id Actaeon, with energy. "Saguntum is an ally,
and if Hannibal makes war upon her it is on account of the love which
the city professes for Rome."

"Yes; that is why we Romans are interested in her fate; but do not hope
for much from the Senate. It is more anxious about the pirates of the
Adriatic who harrow our coasts, that rebellion of Demetrius of Pharos in
Illyria, against whom we are about to send an army under command of the
consul Lucius AEmilius."

"But what of Saguntum? If you abandon her how will you resist the
audacious Hannibal, who leads the most warlike tribes of Iberia? What
will those unfortunates say of the seriousness with which Rome observes
her alliances?"

"Try to convince the Senate with your arguments. I am convinced; I see
in Carthage the sole enemy of Rome. Would that they were all of my mind!
They would then accept the audacious challenge of the son of Hamilcar
and would declare war against Carthage, going to meet her in her own
territory! Happen what may, we are invincible. Italy is a compact mass,
and as advance sentinels of our camp, we have in the Orient Illyria, on
the side which looks into Africa we have Sicily, and in the Occident is
Sardinia, while the lands which Carthage dominates form an extensive
belt of nine hundred leagues which runs along a great part of the coasts
of Africa and all those of Iberia; but so narrow, and peopled by so many
different races, that it can easily be broken. Though Rome might lose a
hundred battles, she will always be Rome, but one defeat for Carthage is
enough to dissolve the nation."

"If only they all thought as you do, Cato!"

"If the Senate thought as I do it would scorn Demetrius of Pharos, and
its legions would have been in Saguntum days ago. Perhaps by such means
a danger would be avoided, because who knows where that young African
will go, and what he may not dare if he succeed in conquering without
hindrance a city allied to Rome! That is why I, a free citizen, give
lessons as a pedagogue, as you have just witnessed. That boy is the son
of the consul Publius Cornelius Scipio, and all the virtues of his
family are revived in him. Perhaps he may be the one destined to bar
Hannibal's way, to destroy the insolent power of that Carthage against
whom we are ever clashing."

They continued strolling through the Forum discussing the customs of
Rome, and arguing warmly as they contrasted them with those of Athens.
Then the austere Roman, having to