Thus the consul addressed the Romans. Hannibal, thinking that his soldiers
ought to be roused by deeds rather than by words, having drawn his army around
for the spectacle, placed in their midst the captive mountaineers in fetters;
and after Gallic arms had been thrown at their feet, he ordered the interpreter
to ask, "whether any among them, on condition of being released from chains,
and receiving, if victorious, armour and a horse, was willing to combat with
the sword?" When they all, to a man, demanded the combat and the sword, and
lots were cast into the urn for that purpose, each wished himself the person
whom fortune might select for the contest. As the lot of each man came out,
eager and exulting with joy amidst the congratulations of his comrades, and
dancing after the national custom, he hastily snatched up the arms: but when
they fought, such was the state of feeling, not only among their companions
in the same circumstances, but among the spectators in general, that the fortune
of those who conquered was not praised more than that of those who died bravely.
| 