“Quem postquam elephantus ad sē tēlō īnfestō venīre animadvertit, lixā relictō, mīlitem circumdedit proboscide, atque altē sustulit. Ille interim cōnstanter sē gessit, ac proboscidem, quantum vīribus poterat,[1] gladiō caedēbat; nec fīnis fuit, priusquam elephantus, dolōre adductus, abiectō mīlite, maximō cum strīdōre[2] ad reliquās bēstiās sē recēpit.”
“Mīles ille,” inquit Sextus, “profectō fortissimus erat, quī tantō perīculō sē committeret. Nam vīrēs multitūdinis hominum vix cum rōbore[3] ūnīus[4] elephantī sunt comparandae.”
“Rēs ita sē habet,” inquit Cornēlius; “atquī[5] interdum elephantī ā mīlitibus singulīs occīsī sunt. Velut dīcitur Hannibal, cum captīvōs Rōmānōs quondam inter sē dīmicāre coēgisset, ūnum, quī supererat, elephantō obiēcisse, lībertātem hominī pollicitus, sī bēstiam occīdisset.
“Rōmānus sōlus in harēnam prōgressus, magnō Poenōrum dolōre[6] elephantum cōnfēcit, ac līberātus est. Sed Hannibal, ut apud Plīnium est,[7] bēstiās fāmā huius dīmicātiōnis[8] in contemptum[9] Rōmānīs[10] ventūrās esse ratus, equitēs mīsit, quī victōrem abeuntem sequerentur atque occīderent.”
“Mihi vix crēdibile vidētur,” inquit Pūblius, “Hannibalem ita fidem fallere voluisse; nam ego eum, etsī Poenus erat, hostem generōsum fuisse semper putāvī.”
At Cornēlius: “Fortasse id, quod modo dīxī, falsō trāditum est.” Tum ad Sextum et Cornēliam conversus: “Vōsne līberī scītis, quō modō Hannibal elephantōs suōs flūmen Rhodanum trādūxerit?”[11]
“Nescīmus,” inquit Cornēlia. “Nōnne vīs hoc quoque nōbīs nārrāre?”
- ↑ quantum vīribus poterat: i.e., with all his might.
- ↑ strīdor, -ōris, m., trumpeting.
- ↑ rōbore, power.
- ↑ ūnīus, a single.
- ↑ atquī: not atque.
- ↑ magnō … dolōre, to the great chagrin.
- ↑ est: cf. XI, 114.
- ↑ dīmicātiō, -ōnis, f., fight, combat.
- ↑ contemptus, -tūs, m., contempt.
- ↑ Rōmānīs: dat.
- ↑ trādūxerit: with two accs. At the time here referred to, Hannibal was advancing to invade Italy.
