[163] 163-5 = 6.447-9. Some critics consider the lines interpolated here, but the supposition is quite gratuitous. Appian says that Scipio, at the sight of the ruins of Carthage, used these words with reference to Rome. For the construction of 164 cf. 8.373. The subj. gives a solemn tone (see on 1.262). The ἄν here can neither be removed nor changed to “κε” without great violence. The collocation with ποτε shews that it generalizes rather than particularizes (see H. G. § 289. 1 b); but the pure subj. seems more natural, as in 21.111.
