Rome's Reaction to the Fall of Saguntum
But when news came to Rome of the fall of Saguntum,
note
there was indeed no debate on the question of
war, as some historians assert; who even add
the speeches delivered on either side. But
nothing could be more ridiculous. For is it conceivable
that the Romans should have a year before proclaimed
war with the Carthaginians in the event of their entering
the territory of Saguntum, and yet, when the city itself
had been taken, should have debated whether they should
go to war or no? Just as absurd are the wonderful statements that the senators put on mourning, and that the
fathers introduced their sons above twelve years old into the
Senate House, who, being admitted to the debate, refrained
from divulging any of its secrets even to their nearest relations.
All this is as improbable as it is untrue; unless we are to
believe that Fortune, among its other bounties, granted the
Romans the privilege of being men of being men of the world from their
cradles. I need not waste any more words upon such compositions as those of
Chaereas and Sosilus; note which, in my
judgment, are more like the gossip of the barber's shop and the pavement than history.
The truth is that, when the Romans heard of the disaster note
at Saguntum, they at once elected envoys, whom
they despatched in all haste to Carthage with
the offer of two alternatives, one of which appeared to the Carthaginians to involve disgrace
as well as injury if they accepted it, while the other was the
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beginning of a great struggle and of great dangers. For one
of these alternatives was the surrender of Hannibal and
his staff to Rome, the other was war. When the Roman
envoys arrived and declared their message to the Senate, the
choice proposed to them between these alternatives was
listened to by the Carthaginians with indignation. Still they
selected the most capable of their number to state their case,
which was grounded on the following pleas.
