nfer with him.

Scipio took up his position not far from the city of Naragara, in a
situation convenient not only for other purposes, but also because there
was a watering-place within a dart's throw. Hannibal took possession of
an eminence four miles thence, safe and convenient in every respect,
except that he had a long way to go for water. Here in the intermediate
space a place was chosen open to view from all sides, that there might
be no opportunity for treachery.

Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they met,
each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not only
of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the times
preceding them, and equal to any of the kings or generals of any nation
whatever. When they came within sight of each other they remained silent
for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with mutual admiration. At
length Hannibal thus began: "Since fate hath so ordained it that I, who
was the first to wage war upon the Romans, and who have so often had
victory almost within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for
peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my
lot to solicit it. To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of
your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious that
Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the Roman
generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should have put an
end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by your calamities
before it was by ours.

"Peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who
negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it, and we
are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our states will
ratify. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving
thence four Carthaginian armies. When elected consul, though all others
wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa, where
having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two
camps in the same hour, having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful
king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours, you
have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly held
for now sixteen years. While your affairs are in a favorable and ours in
a dubious state, you would derive honor and splendor from granting
peace; while to us, who solicit it, it would be considered as nec