Hannibal vero, cum apud regem Prusiam exsularet auctorque ei committendi proelii esset, atque is non idem sibi extis portendi diceret, ain tu? inquit; vitulinae carunculae quam imperatori veteri mavis credere? si verba numeres, breviter et abscise, si sensum aestimes, copiose et valenter: Hispanias enim dereptas populo Romano, et Galliarum ac Liguriae vires in suam redactas potestatem, et novo transitu Alpium iuga patefacta, et Trasumen<n>um lacum dira inustum memoria, et Cannas, Punicae victoriae clarissimum monumentum, et Capuam possessam et Italiam laceratam ante pedes hominis effudit, uniusque hostiae iocineri longo experimento testatam gloriam suam postponi aequo animo non tulit.
When Hannibal was in exile at the court of king Prusias and advised him to join battle, the king said to him that the entrails told him otherwise. Really? said Hannibal, Would you rather trust a lump of calf flesh than a veteran general? If you count the words, he spoke briefly and concisely, but if you consider the sense, copiously and strongly. He flung at the fellows feet the Spains snatched away from Rome, the might of the Gauls and Ligurians brought under his control, the Alpine ridges laid open by an unprecedented crossing, Lake Trasimene burned on dire memory, Cannae the most famous memorial of Punic victory, Capua occupied, Italy lacerated. He did not brook calmly that his glory attested in long trial should yield to the liver of a single victim.
final_alignments\Valerius_Memorable_Book3.json