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Hannibal unus, cuius eo tempore vel maxima apud regem auctoritas
erat, magis mirari se aiebat, quod non iam in Asia essent Romani,
quam venturos dubitare; propius esse ex Graecia in Asiam quam ex
Italia in Graeciam traicere, et multo maiorem causam Antiochum
quam Aetolos esse; neque enim mari minus quam terra pollere
Romana arma.
Livy, 36.41.2
Hannibal alone, whose influence with the king was at the time perhaps
at its greatest, said that he was more surprised that the Romans were
not already in Asia than doubtful that they would come; it was a
shorter crossing from Greece to Asia than from Italy to Greece, and
Antiochus was a far more powerful motive than the Aetolians; nor
were Roman arms less powerful on sea than land.
Sage, 1958, 273.
Livy then echoes Polybius‟ comments about the outcome of Zama through Hannibal
insisting to Antiochus that the Romans were aiming for world domination. Hannibal
predicts to the king that the Romans would invade Asia and Antiochus would have to
fight for survival, not simply victory or defeat (cf. Livy 30.32.2; Polybius Hist. 15.9.2;
15.15.1). It is a good example of Livy using a speech to announce an unpalatable truism,
and allow his audience to reject it, given that the voice is that of an enemy. The content
echoes a similar assessment of Roman behaviour and intentions in a letter said to be
from Mithridates to Arsaces given in Sallust (Sallust, Hist. 4.67.5-23). 429 Sallust
therefore uses a slightly different literary technique to impart a similar message. In this
case, it is Mithridates warning Arsaces that the Romans have an inveterate desire for
riches and dominions, and that they will, undoubtedly, invade and overthrow the king.
Livy returns his focus to Rome. The consul Lucius Scipio was assigned Greece as his
province; his brother, Scipio Africanus, would accompany him:
Haec vox magno adsensu audita sustulit certamen; experiri libebat,
utrum plus regi Antiocho in Hannibale victo an in victore Africano
consuli legionibusque Romanis auxilii foret; ac prope omnes Scipioni
Graeciam, Laelio Italiam decreverunt.
Livy, 37.1.10
These words, listened to with full approbation, ended the contest; they
wanted to ascertain whether King Antiochus would find more
powerful assistance in the defeated Hannibal or the Roman consul and
legions in his conqueror Africanus; and almost unanimously they
decreed Greece to Scipio, Italy to Laelius.
Sage, 1958, 293.
429 See McGushin, 1994, 180 for discussion on Sallust.
202