30.31
To
these arguments the Roman commander made the following reply: "I was
quite aware, Hannibal, that it was the hope of your arrival that led the
Carthaginians to break the truce and cloud all prospect of peace. In fact, you
yourself admit as much, since you are eliminating from the terms formerly
proposed all that has not already been long in our power. However, as you
are anxious that your countrymen should realise what a great relief you are
bringing them, I must make it my care that they shall not have the conditions
they formerly agreed to struck out today as a reward for their perfidy. You
do not deserve to have the old proposals still open and yet you are seeking
to profit by dishonesty! Our fathers were not the aggressors in the war for
Sicily, nor were we the aggressors in Spain, but the dangers which
threatened our Mamertine allies in the one case and the destruction of
Saguntum in the other made our case a righteous one and justified our arms.
That you provoked the war in each case you yourself admit, and the gods
bear witness to the fact; they guided the former war to a just and righteous
issue, and they are doing and will do the same with this one. As for myself, I
do not forget what weak creatures we men are; I do not ignore the influence
which Fortune exercises and the countless accidents to which all our doings
are liable. Had you of your own free will evacuated Italy and embarked your
army before I sailed for Africa and then come with proposals for peace, I
admit that I should have acted in a high-handed and arbitrary spirit if I had
rejected them. But now that I have dragged you to Africa like a reluctant
and tricky defendant I am not bound to show you the slightest consideration.
So then, if in addition to the terms on which peace might have been
concluded previously, there is the further condition of an indemnity for the
attack on our transports and the ill-treatment of our envoys during the
armistice, I shall have something to lay before the councils. If you consider
this unacceptable. then prepare for war as you have been unable to endure
peace." Thus, no understanding was arrived at and the commanders rejoined
their armies. They reported that the discussion had been fruitless, that the
matter must be decided by arms, and the result left to the gods.