s
appointed for the meeting between the two encampments. To this spot
the two generals repaired at the proper time, with great pomp and
parade, and with many attendants. They were the two greatest generals
of the age in which they lived, having been engaged for fifteen or
twenty years in performing, at the head of vast armies, exploits which
had filled the world with their fame. Their fields of action had,
however, been widely distant, and they met personally now for the
first time. When introduced into each other's presence, they stood for
some time in silence, gazing upon and examining one another with
intense interest and curiosity, but not speaking a word.

At length, however, the negotiation was opened. Hannibal made Scipio
proposals for peace. They were very favorable to the Romans, but
Scipio was not satisfied with them. He demanded still greater
sacrifices than Hannibal was willing to make. The result, after a long
and fruitless negotiation, was, that each general returned to his
camp and prepared for battle.

In military campaigns, it is generally easy for those who have been
conquering to go on to conquer: so much depends upon the expectations
with which the contending armies go into battle. Scipio and his troops
expected to conquer. The Carthaginians expected to be beaten. The
result corresponded. At the close of the day on which the battle was
fought, forty thousand Carthaginians were dead and dying upon the
ground, as many more were prisoners in the Roman camp, and the rest,
in broken masses, were flying from the field in confusion and terror,
on all the roads which led to Carthage. Hannibal arrived at the city
with the rest, went to the senate, announced his defeat, and said that
he could do no more. "The fortune which once attended me," said he,
"is lost forever, and nothing is left to us but to make peace with our
enemies on any terms that they may think fit to impose."

CHAPTER XI.

HANNIBAL A FUGITIVE AND AN EXILE.

B.C. 200-182

Hannibal's conquests.--Peaceful pursuits.--The danger of a spirit of
ambition and conquest.--Gradual progress of Scipio's victories.--Severe
conditions of peace exacted by Scipio.--Debates in the Carthaginian
senate.--Terms of peace complied with.--Surrender of the elephants and
ships.--Scipio burns the Carthaginian fleet.--Feelings of the
spectators.--Scipio sails to Rome.--His reception.--Hannibal's position
and standing at Carthage.--Orders from Rome.--Hanniba