University of Virginia Library

30.22

Their speech to the senate was much the same as the one they had made to Scipio; they disclaimed any responsibility for the war on the part of the government and threw the entire blame on Hannibal. "He had no orders from their senate to cross the Ebro, much less the Alps. It was on his own authority that he had made war not only on Rome but even on Saguntum; any one who took a just view would recognise that the treaty with Rome remained unbroken to that day. Their instructions accordingly were simply that they should ask to be allowed to continue on the same terms of peace as those which had been settled on the last occasion with C. Lutatius." In accordance with the traditional usage the praetor gave any one who wished permission to interrogate the envoys, and the senior members who had taken part in arranging the former treaties put various questions. The envoys, who were almost all young men, said that they had no recollection of what happened. Then loud protests broke out from all parts of the House; the senators declared that it was an instance of Punic treachery, men were selected to ask for a renewal of the old treaty who did not even remember its terms.