Then as to his military fame, by which, as by a dowry, he was recommended to notice, it was too splendid for an officer acting under a king.

The king ought to be the grand object of view; the king ought to appear the sole leader, the sole commander.

If Hannibal should lose a fleet or an army the amount of the damage would be the same as if the loss were incurred by any other general; but should success be obtained, all the honour would be ascribed to Hannibal, and not to Antiochus.

Besides, if the war should prove so fortunate as to terminate finally in the defeat of the Romans, could it be expected that Hannibal would live under a king; subject, in short, to an individual; he who could scarcely bear subjection to his own country?
That he had not so conducted himself from early youth, having embraced the empire of the globe in his hopes and aspirations, that in his old age he would be likely to endure a master.

The king wanted not Hannibal as a general: as an attendant and a counsellor in the business of the war, he might properly employ him.
A moderate use of such abilities would be neither unprofitable nor dangerous; but if advantages of the highest nature were sought through him, they, probably, would be the destruction both of the giver and the receiver." 43.