Flavius Eutropius “Summary of Roman History”, Book 3

Chapter 1

After the termination of the Punic
War that had lasted for twenty-three
Years, it happened that the Roman Republic,
Whose luminous glory was already
Known, sent legates to Ptolomeus King
Of Egypt (against whom had been waging
War Syria’s King Antiochus) but he
rejected the offer of support, thanking
The Romans, as the fight had already
Ended; and in those very days Hiero
The all-powerful Sovereign of Sicily
Came to Rome to see the Games and in tow
took two hundred thousand measures of wheat
Which he offered the Romans as a treat.

Finito igitur Punico bello, quod per XXIII annos tractum est, Romani iam clarissima gloria noti legatos ad Ptolomaeum, Aegypti regem, miserunt auxilia promittentes, quia rex Syriae Antiochus bellum ei intulerat. Ille gratias Romanis egit, auxilia a Romanis non accepit. Iam enim fuerat pugna transacta. Eodem tempore potentissimus rex Siciliae Hiero Romam venit ad ludos spectandos et ducenta milia modiorum tritici populo donum exhibuit.

Chapter 2

Both Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and
Fulvius Flaccus were consuls when Hiero
Came to Rome. War was waged in Italy also
Against the Ligurians in their homeland;
Their rout brought about a triumphal action.
The Carthaginians attempted again to go
To war by rousing the Sardinian nation
(The Romans’ liege in line with the condition
Of peace) to revolt. Therefore from Carthage there came
Legates with a soon to be accepted peace claim.

L. Cornelio Lentulo Fulvio Flacco consulibus, quibus Hiero Romam venerat, etiam contra Ligures intra Italiam bellum gestum est et de his triumphatum. Carthaginienses tamen bellum reparare temptabant, Sardinienses, qui ex condicione pacis Romanis parere debebant, ad rebellandum impellentes. Venit tamen Romam legatio Carthaginiensium et pacem impetravit.

Chapter 3

For the Sardinians the triumphal laurel
Was worn when Titus Manlius Torquatus
Along with Caius Atilius Bulcus
Were consuls. Peace was then general
And therefore it so happened that for once
Since the times of Numa Pompilius
The Roman wars were held in abeyance.

T. Manlio Torquato C. Atilio Bulco consulibus de Sardis triumphatum est, et pace omnibus locis facta Romani nullum bellum habuerunt, quod his post Romam conditam semel tantum Numa Pompilio regnante contigerat.

Chapter 4

Then Consul Lucius Postumius Albinus
With his colleague Gnaeu Fulvius Centumalus
Against the Illyrians went to war,
And having captured a slew
Of towns captured their kings too.
The triumph that followed settled therefore,
For the first time, the Illyrian score.

L. Postumius Albinus Cn. Fulvius Centumalus consules bellum contra Illyrios gesserunt et multis civitatibus captis etiam reges in deditionem acceperunt. Ac tum primum ex Illyriis triumphatum est.

Chapter 5

Lucius Aemilius was consul when
A horde of Gauls crossed the Alpine divide;
But all Italy was on the Roman side
And, narrates historian Fabius, then
A soldier taking part in that war,
That the number of men prepared for
It was eight hundred thousand. But the coup
Was brought off by Consul Aemilius who
Having cut up forty thousand enemies
Was awarded by decree Triumphal Sprees.

L. Aemilio consule ingentes Gallorum copiae Alpes transierunt. Sed pro Romanis tota Italia consensit, traditumque est a Fabio historico, qui ei bello interfuit, DCCC milia hominum parata ad id bellum fuisse. Sed res per consulem tantum prospere gesta est. XL milia hostium interfecta sunt et triumphus Aemilio decretus.

Chapter 6

A few years later in Italy
There were brawls against the Gauls,
But those engagements were finally
Terminated by consuls Marcus Claudius
Marcellus and Scipio Gnaeus Cornelius;
Then Marcellus fought with a small band
Of mounted men, killed with his own hand
Viridomarus, the king, unmade
Many Gauls, took Milan by storm and
Brought to Rome the booty of the raid.
During his triumphal cavalcade
He carried on his shoulders the whole
Gaul’s arms and gear hanging from a pole.

