Such being the respective positions of the Romans and Carthaginians, experiencing in turn the opposite extremes of fortune, it was natural that, as Homer says, pain and joy at once should possess the minds of each. . . .
Walbank Commentary
Overview
9.21.0 - 9.26.0
<p rend="Plain Text">Hannibal's character</p>
<p rend="Plain Text">On the placing of this discussion, from the extracts on virtue and vice (P) see above, p. 10. P. indicates in x. 26. 9 the principles on which he inserts such a character sketch. There is further discussion of Hannibal at xi. 19 and xxiii. 13. 2. On ancient views of Hannibal's character see K. Christ, Historia, 1968, 461–95.</p>
Specifics
9.21.1 - 9.21.1
<p rend="Plain Text">
<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">τοιαύτης διαθέσεως ὑπαρχούσης</w>:</emph>
elucidated in Livy, xxvi. 37. On the Roman side there was disaster in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Spain&groupId=983&placeId=1735">Spain</a> and success in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sicily&groupId=973&placeId=1724">Sicily</a>, the loss of Tarentum in <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Italy&groupId=656&placeId=1199">Italy</a>, but the retention of its citadel, and the panic at seeing Hannibal outside <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a>, followed by the fall of Capua; while in the east the hostility of Philip had been countered by the acquisition of the Aetolians and Attalus as allies. The Carthaginians could balance the capture of Tarentum against the loss of Capua, but their advance on <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> had been in vain; and the Romans had sent a new army to <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Spain&groupId=983&placeId=1735">Spain</a>, where the Punic success against the Scipios had been partly nullified by the resistance of L. Marcius.
</p>
<p rend="Plain Text">
<emph rend="bold"><w lang="el-GR">κατὰ τὸν ποιητὴν ἅμα λύπην καὶ χαράν</w>:</emph>
an inaccurate recollection of Homer, Od. xix. 471, <w lang="el-GR">τὴν δ᾿ ἅμα χάρμα καὶ ἄλγος ἕλε φρένα</w>. Von Scala, 65, remarks that <w lang="el-GR">χαρά</w>? is a word popular with the Stoics; but it appears in many authors and its substitution here for <w lang="el-GR">χάρμα</w> has no significance. For <w lang="el-GR">λύ?πη καὶ χαρά</w> cf. xv. 32. 4.
<milestone unit="page" n="149">[149]</milestone>
</p>
Walbank Commentary