Born in 247 B.C., died about 183; went to Spain with his father in 238; succeeded Hasdrubal in 221; completed the conquest of Spain in 219; gained the battles of Ticino, Trebia, Trasimene, and Cannæ in Italy in 218–216; marched against Rome in 211; recalled to Africa in 203; defeated by Scipio Africanus at Zama in 202; exiled about 195; committed suicide.
If, soldiers, you shall by and by, in judging of your own fortune, preserve the same feelings which you experienced a little before in the example of the fate of others, we have already conquered; for neither was that merely a spectacle, but, as it were, a certain representation of your condition. And I know not whether fortune has not thrown around you still stronger chains and more urgent necessities than around your captives. On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing even a single ship for escape. The river Po around you, the Po larger and more impetuous than the Rhone; the Alps behind, scarcely passed by you when fresh and vigorous, hem you in.
Here, soldiers, where you have first met the
9
