Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 30
Cyrus Evans, Ed.

30. Their armed attendants having retired to an equal distance, they met, each attended by one interpreter, being the greatest generals not only of their own times, but of any to be found in the records of the times preceding them, and equal to [2??] any of the kings or generals of any nation whatever. [3] When they came within sight of each other they remained silent for a short time, thunderstruck, as it were, with mutual admiration. At length Hannibal thus began.: “Since fate hath so ordained it, that I, who was the first to wage war upon the Romans, and who have so often had victory almost within my reach, should voluntarily come to sue for peace, I rejoice that it is you, above all others, from whom it is my lot to solicit it. [4] To you, also, amid the many distinguished events of your life, it will not be esteemed one of the least glorious, that Hannibal, to whom the gods had so often granted victory over the Roman generals, should have yielded to you; and that you should have put an end to this war, which has been rendered remarkable by your calamities before it was by ours. [5] In this also fortune would seem to have exhibited a disposition to sport with events, for it was when your father was consul that I first took up arms; [6] he was the first Roman general with whom I engaged in a pitched battle; and it is to his son that I now come unarmed to solicit peace. [7] It were indeed most to have been desired, that the gods should have put such dispositions into the minds of our fathers, that you should have been content with the empire of Italy, and we with that of Africa: nor, indeed, even to you, are Sicily and Sardinia of sufficient value to compensate you for the loss of so many fleets, so many armies. so many and such distinguished generals. [8] But what is past may be more easily censured than retrieved. In our attempts to acquire the possessions of others we have been compelled to fight for our own; and not only have you had a war in Italy, and we also in Africa, but you have beheld the standards and arms of your enemies almost in your gates and on your walls, and we now, from the walls of Carthage, distinctly hear the din of a Roman camp. [9] What, therefore, we should most earnestly deprecate, and you should most de- [p. 1320]voutly wish for, is now the case: peace is proposed at a time when you have the advantage. We who negotiate it are the persons whom it most concerns to obtain it, and we are persons whose arrangements, be they what they will, our states will ratify. All we want is a disposition not averse from peaceful counsels. [10] As far as relates to myself, time, (for I am returning to that country an old man which I left a boy,) and prosperity, and adversity, have so schooled me, that I am more inclined to follow reason than fortune. [11] But I fear your youth and uninterrupted good fortune, both of which are apt to inspire a degree of confidence ill comporting with pacific counsels. Rarely does that man consider the uncertainty of events whom fortune hath never deceived. What I was at Trasimenus, and at Cannae, that you are this day. [12] Invested with command when you had scarcely yet attained the military age, though all your enterprises were of the boldest description, in no instance has fortune deserted you. [13] Avenging the death of your father and uncle, you have derived from the calamity of your house the high honour of distinguished valour and filial duty. You have recovered Spain, which had been lost, after driving thence four Carthaginian armies. [14] When elected consul, though all others wanted courage to defend Italy, you crossed over into Africa; where having cut to pieces two armies, having at once captured and burnt two camps in the same hour; having made prisoner Syphax, a most powerful king, and seized so many towns of his dominions and so many of ours, you have dragged me from Italy, the possession of which I had firmly held for now sixteen years. [15] Your mind, I say, may possibly be more disposed to conquest than peace. I know the spirits of your country aim rather at great than useful objects. [16] On me, too, a similar fortune once shone. But if with prosperity the gods would also bestow upon us sound judgment, we should not only consider those things which have happened, but those also which may occur. Even if you should forget all others, I am myself a sufficient instance of every vicissitude of fortune. [17] For me, whom a little while ago you saw advancing my standards to the walls of Rome, after pitching my camp between the Anio and your city, you now behold here, bereft of my two brothers, men of consummate bravery, and most renowned generals, standing before the walls of my native [p. 1321]city, which is all but besieged, and deprecating, in behalf of my own city, those severities with which I terrified yours. In all cases, the most prosperous fortune is least to be depended upon. [18] While your affairs are in a favourable and ours in a dubious state, you would derive honour and splendour from granting peace; while to us who solicit it, it would be considered as necessary rather than honourable. A certain peace is better and safer than a victory in prospect; the former is at your own disposal, the latter depends upon the gods. [19] Do not place at the hazard of a single hour the successes of so many years. [20] When you consider your own strength, then also place before your view the power of fortune, and the fluctuating nature of war. On both sides there will be arms, on both sides human bodies. [21] In nothing less than in war do events correspond (with men's calculations). Should you be victorious in a battle, you will not add so much to that renown which you now have it in your power to acquire by granting peace, as you will detract from it should any adverse event befall you. The chance of a single hour may at once overturn the honours you have acquired and those you anticipate. [22] Every thing is at your own disposal in adjusting a peace; but, in the other case, you must be content with that fortune which the gods shall impose upon you. [23] Formerly, in this same country, Marcus Atilius would have formed one among the few instances of good fortune and valour, if, when victorious, he had granted a peace to our fathers when they requested it; but by not setting any bounds to his success, and not checking good fortune, which was elating him, he fell with a degree of ignominy proportioned to his elevation. [24] It is indeed the right of him who grants, and not of him who solicits it, to dictate the terms of peace; but perhaps we may not be unworthy to impose upon ourselves the fine. [25] We do not refuse that all those possessions on account of which the war was begun should be yours; Sicily, Sardinia, Spain, with all the islands lying in any part of the sea, between Africa and Italy. [26] Let us Carthaginians, confined within the shores of Africa, behold you, since such is the pleasure of the gods, extending your empire over foreign nations, both by sea and land. [27] I cannot deny that you have reason to suspect the Carthaginian faith, in consequence of their insincerity lately in soliciting a peace and while awaiting the decision. [p. 1322]The sincerity with which a peace will be observed, depends much, Scipio, on the person by whom it is sought. [28] Your senate, as I hear, refused to grant a peace in some measure because the deputies were deficient in respectability. [29] It is I, Hannibal, who now solicit peace; who would neither ask for it unless I believed it expedient, nor will I fail to observe it for the same reason of expedience on account of which I have solicited it. [30] And in the same manner as I, because the war was commenced by me, brought it to pass that no one regretted it till the gods began to regard me with displeasure; so will I also exert myself that no one may regret the peace procured by my means.”