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qui nunc servatas evertat funditas arces.
aetherias quoque, uti poscis, trahat Hannibal auras,
ereptus pugnae. miscere hic sidera ponto
et terras implore volet redeuntibus armis.
novi feta viri bello praecordia. sed lex
muneris haec esto nostri: Saturnia regna
ne post haec videat, repetat neve amplius umquam
Ausoniam. nunc instanti raptum avehe leto,
ne, latis si miscebit fera proelia campis,
Romulei nequeas iuvenis subducere dextrae.‟
192
Pun. 17.370-84
Thus Juno spoke, and Jupiter answered her briefly thus: „I grant to the
walls of lofty Carthage the reprieve you seek. Let them stand, in
answer to your prayers and entreaties. But hear how far your husband
is able to grant your requests. The days of Carthage are numbered, and
another Scipio shall come, to raze to the ground the towers which for
present are safe. Further, let your prayer for Hannibal be granted: let
him be rescued from the fray and continue to breathe the air of heaven.
He will seek to throw the world into confusion and to fill the earth
with renewed warfare. I know his heart, which can bring forth nothing
but war. But I grant him life on one condition: he must never hereafter
see the land of Saturn and never again return to Italy. Snatch him away
at once from imminent death; or else, if he joins in fierce battle on the
broad plains, you may be unable to rescue him from the right hand of
the young Roman general.‟
Duff, 1989, 467.
Hannibal‟s anger and frustration is reflected in his final speech in the Punica. He is
given a soliloquy in which he refuses to accept the defeat at Zama as the final decision
for the war; he swears to remain an enemy of Rome, and that the memories of his deeds
and of Cannae will never be forgotten. Indeed, they will outlive Jupiter:
„caelum licet omne soluta
in caput hoc compage ruat, terraeque dehiscant,
non ullo Cannas abolebis, Iupiter, aevo,
decedesque prius regnis quam nomina gentes
aut facta Hannibalis sileant. nec deinde relinquo
securam te, Roma, mei: patriaeque superstes
ad spes armorum vivam tibi. nam modo pugna
praecellis, resident hostes: mihi satque superque,
ut me Dardaniae matres atque Itala tellus,
dum vivam, expectent nec pacem pectore norint.‟
Pun. 17.606-615
Though the earth yawn asunder, though all the framework of heaven
break up and fall upon my head, never shalt thou, Jupiter, wipe out the
name of Cannae, but thou shalt step down from thy throne ere the