the Carthaginians." Upon which Hanno replied, "I should have
remained silent this day, conscript fathers, lest, amid the general
joy, I should utter any thing which might be too gloomy for you. But
now, to a senator, asking whether I still regret the undertaking of
the war against the Romans, if I should forbear to speak, I should
seem either arrogant or servile, the former of which is the part of a
man who is forgetful of the independence of others, the latter of his
own. I may answer therefore to Himilco, that I have not ceased to
regret the war, nor shall I cease to censure your invincible general
until I see the war concluded on some tolerable terms; nor will any
thing except a new peace put a period to my regret for the loss of the
old one. Accordingly those achievements, which Mago has so boastingly
recounted, are a source of present joy to Himilco and the other
adherents of Hannibal; to me they may become so; because successes in
war, if we have a mind to make the best use of fortune, will afford us
a peace on more equitable terms; for if we allow this opportunity to
pass by, on which we have it in our power to appear to dictate rather
than to receive terms of peace, I fear lest even this our joy should
run into excess, and in the end prove groundless. However, let us see
of what kind it is even now. I have slain the armies of the enemy,
send me soldiers. What else would you ask if you had been conquered? I
have captured two of the enemy's camps, full, of course, of booty and
provisions; supply me with corn and money. What else would you ask had
you been plundered and stripped of your camp? And that I may not be
the only person perplexed, I could wish that either Himilco or Mago
would answer me, for it is just and fair that I also should put a
question, since I have answered Himilco. Since the battle at Cannae
annihilated the Roman power, and it is a fact that all Italy is in a
state of revolt; in the first place, has any one people of the Latin
confederacy come over to us? In the next place, has any individual of
the five and thirty tribes deserted to Hannibal?" When Mago had
answered both these questions in the negative, he continued: "there
remains then still too large a body of the enemy. But I should be glad
to know what degree of spirit and hope that body possesses."

13. Mago declaring that he did not know; "Nothing," said he, "is
easier to be known. Have the Romans sent any ambassadors to Hannibal
to tre