At the commencement of spring P. Scipio issued orders for the allied contingents to muster at Tarraco. He then launched his ships and led the fleet and transports to the mouth of the Ebro, where he had also ordered the legions to concentrate from their winter quarters. [2] He then left Tarraco, with an allied contingent of 5000 men for the army. On his arrival he felt that he ought to address some words of encouragement to his men, especially to the veterans who had gone through such terrible disasters. [3] He accordingly ordered a parade and addressed the troops in the following words: "No commander before my time, who was new to his troops, has been in a position to express well-deserved thanks to his men before he made use of their services. [4] Fortune laid me under obligations to you before I saw my province or my camp, first because of the devoted affection you showed towards my father and my uncle during their [5??] lifetime and after their death, and then again, because of the courage with which you kept your hold on the province when it was apparently lost after their terrible defeat, and so retained it unimpaired for Rome and for me their successor. [6] It must be our aim and object now with the help of heaven not so much to maintain our own footing in Spain as to prevent the Carthaginians from maintaining theirs. [7] We must not remain stationary here, defending the bank of the Ebro against the enemy's passage of the river; we must cross over ourselves and shift the seat of war. [8] To some of you at least, I fear that this plan may seem too large and bold when you remember the defeats we have lately sustained, and when you think of my youth. No man is less likely to forget those fatal battles in Spain than I am, for my father and my uncle were killed within thirty days of each other, so that my family was visited by one death upon another. [9] "But though I am almost heart-broken at the orphanhood and desolation of our house, the good fortune and courage of our race forbid me to despair of the State. It has been our lot and destiny to conquer in all great wars only after we have been defeated. Not to mention the earlier wars-Porsena and the Gauls and the Samnites-I will take these two Punic wars. [10] How many fleets and generals and armies were lost in the first war! And what about this war? [11] In all our defeats I was either present in person, or where I was not, I felt them more keenly than any one. The Trebia, Lake Thrasymenus, Cannae-what are they but records of Roman consuls and their armies cut to pieces? [12] Add to these the defection of Italy, of the greatest part of Sicily, of Sardinia, and then the crowning terror and panic-the Carthaginian camp pitched between the Anio and the walls of Rome, and the sight of the victorious Hannibal almost within our gates. In the midst of this utter collapse one thing stood unshaken and unimpaired, the courage of the Roman people; it and it alone raised up and sustained all that lay prostrate in the dust. [13] You, my soldiers, under the conduct and auspices of my father were the first to retrieve the defeat of Cannae by barring the way to Hasdrubal when he was marching to the Alps and Italy. Had he joined forces with his brother the name of Rome would have perished; this success of yours held us up under those defeats. [14] Now, by the goodness of heaven, everything is going in our favour; the situation in Italy and Sicily is becoming better and more hopeful day by day. [15] In Sicily, Syracuse and Agrigentum have been captured, the enemy has been everywhere expelled and the whole of the island acknowledges the sovereignty of Rome. In Italy, Arpi has been recovered and Capua taken, Hannibal in his hurried flight has traversed the whole breadth of Italy from Rome to the furthest corners of Bruttium, and his one prayer is that he may be allowed to make a safe retreat and get away from the land of his enemies. [16] At a time when one defeat followed close on the heels of another, and heaven itself seemed to be fighting on Hannibal's side, you, my soldiers, together with my two parents-let me honour them both with the same appellation-upheld in this country the tottering fortunes of Rome. [17] What then can be more foolish than for you to fail in courage now when all is going on prosperously and happily there? As to recent events, I could wish that they had caused as little pain to me as to you. [18] "The immortal gods who watch over the fortunes of the dominions of Rome, and who moved the electors in their centuries to insist with one voice upon the supreme command being given to me-the gods, I say, are assuring us through auguries and auspices and even through visions of the night that all will go successfully and happily with us. [19] My own heart too, hitherto my truest prophet, presages that Spain will be ours and that ere long all who bear the name of Carthage will be driven away from this soil and will cover sea and land in their shameful flight. What my breast thus divines is confirmed by solid reasoning from facts. [20] Owing to the maltreatment they have received their allies are sending envoys to us to appeal for protection. Their three generals are at variance, almost in active opposition to each other, and after breaking up their army into three separate divisions have marched away into different parts of the country. [21] The same misfortune has overtaken them which was so disastrous to us, they are being deserted by their allies as we were by the Celtiberians, and the army which proved so fatal to my father and my uncle they have split up into separate bodies. Their domestic quarrel will not let them act in unison, and now that they are divided they will not be able to withstand us. [22] Welcome, soldiers, the omen of the name I bear, be loyal to a Scipio who is the offspring of your late commander, the scion of a stock which has been cut down. [23] Come on then, my veterans, and lead a new army and a new commander across the Ebro into the lands which you have so often traversed and where you have given so many proofs of your prowess and your courage. [24] You recognise a likeness to my father and my uncle in figure, face, and expression, I will soon show you that I am like them also in character and fidelity and courage, so that each of [25??] you may say that the Scipio who was his old commander has either come to life again or reappeared in his son."
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.
The National Endowment for the Humanities provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.