‘Nero showed a resolution and a strategic ability which far surpassed the average qualifications of Roman generals.’ --Ihne.
Fortes creantur fortibus et bonis; Est in iuvencis, est in equis patrum Virtus, neque imbellem feroces Progenerant aquilae columbam; 32 Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam, Rectique cultus pectora roborant; Utcumque defecere mores, Indecorant bene nata culpae. 36 Quid debeas, o Roma, Neronibus, Testis Metaurum flumen et Hasdrubal Devictus et pulcher fugatis Ille dies Latio tenebris, 40 Qui primus alma risit adorea, Dirus per urbes Afer ut Italas Ceu flamma per taedas vel Eurus Per Siculas equitavit undas. 44 Post hoc secundis usque laboribus Romana pubes crevit, et impio Vastata Poenorum tumultu Fana deos habuere rectos. 48
[Linenotes: 29-36. The thought is: ‘It is true that scions of a good stock must be good in men as well as in animals, but yet _education_ (+doctrina+ = _training_ l. 33) _brings out the innate force_.’ 29. +fortibus et bonis.+ For the combined epithets cf. καλὸς κἀγαθός. 36. +Indecorant ... culpae+ = _faults disfigure_ (+indecorant = dedecorant+) _scions of an honourable stock_ (+bene nata+). 37. +Neronibus+, e.g. M. Claudius Nero (the hero of Metaurus), and the brothers Drusus and Tiberius (afterwards Emperor), stepsons of Augustus. 41. +alma adorea+ = _with kindly (refreshing) success_. 43. +ceu flamma per taedas+ = _like fire through a pine-forest_. --W. 44. +equitavit+ = _galloped_, _careered_, used of Hannibal, and, by zeugma, with +flamma+ and +Eurus+. 46-47. +impio tumultu+ = _by the sacrilegious invasion_ (or _riot_, _outrage_), possibly with reference to Livy’s story (xxvi. 11) of the plundering of the Temple of Feronia. 48. +rectos+ = _upright_, i.e. of the images supposed to have been thrown down by Hannibal, and not set on their pedestals again.]
+Results of the Battle.+ ‘The war in Italy was to all appearances finished, and it was on the Metaurus that the Romans conquered Spain.’ --Ihne. When Hannibal recognised the head of his brother Hasdrubal, he foresaw the doom of Carthage:--
‘Lost, lost is all: A nation’s hope, a nation’s name, They died with dying Hasdrubal.’ --C. (Hor. _Od._ IV. iv. 70-73).
Nihil certe ultra rei in Italia ab Hannibale gestum. Nam ad eum quoque legati ab Carthagine vocantes in Africam eis forte diebus, quibus ad Magonem, venerunt. Frendens gemensque ac vix lacrimis temperans dicitur legatorum verba audisse. { 5} Postquam edita sunt mandata, ‘Iam non perplexe,’ inquit, ‘sed palam revocant, qui vetando supplementum et pecuniam mitti iam pridem trahebant. Vicit ergo Hannibalem non populus Romanus totiens caesus fugatusque, sed senatus Carthaginiensis { 10} obtrectatione atque invidia; neque hac deformitate reditus mei tam P. Scipio exsultabit atque efferet sese quam Hanno, qui domum nostram, quando alia re non potuit, ruina Carthaginis oppressit.’ Iam hoc ipsum praesagiens animo praeparaverat { 15} ante naves. Itaque inutili militum turba praesidii specie in oppida Bruttii agri, quae pauca magis metu quam fide continebantur, dimissa, quod roboris in exercitu erat in Africam transvexit. Raro quemquam alium, patriam exilii causa relinquentem, { 20} tam maestum abisse ferunt quam Hannibalem, hostium terra excedentem.