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His plan seemed a desperate one, considering the position he was in, and might easily be upset by some unforeseen incident creating a panic in the night. To guard against these dangers as far as possible, he thought it well to address some words of encouragement to his men. He called them together and made the following speech to them: "My loyalty and affection for my old commanders whether living or dead, as well as the situation in which we now find ourselves, ought to convince every one of you, soldiers, that this command, honourable as you rightly deem it to be, is, as a matter of fact, a position of very grave anxiety. For at a moment when I was hardly sufficient master of myself-did not fear dull the sense of pain-to find any comfort in my distress, I saw myself compelled to take thought alone for you all, the hardest thing in the world in a time of grief. Even when I have to consider how I can possibly preserve for my country you who are all that remain out of two armies, it is still a grief to have to divert my thoughts from a sorrow that is ever with me. Bitter memories vex me; the two Scipios haunt me in anxious thoughts by day and in dreams at night; they rouse me from my slumbers and forbid me to suffer them or their soldiers-your own comrades who never for eight years knew defeat in these lands-or the republic, to remain unavenged. They call upon me to follow their example and act on the principles they laid down; as no man obeyed them more faithfully while they lived, so now that they are gone they would have me think that what they would have done on any occasion that arose is the best thing for me also to do. And I would have you, my soldiers, not follow them with tears and laments as though they had ceased to be, for they live and are strong in the glory of all that they have done, but go into battle thinking of them as if they were here to encourage you and give you the signal. Surely it was nothing else than their image before your eyes which brought about that memorable battle yesterday, in which you showed your enemy that the Roman name did not perish with the Scipios, and that a people whose strength and courage even Cannae could not crush will rise superior to the hardest blows of fortune.