Aliquot deinde annis post contra Gallos intra Italiam pugnatum est, finitumque bellum M. Claudio Marcello et Cn. Cornelio Scipione consulibus. Tum Marcellus cum parva manu equitum dimicavit et regem Gallorum, Viridomarum nomine, manu sua occidit. Postea cum collega ingentes copias Gallorum peremit, Mediolanum expugnavit, grandem praedam Romam pertulit. Ac triumphans Marcellus spolia Galli stipiti inposita umeris suis vexit.

Chapter 7

Consuls M. Minucius
Rufus and Publius Cornelius
Attacked the Histrians who had ransacked
Some Roman ships carrying harvested grain.
All of them were tamed thoroughly.
War was declared by the Poeni
To the Roman Republic once again
In that same year. The Carthaginian leader
Hannibal assailed the city
Of Saguntum, the Romans’ partner.
He raised a force of one hundred and fifty
Thousand soldiers when he was only twenty
Years old. The Romans legates ordered him to
Refrain from war, but he refused to see
Them. Therefore legates were sent to Carthage too
To warn Hannibal it was not wise
To go to war against Rome’s ally.
Hard was the Carthaginians’ reply,
Meanwhile Hannibal decreed the execution
Of the Saguntines he’d starved into submission.

M. Minucio Rufo P. Cornelio consulibus Histris bellum inlatum est, quia latrocinati navibus Romanorum fuerant, quae frumenta exhibebant, perdomitique sunt omnes. Eodem anno bellum Punicum secundum Romanis inlatum est per Hannibalem, Carthaginiensium ducem, qui Saguntum, Hispaniae civitatem Romanis amicam, obpugnare adgressus est, annum agens vicesimum aetatis, copiis congregatis CL milium. Huic Romani per legatos denuntiaverunt, ut bello abstineret. Is legatos admittere noluit. Romani etiam Carthaginem miserunt, ut mandaretur Hannibali, ne bellum contra socios populi Romani gereret. Dura responsa a Carthaginiensibus data sunt. Saguntini interea fame victi sunt, captique ab Hannibale ultimis poenis adficiuntur.

Chapter 8

Then Publius Cornelius Scipio went to Spain
With an army while to Sicily respectively
Went Tiberius Sempronius, and a campaign
Was begun against the Carthaginian nation.
Therefore over the Pyrenees marched Hannibal,
After leaving in Spain his brother Hasdrubal.
The Alps, until then an impassable bastion,
He negotiated. He brought to Italy,
As people say, eighty thousand infantry-
Men and thirty-seven elephants. Meanwhile
A lot of Ligurians and Gauls sided with the army
Of Hannibal. Aware of his presence in Italy
Sempronius Gracchus advanced his rank and file
To Rimini from the three-sided isle.

Tum P. Cornelius Scipio cum exercitu in Hispaniam profectus est, Ti. Sempronius in Siciliam, bellum Carthaginiensibus indictum est. Hannibal relicto in Hispania fratre Hasdrubale Pyrenaeum transiit. Alpes, adhuc ea parte invias, sibi patefecit. Traditur ad Italiam LXXX milia peditum, X milia equitum, septem et XXX elephantos adduxisse. Interea multi Ligures et Galli Hannibali se coniunxerunt. Sempronius Gracchus cognito ad Italiam Hannibalis adventu ex Sicilia exercitum Ariminum traiecit.

Chapter 9

Publius Cornelius Scipio was the first who
Fell upon Hannibal and, having come to
Battle, his soldiers were forced to flee while he
Was wounded and returned to the encampment.
By the Trebia banks Sempronius Gracchus too
Was defeated in a warlike engagement.
Many people in Italy chose to side
With Hannibal. Then having arrived
In Tuscia Hannibal could disband
Consul Flaminius and do away
With him and five and twenty thousand
Romans too. The others got away.
Fabius Maximus was later sent
Against Hannibal. He was intent
On breaking his assaults by a tactical delay.
At the first opportunity he carried off the day.

