When he had dismissed the soldiers, thus affected after viewing several pairs of combatants, having then summoned an assembly, he is said to have addressed them in these terms: "If, soldiers, you shall by and by, in judging of your own fortune, preserve the same feelings which you experienced a little before in the example of the fate of others, we have already conquered; for neither was that merely a spectacle, but as it were a certain representation of your condition.
And I know not whether fortune has not thrown around you still stronger chains and more urgent necessities than around your captives.
On the right and left two seas enclose you, without your possessing a single ship even for escape.

The river Po around you, the Po larger and more impetuous than the Rhone, the Alps behind, scarcely passed by you when fresh and vigorous, hem you in.

Here, soldiers, where you have first met the enemy, you must conquer or die; and the same fortune which has imposed the necessity of fighting, holds out to you, if victorious, rewards, than which men are not wont to desire greater, even from the immortal gods.

If we were only about to recover by our valour Sicily and Sardinia, wrested from our fathers, the recompence would be sufficiently ample; but whatever, acquired and amassed by so many triumphs, the Romans possess, all, with its masters themselves, will become yours.

To gain this rich reward, hasten, then, and seize your arms with the favour of the gods.