Kitap 26
41
"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. How many fleets and generals and armies were lost in the first war! And what about this war? 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
