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The last time peace was concluded with Carthage was in the consulship of Q. Lutatius and A. Manlius, forty years previously. [2] Twenty-three years afterwards the war began in the consulship of P. Cornelius and Tiberius Sempronius. It ended in the consulship of Cnaeus Cornelius and P. Aelius Paetus, seventeen years later. [3] Tradition tells of a remark which Scipio is said to have frequently made to the effect that it was owing to the jealous ambition of Tiberius Claudius and afterwards to that of Cnaeus Cornelius that the war did not end with the destruction of Carthage. [4] Carthage found a difficulty in meeting the first instalment of the war indemnity as her treasury was exhausted. There was lamentation and weeping in the senate and in the middle of it all Hannibal is said to have been seen smiling. [5] Hasdrubal Haedus rebuked him for his mirth amid the nation's tears. "If," Hannibal replied, "you could discern my inmost thoughts as plainly as you can tell the expression of my countenance you would easily discover that this laughter which you find fault with does not proceed from a merry heart but from one almost demented with misery. All the same, it is very far from being so ill-timed as those foolish and misplaced tears of yours. [6] The proper time to weep was when we were deprived of our arms, when our ships were burnt, when we were interdicted from all war beyond our frontiers. [7] That is the wound that will prove fatal. There is not the slightest reason for supposing that the Romans are consulting your peace and quietness. [8] No great State can remain quiet; if it has no enemy abroad it finds one at home, just as excessively strong men, whilst seemingly safe from outside mischief, fall victims to the burden of their own strength. [9] Of course we only feel public calamities so far as they affect us personally, and nothing in them gives us a sharper pang than the loss of money. When the spoils of victory were being dragged away from Carthage when you saw yourselves left naked and defenceless amidst an Africa in arms, nobody uttered a groan; [10] now because you have to contribute to the indemnity from your private fortunes you lament as loudly as though you were present at your country's funeral. [11] I greatly fear that you will very soon find that it is the least of your misfortunes which you are shedding tears over today." Such was the way in which Hannibal spoke to the Carthaginians. [12] Scipio summoned his troops to assembly, and in the presence of the whole army rewarded Masinissa by adding to his ancestral realm the town of Cirta and the other cities and districts which had belonged to the dominion of Syphax and had passed under the rule of Rome. [13] Cnaeus Octavius received instructions to take the fleet to Sicily and hand it over to the consul Cnaeus Cornelius. Scipio told the Carthaginian envoys to start for Rome in order that the arrangements he had made in consultation with the ten commissioners might receive the sanction of the senate and the formal order of the people.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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