals

Each of the three divisions of this world, the earth, the sea, the sky, received at the beginning creatures to dwell in it. The highest of the animals, Man, was made either by the divine Creator, or by Prometheus out of earth and water, in order to rule all the rest.

Neu regio foret ulla suīs animantibus orba, Astra tenent caeleste solum formaeque deōrum, C'esserunt nitidīs habitandae piscibus undae,

Cato welcomes Death

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Terra ferās cepit, volucrēs agitābilis āër.
Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae
Deerat adhuc, et quod dominārī in cētera posset.
Nātus homo est; sive hunc dīvīnō sēmine fecit
Ille opifex rerum, mundī meliōris orīgō,
Sīve recens tellūs, sēductaque nūper ab altō
Aethere, cognātī retinebat semina caeli;
Quam satus Iapetō, mixtam fluviālibus undīs,
Finxit in effigiem moderantum cuncta deōrum.
Prōnaque cum spectent animalia cētera terram,
Ōs homini sublime dedit, caelumque tuērī
Iussit, et erectos ad sīdera tollere vultus.

OVID, Metamorphoses i 72–86.

29. Cato welcomes Death

Cicero here represents Cato the Censor in old age as ready to die, and unwilling, if it were possible, to live his life over again.

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Si quis deus mihi largiātur ut ex hac aetāte repuerascam et in cunīs vāgiam, valdē recusem, nec vērō velim quasi decursō spatio ad carcerēs ā calce revocārī. Quid enim habet vīta commodi? Quid non potius labōris? Sed habeat sānē, habet 5 certē tamen aut satietātem aut modum. Nōn libet enim mihi deplōrāre vītam, neque me vixisse paenitet, quoniam ita vixi, ut non frustra mē nātum existimem; et ex vītā ita discēdō, tamquam ex hospitio, non tamquam e domō; com- 10 morandi enim natūra dēvorsōrium nobis, nōn

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habitandi, dedit. Ō praeclarum diem, cum in illud divinum animōrum concilium coetumque proficiscar, cumque ex hac turba et colluvione 15 discēdam! Proficiscar enim non ad eōs sōlum virōs, de quibus ante dixi, vērum etiam ad Catōnem meum, quō nēmō vir melior natus est, nēmō pietāte praestantior; cuius ā mē corpus est crematum quod contră decuit ab illō meum—, 20 animus vērō, non me deserens sed respectans, in ea profecto loca discessit, quò mihi ipsī cernēbat esse veniendum. Quem ego meum casum fortiter ferre vīsus sum, non quō aequo animo ferrem, sed mē ipse consōlabar, existimans nōn longinquum inter 25 nōs dīgressum et discessum fore.

CICERO, De Senectute 83, 84.

30. A Social Pest

Ligurinus, though a worthy man, inspires terror because he insists on reciting his own poetry in and out of season.

Occurrit tibi nemo quod libenter,

Quod, quacunque venīs, fuga est et ingens

Circa tē, Ligurīne, sōlitūdō,

Quid sit, scire cupis? Nimis poēta es.

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Hoc valdē vitium perīculōsum est.

Nōn tigris catulīs citāta raptīs,

Nōn dipsas, mediō perusta sōle,
Nec sīc scorpios improbus timetur.
Nam tantōs, rogo, quis ferat labōrēs ?

Hannibal and Rome

Et stanti legis, et legis sedenti;
In thermas fugiō: sonās ad aurem.
Piscinam peto: non licet natāre.
Ad cēnam properō: tenes euntem.
Ad cēnam veniō: fugas edentem.
Lassus dormio: suscitās iacentem.
Vis, quantum faciās malī, vidēre?
Vir iustus, probus, innocens, timēris.

MARTIAL iii 44.

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ΙΟ

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31. Hannibal and Rome

Antiochus, King of Syria, was now (B.c. 193) on the eve of war with Rome. Hannibal, an exile at his court, had lost favour with Antiochus, because of some interviews he had held with Villius, a Roman ambassador. He states here his undying hostility to Rome.

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Hannibal non adhibitus est in consilium, propter colloquia cum Villiō suspectus rēgī et in nullō postea honōre habitus. Prīmō eam contumēliam tacitus tulit; deinde melius esse ratus et percunctārī causam repentīnae aliēnātiōnis et 5 purgare sẽ, tempore apto quaesītā simpliciter īrācundiae causā audītāque, Pater Hamilcar,' inquit, Antioche, parvum admodum mẽ, cum sacrificaret, altāribus admōtum iureiurando adegit, nunquam amicum fore populi Romānī. Sub hoc 10 sacramentō sex et triginta annōs mīlitāvī; hōc mē in pace patria mea expulit; hoc patria extorrem in tuam regiam adduxit; hoc duce, sī tū spem

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