cur spoliare iuvat Libycas hac indole terras? an flendae magis Aegates et mersa profundo Punica regna forent, olim si sorte cruenta esset tanta mei virtus praerepta mariti? haec dubios vario divumque hominisque timore ad cauta illexere patres; ipsique relictum, abnueret sortem an superum pareret honori.
Why rob the land of Libya of the promise shown by this child? If my husbands glorious career had been thus nipped in the bud long ago by the fatal lot, would not that have been as lamentable a disaster as the battle by the Aegatian islandsa when the power of Carthage was sunk beneath the waves? The senators, hesitating between their fear of the gods and their fear of Hannibal, were induced by her appeal to run no risks; and they left it to Hannibal himself to decide, whether he would defy the lot or comply with the tribute due to the gods.
final_alignments\Silius_Italicus_Punica_Book4.json