quently said afterward, that first the
ambition of Tiberius Claudius, and afterward of Cneius Cornelius, were
the causes which prevented his terminating the war by the destruction of
Carthage.

The Carthaginians finding difficulty in raising the first sum of money
to be paid, as their finances were exhausted by a protracted war, and in
consequence great lamentation and grief arising in the senate house, it
is said that Hannibal was observed laughing, and when Hasdrubal Haedus
rebuked him for laughing amid the public grief, when he himself was the
occasion of the tears which were shed, he said: "If, as the expression
of the countenance is discerned by the sight, so the inward feelings of
the mind could be distinguished, it would clearly appear to you that
that laughter which you censure came from a heart not elated with joy,
but frantic with misfortunes. And yet it is not so ill-timed as those
absurd and inconsistent tears of yours. Then you ought to have wept when
our arms were taken from us, our ships burned, and we were forbidden to
engage in foreign wars, for that was the wound by which we fell. Nor is
it just that you should suppose that the measures which the Romans have
adopted toward you have been dictated by animosity. No great state can
remain at rest long together. If it has no enemy abroad it finds one at
home in the same manner as over-robust bodies seem secure from external
causes, but are encumbered with their own strength. So far, forsooth, we
are affected with the public calamities as they reach our private
affairs; nor is there any circumstance attending them which is felt more
acutely than the loss of money. Accordingly, when the spoils were torn
down from vanquished Carthage, when you beheld her left unarmed and
defenceless amid so many armed nations of Africa, none heaved a sigh.
Now, because a tribute is to be levied from private property you lament
with one accord, as though at the funeral of the State. How much do I
dread lest you should soon be made sensible that you have shed tears
this day for the lightest of your misfortunes!"

Such were the sentiments which Hannibal delivered to the Carthaginians.
Scipio, having summoned an assembly, presented Masinissa, in addition to
his paternal dominions, with the town of Cirta, and the other cities and
territories which had passed from the kingdom of Syphax into the
possession of the Romans. He ordered Cneius Octavius to conduct the
fleet to Sicily and