y; nor are there
other Alps, during the passage of which fresh forces may be procured:
here, soldiers, we must make our stand, as if we fought before the
walls of Rome. Let every one consider that he defends with his arms
not only his own person, but his wife and young children: nor let him
only entertain domestic cares and anxieties, but at the same time let
him revolve in his mind, that the senate and people of Rome now
anxiously regard our efforts; and that according as our strength and
valour shall be, such henceforward will be the fortune of that city
and of the Roman empire."

42. Thus the consul addressed the Romans. Hannibal, thinking that his
soldiers ought to be roused by deeds rather than by words, having
drawn his army around for the spectacle, placed in their midst the
captive mountaineers in fetters; and after Gallic arms had been thrown
at their feet, he ordered the interpreter to ask, "whether any among
them, on condition of being released from chains, and receiving, if
victorious, armour and a horse, was willing to combat with the sword?"
When they all, to a man, demanded the combat and the sword, and lots
were cast into the urn for that purpose, each wished himself the
person whom fortune might select for the contest. As the lot of each
man came out, eager and exulting with joy amidst the congratulations
of his comrades, and dancing after the national custom, he hastily
snatched up the arms: but when they fought, such was the state of
feeling, not only among their companions in the same circumstances,
but among the spectators in general, that the fortune of those who
conquered was not praised more than that of those who died bravely.

43. When he had dismissed the soldiers, thus affected after viewing
several pairs of combatants, having then summoned an assembly, he is
said to have addressed them in these terms: "If, soldiers, you shall
by and by, in judging of your own fortune, preserve the same feelings
which you experienced a little before in the example of the fate of
others, we have already conquered; for neither was that merely a
spectacle, but as it were a certain representation of your condition.
And I know not whether fortune has not thrown around you still
stronger chains and more urgent necessities than around your captives.
On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing a
single ship even for escape. The river Po around you, the Po larger
and more impetuous than the R