 131. The Death of Caesar |
134-136. Catiline’s Conspiracy  |
The second Punic War, waged between the Romans and Carthaginians from 218 to 201 B.C., ended in a complete victory for the Romans. The latter, however, were suspicious that Hannibal, the most famous general of the Carthaginians, was simply biding his time to renew the war under more favorable conditions: and so they desired to arrest and hold him as a prisoner. By hastening into exile, Hannibal escaped for some years, and improved the opportunity to stir up a great deal of trouble for the Romans in the East.
Quae dum in Asiā geruntur, accidit cāsū ut lēgātī Prūsiae Rōmae apud T. Quīnctium Flāminīnum cōnsulārem cēnārent, atque ibi de Hannibale mentiōne factā, ex eīs ūnus dīceret eum in Prūsiae rēgnō esse. Id posterō diē Flāminīnus senātuī dētulit. Patrēs cōnscriptī, quī Hannibale vīvō numquam sē sine īnsidiīs futūrōs exīstimārent, lēgātōs in Bithȳniam mīsērunt (in eīs Flāminīnum), quī ab rēge peterent, nē inimīcissimum suum sēcum habēret sibique dēderet. Hīs Prūsia negāre ausus nōn est. Illud recūsāvit, nē id ā sē fierī postulārent, quod adversus iūs hospitiī esset; ipsī, sī possent, comprehenderent; locum, ubi esset, facile inventūrōs.
Hannibal enim ūnō locō sē tenēbat, in castellō, ei ā rēge datum erat mūnerī, idque sīc aedificārat, ut in omnibus partibus aedificiī exitūs habēret, scīlicet verēns nē ūsū venīret, quod accidit. Hūc cum lēgātī Rōmānī vēnissent ac multitūdine domum eius circumdedissent, puer, ab iānuā prōspiciēns, Hannibalī dīxit plūrīs praeter cōnsuētudinem armātōs appārēre. Quī imperāvit eī ut omnīs forīs circumīret ac properē sibi nūntiāret num eōdem modō undique obsidērētur. Puer cum celeriter quid vīdisset renūntiāsset, omnīsque exitūs occupātōs ostendisset, sēnsit id nōn fortuītō factum, sed sē petī neque sibi diūtius vītam esse retinendam. Quam nē aliēnō arbitriō dimitteret, memor prīstinārum virtūtum, venēnum, quod semper sēcum habēre cōnsuērat, sūmpsit. Sīc vir fortissimus, multīs variīsque perfūnctus labōribus, annō acquiēvit septuāgēsimō.