Titus Livius (Livy) Ab urbe condita 30.23

[2] ¹ had been slain at Trasumennus, at Cannae, had grown old round Casilinum and Cumae and Nola. Such were his accusations and laments as he was dragged away from his long occupation of Italy.

XXI. At Rome the news of Mago's departure and that of Hannibal were received about the same time. Rejoicing over this two-fold ground for congratulation was tempered by two circumstances: that men thought the generals had lacked either the spirit or the strength to detain them, although this had been ordered by the senate; and that they were concerned for the outcome, now that the whole burden of the war came down upon one army and one commander. About the same time envoys arrived from Saguntum bringing Carthaginians alleged to have crossed over into Spain to hire auxiliaries, having been seized together with the money.

They set down two hundred and fifty pounds of gold and eight hundred pounds of silver in the forecourt ² of the Senate House. After accepting the captives, remanding them to prison and returning the gold and silver, the senate thanked the envoys; and in addition presents were made to them and ships furnished for their return to Spain.

The older members thereupon observed that men are slower to recognize blessings than evils; that upon Hannibal's passage into Italy they remembered ³ what alarm and panic there had been. Since that time what disasters, what sorrows had befallen them! The enemy's camp had been visible from the walls of the city; what prayers had been said by individuals and by the entire people! How often in their deliberations had men been heard to say, as they lifted their hands to heaven, Would the day ever come when they should see Italy cleared of the enemy and prospering in a blessed peace!

[3] At last, they said, but not before the sixteenth year, the gods had granted that prayer; and yet there was no one to propose a vote of thanks to the gods; so true was it that men did not gratefully receive a blessing upon its coming, much less duly remember it when past. Upon that shouts came from every part of the Senate House that Publius Aelius, the praetor, should bring up the question. And it was voted that for five days thanks should be offered at all the pulvinaria, ⁴ also that a hundred and twenty full-grown victims should be sacrificed.

[4] After Laelius and the envoys of Masinissa had been dismissed, word came that the Carthaginian envoys, on their way to the senate to sue for peace, had been seen at Puteoli and would proceed thence by land. Whereupon it was decided that Gaius Laelius should be recalled, ⁵ in order that the discussion of peace might be in his presence. Quintus Fulvius Gillo, Scipio's lieutenant, conducted the Carthaginians to Rome. Being forbidden to enter the city, they were entertained in the Villa Publica and a hearing in the senate was granted them in the Temple of Bellona. ⁶

XXII. They made substantially the same plea ⁷ as they had done before Scipio, shifting all blame for the war from public responsibility to Hannibal: that he had crossed not merely the Alps but even the Ebro without orders from the senate, and on his own responsibility had waged war not only on the Romans but before that upon the Saguntines also.

[5] The senate and the Carthaginian people, they claimed, had a treaty with the Romans which in any fair judgment was to that day unbroken; consequently they had no other instructions than to beg permission to abide by the last peace-treaty, made with Gaius Lutatius. ⁸ When the praetor, following traditional practice, had given the senators permission to ask any question of the envoys if any one was so disposed, and older members, who had been present when action was taken on the treaties, were asking various questions, the envoys kept saying that on account of their age they did not remember —nearly all of them being young men. Upon that there were shouts from every part of the house that Punic trickery had led them to choose men who did not themselves remember it, to ask that the old treaty should be revived.

XXIII. Then after the envoys had been ushered out of the house, ⁹ opinions began to be called for.

[6] Marcus Livius ¹⁰ moved that Gaius Servilius, the consul, being the nearer, should be summoned, in order that discussion of peace might be in his presence. Since there could be no more important subject for deliberation than that, it did not seem to ¹¹ him, he said, that debate on the question in the absence of one or both of the consuls was quite in keeping with the dignity of the Roman people. Quintus Metellus, who had been consul three years before and also dictator, said that, whereas Publius Scipio by slaying their armies and ravaging their lands had reduced the enemy to such straits that as suppliants they were suing for peace, and whereas no man in the world could more correctly judge of the spirit in which they were seeking that peace than he who was conducting a war at the gates of Carthage, peace must be accepted or rejected according to the advice of none other than Scipio.

[7] Marcus Valerius Laevinus, who had twice been consul, ¹² contended that spies, not envoys, had come to them, and that they should be ordered to depart from Italy, and guards sent with them all the way to their ships, and that a written order should be sent to Scipio not to relax effort in the war. Laelius and Fulvius added that Scipio also had based his hope of peace only upon the supposition that Hannibal and Mago were not to be recalled from Italy.

[8] But while waiting for those generals and their armies, they said, the Carthaginians would use every pretence, and then, forgetful of treaties however recent and of all the gods, would carry on the war. Consequently a still larger number voted for Laevinus' motion. The envoys were sent away without securing peace and almost without an answer. ¹³