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.

Portrait of Hannibal Barca
Hannibal BarcaTunisia · 247–183 BC
Read their story →

Pick the card background

Share on X WhatsApp All quotes

More words from Hannibal Barca

More words from Empires & Antiquity