28.41
"It is
but fair, Publius Cornelius, that whilst in my own case I have never preferred
my own reputation to the interests of the State, you should pardon me for
not regarding even your glory as more important than the welfare of the
commonwealth. I admit that if there were no war in Italy or only an enemy
from whose defeat no glory was to be gained, then the man who would keep
you in Italy though acting in the public interest might appear to be depriving
you of the chance of winning glory in a foreign war. But as our enemy
Hannibal has been holding Italy for fourteen years with an undefeated army,
you will surely not despise the glory of expelling from Italy during your
consulship the enemy who has been the cause of so many defeats, so many
deaths, and of leaving it on record that it is you who have terminated this
war, as C. Lutatius has the lasting glory of bringing the First Punic War to a
close? Unless, indeed, Hasdrubal was a finer general than Hannibal, or the
last war a more serious one than this one, or the victory which closed it a
greater and more brilliant one than this will be, should it fall to our lot to
conquer whilst you are consul. Would you rather have drawn Hamilcar away
from Drepana and Eryx, than expel Hannibal and his Carthaginians from
Italy? Even though you should cling to the glory you have acquired more
than to what you hope for, you will not pride yourself upon having delivered
Spain from war rather than Italy. Hannibal is not yet such an enemy that the
man who prefers to fight against another foe would not be thought to fear
rather than to despise him. Why do you not gird yourself to this task? Why
do you not march straight from here to where Hannibal is and carry the war
thither instead of taking a roundabout course in the hope that when you have
crossed over into Africa he will follow you? You are anxious to win the
crowning glory of bringing the Punic War to an end; your natural course will
be to defend your own country before you go to attack the enemy's. Let
there be peace in Italy before there is war in Africa; let our own fears be
banished before we make others tremble. If both objects can be achieved
under your generalship and auspices, then when you have conquered
Hannibal here, go on and capture Carthage. If one of the two victories must
be left for your successors, the former is the greater and more glorious one
and will necessarily lead to the latter. As matters now are, the public
exchequer is unable to support two armies in Italy and also in Africa, we
have nothing left from which to equip a fleet and furnish it with supplies, and
over and above all this who can fail to see what great dangers would be
incurred? P. Licinius, let us suppose, is conducting the campaign in Italy and
P. Scipio one in Africa. Well, supposing -may all the gods avert the omen
which I shudder at the mention of! but what has happened may happen again
-supposing, I say, that Hannibal wins a victory and marches on Rome, are
we to wait till then before recalling you from Africa, as we recalled Q.
Fulvius from Capua? What, if even in Africa the fortunes of war prove
equally favourable for both sides? Take warning from the fate of your own
house, your father and uncle destroyed with their armies within a month of
each other in the country where they had raised the name of Rome and the
glory of your family high among the nations through their successful
operations by land and sea. The daylight would fail me if I attempted to
enumerate the kings and captains who by their rash invasion of their enemy's
territory have brought the most crushing defeat on themselves and their
armies. Athens, a city most sensible and wise, listened to the advice of a
young man of high birth and equally high ability, and sent a great fleet to
Sicily before it had disposed of the war at home, and in one naval battle the
flourishing republic was, for ever ruined."