If we can secure for him the command of the army in Spain, he may do all and more than all that Hamilcar and Hasdrubal have done for us.

If we fail, we are lost; Hanno will be supreme, the official party will triumph, man by man we shall be denounced and, destroyed by the judges, and, worse than all, our hopes of saving Carthage from the corruption and tyranny which have so long been pressing her into the dust are at an end.

It is a good omen of success that you have returned from your expedition at such a critical moment.

All has gone well with you, I hope.

You know the fate that awaits an unsuccessful general here." "Ay, I know," Hamilcar said bitterly; "to be judged by a secret tribunal of civilians, ignorant of even the rudimentary laws of war, and bent not upon arriving at the truth, but of gratifying their patrons and accomplices; the end, disgrace and execution.
"No, my success has been complete, although not brilliant.