P. Cornelius Scipio Hannibali primus occurrit. Commisso proelio, fugatis suis ipse vulneratus in castra rediit. Sempronius Gracchus et ipse confligit apud Trebiam amnem. Is quoque vincitur. Hannibali multi se in Italia dediderunt. Inde ad Tusciam veniens Hannibal Flaminio consuli occurrit. Ipsum Flaminium interemit; Romanorum XXV milia caesa sunt, ceteri diffugerunt. Missus adversus Hannibalem postea a Romanis Q. Fabius Maximus. Is eum differendo pugnam ab impetu fregit, mox inventa occasione vicit.

Chapter 10

In the five hundred and fortieth year since
The founding of the City of Rome Lucius
Aemilius Paulus and Publius Terentius
Varro had to face Hannibal. The hints
They got from their predecessor, Fabius,
Concerned Hannibal a cunning and prudent
Leader who in no other way could be won
But by putting off any warlike engagement.
Yet impatient Varro decided to take on
(against the other consul’s judgment,
Paulus Aemilius that is) the enemy
Down in Apulia in the vicinity
Of Cannae where both consuls felt
General Hannibal’s devastating belt.
Three thousand African men were destroyed
In that battle but severely wounded also
Was the army Hannibal had deployed.
Never did the Romans though receive such a blow:
Yet in that fray there passed away
Consul Aemilius Paulus and twenty
Former consuls and praetors, thirty
Senators, three hundred noblemen
With forty thousand infantrymen
And three thousand five hundred horsemen.
Notwithstanding all these misfortunes and shocks
Not one of the Romans even called for peace talks.
Slaves were freed, which had never happened before,
And outright inducted into Army corps.

Quingentesimo et quadragesimo anno a condita urbe L. Aemilius Paulus P. Terentius Varro contra Hannibalem mittuntur Fabioque succedunt, qui abiens ambo consules monuit, ut Hannibalem, callidum et inpatientem ducem, non aliter vincerent, quam proelium differendo. Verum cum inpatientia Varronis consulis contradicente altero consule [id est Aemilio Paulo] apud vicum, qui Cannae appellatur in Apulia, pugnatum esset, ambo consules ab Hannibale vincuntur. In ea pugna tria milia Afrorum pereunt; magna pars de exercitu Hannibalis sauciatur. Nullo tamen proelio Punico bello Romani gravius accepti sunt. Periit enim in eo consul Aemilius Paulus, consulares aut praetorii XX, senatores capti aut occisi XXX, nobiles viri CCC, militum XL milia, equitum III milia et quingenti. In quibus malis nemo tamen Romanorum pacis mentionem habere dignatus est. Servi, quod numquam ante, manumissi et milites facti sunt.

Chapter 11

After that battle many towns in Italy,
To the Romans formerly sworn in fealty,
Turned to Hannibal who complied.
He gave the Romans the opportunity
To buy back the prisoners. The Senate replied
It was not necessary to have on Rome’s side
Those citizens who had let themselves be caught
Still bearing arms. Hannibal had them all slain
Cruelly, and sent to Carthage three pecks fraught
With gold rings snatched off the hands of horsemen
Senators and soldiers. And meanwhile in Spain
Hannibal’s brother Asdrubal, who had arrayed
A very large army in the rear and would fain
Subdue it, by the two Scipios was unmade.
In the battle he lost thirty-five thousand men
Ten thousand as prisoners the rest wiped out.
Twelve thousand infantrymen and a force
Of twenty elephants and four thousand horse-
Men were sent to restore the army’s clout.

Post eam pugnam multae Italiae civitates, quae Romanis paruerant, se ad Hannibalem transtulerunt. Hannibal Romanis obtulit, ut captivos redimerent, responsumque est a senatu eos cives non esse necessarios, qui cum armati essent, capi potuissent. Ille omnes postea variis suppliciis interfecit et tres modios anulorum aureorum Carthaginem misit, quos ex manibus equitum Romanorum, senatorum et militum detraxerat. Interea in Hispania, ubi frater Hannibalis Hasdrubal remanserat cum magno exercitu, ut eam totam Afris subigeret, a duobus Scipionibus, Romanis ducibus, vincitur. Perdit in pugna XXXV milia hominum; ex his capiuntur X milia, occiduntur XXV milia. Mittuntur ei a Carthaginiensibus ad reparandas vires XII milia peditum, IV milia equitum, XX elephanti.

