That the dangers which threatened those who had the misfortune to be defeated, were proportioned to the rewards of the victors." For the Romans had not any place of refuge in an unknown and foreign land, and immediate destruction seemed to await Carthage, if the troops which formed her last reliance were defeated.

To this important contest, the day following, two generals, by far the most renowned of any, and belonging to two of the most powerful nations in the world, advanced, either to crown or overthrow, on that day, the many honours they had previously acquired.

Their minds, therefore, were agitated with the opposite feelings of hope and fear; and while they contemplated at one time their own troops, at another those of their enemy, estimating their powers more by sight than by reason, they saw in them at once the grounds for joy and grief.

Those circumstances which did not occur to the troops themselves spontaneously, their generals suggested by their admonitions and exhortations.

The Carthaginian recounted his achievements in the land of Italy during sixteen years the many Roman generals and armies annihilated, reminding each individually of the honours he had acquired as he came to any soldier who had obtained distinction in any of his battles.