But now, to a senator, asking whether I still regret the undertaking of the war against the Romans, if I should forbear to speak, I should seem either arrogant or servile, the former of which is the part of a man who is forgetful of the independence of others, the latter of his own.

I may answer therefore to Himilco, that I have not ceased to regret the war, nor shall I cease to censure your invincible general until I see the war concluded on some tolerable terms; nor will any thing except a new peace put a period to my regret for the loss of the old one.

Accordingly those achievements, which Mago has so boastingly recounted, are a source of present joy to Himilco and the other adherents of Hannibal; to me they may become so; because successes in war, if we have a mind to make the best use of fortune, will afford us a peace on more equitable terms; for if we allow this opportunity to pass by, on which we have it in our power to appear to dictate rather than to receive terms of peace, I fear lest even this our joy should run into excess, and in the end prove groundless.

However, let us see of what kind it is even now.

I have slain the armies of the enemy, send me soldiers.