Chapter 12

Four years after the arrival
In Italy of Hannibal,
Consul Claudius Marcellus bravely
Attacked him in the vicinity
Of Nola a city in Campania.
Hannibal occupied many Roman client
Cities in Apulia and Calabria
And also in the Brittii’s own settlement.
At that time King Philip of Macedonia too
Sent him ambassadors with the promise
Of help against the Romans on condition that,
Once defeated the Romans, Hannibal would do
- To help him fight the Greeks - the same service.
Having captured Philip’s ambassadors, pat
Was the explanation of the deal. As it were,
The Romans ordered both Marcus Valerius Levinus
And Proconsul Titus Manlius Torquatus
To go one to Macedonia and the other
To Sardinia which by Hannibal shaken
The Roman confederates had forsaken.

Anno quarto postquam ad Italiam Hannibal venit, M. Claudius Marcellus consul apud Nolam, civitatem Campaniae, contra Hannibalem bene pugnavit. Hannibal multas civitates Romanorum per Apuliam, Calabriam, Brittios occupavit. Quo tempore etiam rex Macedoniae Philippus ad eum legatos misit, promittens auxilia contra Romanos sub hac condicione, ut deletis Romanis ipse quoque contra Graecos ab Hannibale auxilia acciperet. Captis igitur legatis Philippi et re cognita Romani in Macedoniam M. Valerium Laevinum ire iusserunt, in Sardiniam T. Manlium Torquatum proconsulem. Nam etiam ea sollicitata ab Hannibale, Romanos deseruerat.

Chapter 13

In four places simultaneously
Fighting was going on: in Italy
Against Hannibal, in the lands of Spain
Against Hasdrubal his own kin,
Also against King Philip in
Macedonia. And again
From Carthage another Hasdrubal
Who was captured alive by Proconsul

Titus Manlius who had been sent along to
Sardinia. Twelve thousand of his men
Were killed, fifteen hundred were then
Captured, and the Romans managed to subdue
Sardinia. Winning Manlius brought back to
Rome Hasdrubal and the captives. And then
In Macedonia Philip was defeated by Laevinus
And in Spain Hasdrubal was overcome too
By Scipio with Hannibal’s third brother Magus.

Ita uno tempore quattuor locis pugnabatur: in Italia contra Hannibalem, in Hispaniis contra fratrem eius Hasdrubalem, in Macedonia contra Philippum, in Sardinia contra Sardos et alterum Hasdrubalem Carthaginiensem. Is a T. Manlio proconsule, qui ad Sardiniam missus fuerat, vivus est captus, occisa cum eo duodecim milia, capti mille quingenti, et a Romanis Sardinia subacta. Manlius victor captivos et Hasdrubalem Romam reportavit. Interea etiam Philippus a Laevino in Macedonia vincitur et in Hispania ab Scipionibus Hasdrubal et Mago, tertius frater Hannibalis.

Chapter 14

Ten years after the coming to Italy
Of Hannibal, Publius Sulpicius
Being Consul with Gnaeus Silvius,
Hannibal almost reached Rome: his cavalry
Got as far as its gates and he himself halted
Within four miles of the walls of the city.
Anon Hannibal, fearing to be assaulted
By the two Consuls marching with their army,
Withdrew to Campania, while in Spain
Both Scipios, for years in victory swathed, By his brother Hasdrubal were slain.
Nevertheless the army was unscathed.
Chance, not the enemy’s strength, could them betray.
In Consul Marcellus’ own domain
Had in the meantime fallen the great part
Of Sicily, where the Africans held sway
And the most noble City of Syracuse too.
An enormous booty was then brought back to
Rome. In Macedonia Laevinus
Allied himself with Philip and many
Greek states, and also with Attalus
king of Asia. So once in Sicily
on a mission he captured the City
of Agrigentum apprehending a certain
Hanno, an African chief, and had him driven
To Rome with the captives of quality.
He accepted the surrender of forty
Cities, other twenty-six he subdued,
Thus reconquered was the whole of Sicily,
And Macedonia was bound in servitude.
He went back to Rome bathed in immense glory.
In Italy Hannibal quite suddenly
Assaulted Consul Gnaeus Fulvius then
Killed him with eight thousand of his men.

