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His speech was discursive and eloquent. He repudiated some of the charges, others he admitted lest unabashed denials of established facts might lead to less consideration being shown. He warned the senators to use their good fortune in a spirit of moderation and self-restraint. "If," he continued, "the Carthaginians had listened to Hanno and myself and had been willing to take advantage of their opportunity, they would have dictated the terms of peace which now they are seeking from you. Seldom are good fortune and good sense granted to men at the same time. What makes Rome invincible is the fact that her people do not lose their sound judgment in the hour of prosperity. And indeed it would be a matter for surprise were it otherwise, for those to whom good fortune is a novelty go mad with unrestrained delight because they are unused to it, but to you Romans the joy of victory is a usual, I might almost say a commonplace experience. It is by clemency towards the conquered more than by conquest itself that you have extended your dominion." The others spoke in language more calculated to evoke compassion. They reminded their audience of the powerful and influential position from which Carthage had fallen. Those, they said, who lately held almost the whole world subject to their arms had nothing now left to them but their city walls. Confined within these they saw nothing on land or sea which owned their sway. Even their city and their hearths and homes they would only keep if the Roman people were willing to spare them; if not, they lost everything. As it became evident that the senators were moved with compassion, one of them, exasperated by the perfidy of the Carthaginians, is said to have called out, "By what gods will you swear to observe the treaty, since you have been false to those by whom you swore before?" "By the same as before," Hasdrubal replied, "since they visit their wrath on those who violate treaties."
