Their words
“Years and a chequered experience of good and evil fortune have so disillusioned me that I prefer to take reason rather than Fortune as my guide.”
As reported by Livy · Ab Urbe Condita 30.30.10 (trans. W. M. Roberts, 1905)
Context Meeting Scipio between the two armies before the battle of Zama in 202 BC, he proposed peace terms, citing his long experience of changing fortune; the speech is Livy's rendering.
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More words from Hannibal Barca
“No keener weapon has been put into men's hands by the immortal gods than a contempt for death.”
Hannibal Barca Tunisia♥ 0
“This oath, thus taken before my father, I have so strictly kept even to this day, that no man ought to doubt but that I shall be of the same mind for the rest of my life.”
Hannibal Barca Tunisia♥ 0
“For either you must conquer, or die, or fall alive into the hands of your foes.”
Hannibal Barca Tunisia♥ 0
“Gisco, another thing has escaped your notice which is more amazing still… in all this multitude there is no one who is called Gisco.”
Hannibal Barca Tunisia♥ 0
“Peace once established is a better and safer thing than hoping for victory; that is in your hands, this in the hands of the gods.”
Hannibal Barca Tunisia♥ 0
More words from Empires & Antiquity
“I have restored that which was ruins, I have raised up that which was unfinished.”
Hatshepsut Egypt♥ 0
“The king who was my predecessor did not believe that it was impossible to discover the furthest limit of the Atlantic Ocean and wished vehemently to do so.”
Mansa Musa Mali♥ 0
“I am a great chief: no one ever sees me sing, no one ever sees me eat; no one has ever sat at table with me.”
Samori Touré Guinea♥ 0
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