Decimo anno postquam Hannibal in Italiam venerat, P. Sulpicio Cn. Fulvio consulibus, Hannibal usque ad quartum miliarium urbis accessit, equites eius usque ad portam. Mox consulum cum exercitu venientium metu Hannibal ad Campaniam se recepit. In Hispania a fratre eius Hasdrubale ambo Scipiones, qui per multos annos victores fuerant, interficiuntur, exercitus tamen integer mansit; casu enim magis erant quam virtute decepti. Quo tempore etiam a consule Marcello Siciliae magna pars capta est, quam tenere Afri coeperant, et nobilissima urbs Syracusana; praeda ingens Romam perlata est. Laevinus in Macedonia cum Philippo et multis Graeciae populis et rege Asiae Attalo amicitiam fecit, et ad Siciliam profectus Hannonem quendam, Afrorum ducem, apud Agrigentum civitatem cum ipso oppido cepit eumque Romam cum captivis nobilibus misit. XL civitates in deditionem accepit, XXVI expugnavit. Ita omnis Sicilia recepta et Macedonia fracta; ingenti gloria Romam regressus est. Hannibal in Italia Cn. Fulvium consulem subito adgressus cum octo milibus hominum interfecit.

Chapter 15

Meanwhile in the regions of Spain, where
No Roman general was to be found
After the two Scipios’ death, the heir
Of Publius Scipio, whose given name
Was Publius Cornelius, waged war around
The same territories. Just twenty-four
Was he, and among the Romans his fame
Made him number one after and before
His generation. The New Carthage he seized,
Where the Africans kept gold, silver, all their
Siege engines and the noblest hostages they’d squeezed
From the Spaniards. And he also captured, there,
Magus, Hannibal’s brother whom he sent with the other
Prisoners to Rome where the good news brought great
Joy. Scipio sent the Spanish hostages straight
Back to their own parents, a move which implied
The like-minded rallying of all Spain to his side.
After all those vicissitudes he won - and caused to flee -
Hannibal’s brother Hasdrubal and seized a large booty.

Interea ad Hispanias, ubi occisis duobus Scipionibus nullus Romanus dux erat, P. Cornelius Scipio mittitur, filius P. Scipionis, qui ibidem bellum gesserat, annos natus quattuor et viginti, vir Romanorum omnium et sua aetate et posteriore tempore fere primus. Is Carthaginem Hispaniae capit, in qua omne aurum, argentum et belli apparatum Afri habebant, nobilissimos quoque obsides, quos ab Hispanis acceperant. Magonem etiam, fratrem Hannibalis, ibidem capit, quem Romam cum aliis mittit. Romae ingens laetitia post hunc nuntium fuit. Scipio Hispanorumn obsides parentibus reddidit; quare omnes fere Hispaniae uno animo ad eum transierunt. Post quae Hasdrubalem, Hannibalis fratrem, victum fugat et praedam maximam capit.

Chapter 16

Consul Quintus Fabius Maximus could then
Take back Tarentum (in Apulia) with a slew of men
From Hannibal’s army. He killed also
Hannibal’s own general Carthalo.
He managed to sell twenty-five thousand
Captives, assigned the spoils to his men and
Paid into the Public Treasury the money made
From the captives’ sale. Thereupon many
Cities, that erstwhile from the Roman alliance had strayed
To Hannibal’s side, turned immediately
Back to Fabius Maximus. A year later
Scipio did great deeds in Spain by himself and
With his brother Lucius Scipio; seventy
Cities both of them managed to reconquer.
Notwithstanding in the Italian homeland
The war didn’t go well, for Hannibal
Killed Claudius Marcellus, the consul.

