Very much the same may be said of Hannibal.
Who can refuse admiration to this general, who considers
how he first fell on the enemy and attempted to raise the siege by a series of combats,
how failing in his attack he marched on <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rome&groupId=935&placeId=1669">Rome</a> itself, and then when his design on the city was frustrated by the merest accident, how he turned round and not only broke up the enemy, but waited a reasonable time to see if the force besieging Capua had made any movement,
and how finally, still holding to his purpose, he swept down to damage his enemies, and all but destroyed <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Rhegium&groupId=927&placeId=1659">Rhegium</a>?
As for the Romans, we must pronounce that they behaved better on this occasion than the Lacedaemonians.
For the latter, flocking off to the rescue when the news first reached them, saved <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Sparta&groupId=660&placeId=1208">Sparta</a> indeed, but as for as it depended on them lost <a class="linkToPlace" target="_blank" href="/place?placename=Mantinea&groupId=731&placeId=1339">Mantinea</a>,
while the Romans not only preserved their native town, but far from raising the siege remained firm and unshaken in their purpose, and henceforth pressed the Capuans with greater confidence.
It is not for the purpose of extolling the Romans or the Carthaginians that I have offered these remarks — I have often had occasion to bestow praise on both peoples — but rather for the sake of the leaders of both these states, and of all, no matter where, who shall be charged with the conduct of public affairs,
so that by memory or actual sight of such actions as these, they be moved to emulation, and not shrink from undertaking designs, which may seem indeed to be fraught with risk and peril, but on the contrary are courageous without being hazardous, are admirable in their conception, and their excellence, whether the result be success or failure alike, will deserve to live in men's memories for ever, always provided that all that is done is the result of sound reasoning. . . .
When the Romans were besieging Tarentum Bomilcar, the Carthaginian admiral, came with a very large force to its help, and finding himself unable to render any assistance to those in the town, as the Roman camp was so securely defended, he used up his supplies before he was well aware of it. He had been forced to come by urgent entreaties and large promises, and he was now compelled to sail off at the earnest request of the inhabitants.
Walbank Commentary