Kitap 23
12
Then Hanno spoke to the following effect: "Senators, I would have kept silence on the present occasion, for I did not wish on a day of universal rejoicing to say anything which might damp your happiness. But as a senator has asked me whether I still disapprove of the war we have commenced against Rome, silence on my part would show either insolence or cowardice; the one implies forgetfulness of the respect due to others, the other of one's own self-respect. My reply to Himilco is this: I have never ceased to disapprove of the war, nor shall I ever cease to censure your invincible general until I see the war ended upon conditions that are tolerable. Nothing will banish my regret for the old peace that we have broken except the establishment of a new one. Those details which Mago has proudly enumerated make Himilco and the rest of Hannibal's caucus very happy; they might make me happy too, for a successful war, if we choose to make a wise use of our good fortune, will bring us a more favourable peace. If we let this opportunity slip, when we are in a position to offer rather than submit to terms of peace, I fear that our rejoicing will become extravagant and finally turn out to be groundless. But even now, what is it that you are rejoicing at? 'I have slain the armies of the enemy; send me troops.' What more could you ask for, if you had been defeated? 'I have captured two of the enemy's camps, filled, of course, with plunder and supplies; send me corn and money.' What more could you want if you had been despoiled, stripped of your own camp? And that I may not be the only one to be surprised at your delight-for as I have answered Himilco, I have a perfect right to ask questions in my turn-I should be glad if either Himilco or Mago would tell me, since, you say, the battle of Cannae has all but destroyed the power of Rome and the whole of Italy is admittedly in revolt, whether, in the first place, any single community of the Latin nation has come over to us, and, secondly, whether a single man out of the thirty-five Roman tribes has deserted to Hannibal." Mago answered both questions in the negative. "Then there are still," Hanno continued, "far too many of the enemy left. But I should like to know how much courage and confidence that vast multitude possess."