Interea in Italia consul Q. Fabius Maximus Tarentum recepit, in qua ingentes copiae Hannibalis erant. Ibi etiam ducem Hannibalis Carthalonem occidit, XXV milia hominum captivorum vendidit, praedam militibus dispertivit, pecuniam hominum venditorum ad fiscum retulit. Tum multae civitates Romanorum, quae ad Hannibalem transierant prius, rursus se Fabio Maximo dediderunt. Insequenti anno Scipio in Hispania egregias res egit et per se et per fratrem suum L. Scipionem; LXX civitates receperunt. In Italia tamen male pugnatum est. Nam Claudius Marcellus consul ab Hannibale occisus est.

Chapter 17

Three years after his departure for Spain
Scipio managed to do great deeds again.
He caused the King of all Spain to bend his knee
In the course of a gigantic campaign;
And he was the first to accept his amity
Asking for no hostages as a guarantee.

Tertio anno postquam Scipio ad Hispanias profectus fuerat, rursus res inclitas gerit. Regem Hispaniarum magno proelio victum in amicitiam accepit et primus omnium a victo obsides non poposcit.

Chapter 18

As Hannibal had no hope to retain
For long control of the districts of Spain
Against Scipio, he summoned to Italy
His brother Hasdrubal with his large army.
He followed Hannibal’s path over again.
Near Senigallia, a Picenian town, he
Fell into a trap set by Appius
Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius
Salinator, both consuls, and valiantly
struggled but was killed, and then a slew
Of his men were captured and slain too.
Gold and silver, in very great quantity,
Were brought back to Rome. So wary
Of all things military
Was Hannibal already. Enormously
The Romans’ courage increased; and so
They summoned Publius Cornelius Scipio,
Up to that time still in Spain from whence
He moved to Rome with glory immense.

Desperans Hannibal Hispanias contra Scipionem diutius posse retinere, fratrem suum Hasdrubalem ad Italiam cum omnibus copiis evocavit. Is veniens eodem itinere, quo etiam Hannibal venerat, a consulibus Ap. Claudio Nerone et M. Livio Salinatore apud Senam, Piceni civitatem, in insidias conpositas incidit. Strenue tamen pugnans occisus est; ingentes eius copiae captae aut interfectae sunt, magnum pondus auri atque argenti Romam relatum est. Post haec Hannibal diffidere iam de belli coepit eventu. Romanis ingens animus accessit; itaque et ipsi evocaverunt ex Hispania P. Cornelium Scipionem. Is Romam cum ingenti gloria venit.

Chapter 19

Quintus Cecilius and Lucius Valerius being
Consuls all the Bruttii’s cities under
Hannibal’s thumb opted to surrender
And rest again in the shade of the Roman wing.

Q. Caecilio L. Valerio consulibus omnes civitates, quae in Brittiis ab Hannibale tenebantur, Romanis se tradiderunt.

Chapter 20

In the Fourteenth year after the arrival
In Italy of Hannibal, Scipio who
Had done great deeds in Spain was made consul
And sent to Africa. He was thought to
Abide under a divine aegis and still
To be able to talk to the gods at will.
In Africa he fights Chieftain Hanno
And cuts to pieces his army also.
In a second engagement
He captures an encampment
With four thousand five hundred men
While those he kills are eleven
Thousand. He manages to capture King Syphax
Of Numidia, the Africans’ ally and wracks
His encampment. Syphax was sent to the City
By Scipio with the Numidians of quality
And enemy spoils piled up in enormous stacks.
The news quickly spread and almost all Italy
Left Hannibal in the lurch. To Africa he
Was by the Carthaginians called back in haste
As Scipio was laying the countryside to waste.

Anno quarto decimo posteaquam in Italiam Hannibal venerat, Scipio, qui multa bene in Hispania egerat, consul est factus et in Africam missus. Cui viro divinum quiddam inesse existimabatur, adeo ut putaretur etiam cum numinibus habere sermonem. Is in Africa contra Hannonem, ducem Afrorum, pugnat; exercitum eius interficit. Secundo proelio castra capit cum quattuor milibus et quingentis militibus, XI milibus occisis. Syphacem, Numidiae regem, qui se Afris coniunxerat, capit et castra eius invadit. Syphax cum nobilissimis Numidis et infinitis spoliis Romam a Scipione mittitur. Qua re audita omnis fere Italia Hannibalem deserit. Ipse a Carthaginiensibus redire in Africam iubetur, quam Scipio vastabat.

