but because you think
it will redound to your own honour and glory; acting in the same
manner as you did when leaving your province and your army without the
sanction of a law, without a decree of the senate, you, a general
of the Roman people, intrusted to two ships the fortune of the
commonwealth and the majesty of the empire, which were then hazarded
in your person. In my estimation, conscript fathers, Publius Cornelius
was elected consul for the service of the state and of us, and not to
forward his own individual interest; and the armies were enlisted for
the protection of the city and of Italy, and not for the consuls,
like kings, to carry into whatever part of the world they please from
motives of vanity."

43. Fabius having made a strong impression on a large portion of the
senate, and especially those advanced in years, by this speech,
which was adapted to the occasion, and also by his authority and his
long-established reputation for prudence; and those who approved
of the counsel of this old man being more numerous than those who
commended the hot spirit of the young one; Scipio is reported thus
to have spoken: "Even Quintus Fabius himself has observed, conscript
fathers, in the commencement of his speech, that in the opinion he
gave a feeling of jealousy might be suspected. And though I dare
not myself charge so great a man with harbouring that feeling, yet,
whether it is owing to a defect in his language, or to the fact, that
suspicion has certainly not been removed. For he has so magnified his
own honours and the fame of his exploits, in order to do away with
the imputation of envy, that it would appear I am in danger of being
rivalled by every obscure person, but not by himself, because, as he
enjoys an eminence above every body else, an eminence to which I do
not dissemble that I also aspire, he is unwilling that I should be
placed upon a level with him. He has represented himself as an old
man, and as one who has gone through every gradation of honour, and me
as below the age even of his son; as if he supposed that the desire
of glory did not exceed the limits of human life, and as if its chief
part had not respect to memory and future ages. I am confident, that
it is usual with all the most exalted minds, to compare themselves,
not only with the illustrious men of the present, but of every age.
For my own part, I do not dissemble that I am desirous, not only to
attain to the share of glory which you p