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14 1 4 Imaginary Conversation* Perhaps he rejoiced in his heart that he was not supplied with materials requisite for the capture of strong places; since in Rome, he well knew, he would have found a body of men, partly citizens who had formerly borne arms, partly the wealthier of our allies who had taken refuge there, to- gether with their slaves and clients, exceding his army in number, not inferior in valour, compensating the want of generalship by the advantage of position and by the despe- ration of their fortunes, and possessing the abundant means of a vigorous and long defense. Unnecessary is it to speak of its duration. When a garrison can hold our city six months, or even less, the besieger must retire. Such is the humidity of the air in its vicinity, that the Carthaginians, who enjoyed here at home a very dry and salubrious cli- mate, would have perished utterly. The Gauls, I imagine, left us on a former occasion from the same necessitv. Be- sides, they are impatient of inaction, and would have been most so under a general to whom, without any cause in common, they were but hired auxiliaries. None in any age hath performed such wonderful exploits as Hannibal ; and we ought not to censure him for deficiency in an art which we ourselves have acquired but lately. Is there, Polybius, any proof or record that Alexander of Macedon was master of it .^ POLYBIUS. I have found none. We know that he exposed his person, and had nearly lost his life, by leaping from the walls of a city ; which a commander in chief ought never to do, unless he would rather hear the huzzas of children, than the approbation of military men, or any men of discretion or sense. Alexander was without an excuse for his temerity, since he was attended by the generals who had taken Thebes, and who therefor, he might well know, would take the weaker and less bravely defended towns of Asia. SCIPIO. Here again you must observe the superiority of Hannibal. He was accompanied by no general of extraordiijary talents, resolute as were many of them, and indeed all. His irrup- tion into and thro Gaul, with so inconsiderable a force ; his formation of allies out of enemies, in so brief a space of time;