Chapter 21

After seventeen years Italy
Was thus from Hannibal’s menace free.
The Carthaginian legates therefore sued
Scipio for peace; he sent them to the Roman
Senate. They were granted an interlude
Of forty-five days to get the round trip done;
And thirty thousand pounds of their silver
Were accepted as a donation.
The Senate, at Scipio’s discretion,
Passed a decree that peace should be
Made with the Carthaginian nation.
Scipio set the conditions they had to meet:
No more than thirty vessels in their fleet
And a fifty thousand pounds’ donation
Of silver and then the return of those who
Were prisoners and of the deserters too.

Ita anno septimo decimo ab Hannibale Italia liberata est. Legati Carthaginiensium pacem a Scipione petiverunt; ab eo ad senatum Romam missi sunt. Quadraginta et quinque diebus his indutiae datae sunt, quousque ire Romam et regredi possent; et triginta milia pondo argenti ab his accepta sunt. Senatus ex arbitrio Scipionis pacem iussit cum Carthaginiensibus fieri. Scipio his condicionibus dedit: ne amplius quam triginta naves haberent, ut quingenta milia pondo argenti darent, captivos et perfugas redderent.

Chapter 22

But in the meantime the arrival
On African soil of Hannibal
Disturbed the peace on account of hostile
Frequent actions done with African guile.
Yet the legates coming from the City
Were apprehended and shortly set free
By Scipio’s order. Hannibal also
Frequently won in combat by Scipio
Sued for peace which was granted by adding
Full one hundred thousand pounds of sterling
Silver to the five hundred thousand previously
Delivered because of the latest perfidy.
The Carthaginians were not pleased indeed
And ordered Hannibal to go on fighting
Against the Romans. Together proceed
Scipio and Massinissa another king
Allied to Scipio against Carthage. At last
Hannibal sent three scouts (who were soon found)
To Scipio’s camp. Scipio made them walk around
The entire army and offered them breakfast;
Then set them free to go and give Hannibal
An opinion on the Romans, true and factual.

Interim Hannibale veniente ad Africam pax turbata est, multa hostilia ab Afris facta sunt. Legati tamen eorum ex urbe venientes a Romanis capti sunt, sed iubente Scipione dimissi. Hannibal quoque frequentibus proeliis victus a Scipione petit etiam ipse pacem. Cum ventum esset ad colloquium, isdem condicionibus data est, quibus prius, additis quingentis milibus pondo argenti centum milibus librarum propter novam perfidiam. Carthaginiensibus condiciones displicuerunt iusseruntque Hannibalem pugnare. Infertur a Scipione et Masinissa, alio rege Numidarum, qui amicitiam cum Scipione fecerat, Carthagini bellum. Hannibal tres exploratores ad Scipionis castra misit, quos captos Scipio circumduci per castra iussit ostendique his totum exercitum, mox etiam prandium dari dimittique, ut renuntiarent Hannibali quae apud Romanos vidissent.

Chapter 23

Meanwhile both leaders gave instructions,
As each was good at leading large formations,
For a battle unheard of in the annals of war.
Scipio won. Hannibal managed to flee
With many knights first, then with just twenty
And finally his followers were reduced to four.
In Hannibal’s encampment were found
Twenty thousand pounds of silver, eighty
Pounds of gold and also a mound
Of other goods. After this battle peace was made
With the Carthaginians. Thus Scipio went
Back to Rome with glory triumphally arrayed
And called ‘African’ as a compliment.
The second Punic war was over and done
In this way, nineteen years after its day one.

Interea proelium ab utroque duce instructum est, quale vix ulla memoria fuit, cum peritissimi viri copias suas ad bellum educerent. Scipio victor recedit paene ipso Hannibale capto, qui primum cum multis equitibus, deinde cum viginti, postremo cum quattuor evasit. Inventa in castris Hannibalis argenti pondo viginti milia, auri octoginta, cetera supellectilis copiosa. Post id certamen pax cum Carthaginiensibus facta est. Scipio Romam rediit, ingenti gloria triumphavit atque Africanus ex eo appellari coeptus est. Finem accepit secundum Punicum bellum post annum nonum decimum, quam coeperat.