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[49]
Another story of Hannibal is found in the history
written in Greek by Silenus, whom Coelius follows,
and who, by the way, was a very painstaking student
of Hannibal's career. After his capture of Saguntum
Hannibal dreamed that Jupiter summoned him to
a council of the gods. When he arrived Jupiter
ordered him to carry the war into Italy, and gave
him one of the divine council as a guide whom he
employed when he began the march with his army.
[p. 279]
This guide cautioned Hannibal not to look back
But, carried away by curiosity, he could refrain
no longer and looked back. Then he saw a horrible
beast of enormous size, enveloped with snakes, and
wherever it went it overthrew every tree and shrub
and every house. In his amazement Hannibal
asked what the monster was. The god replied
that it was the desolation of Italy and ordered him
to press right on and not to worry about what
happened behind him and in the rear.
Cicero: De Senectute De Amicitia De Divinatione. With An English Translation. William Armistead Falconer. Cambridge. Harvard University Press; Cambridge, Mass., London, England. 1923.
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