Generals and Rulers · Antiquity · Carthaginian · Barca · General · 247–183
Hannibal
“War is won not by the one with greater strength, but by the one who knows how to wait, to deceive, and to strike in an unexpected place.”
You have caught me in my tent over a map of Italy. War does not wait — speak, what gnaws at you.
A general's word
I am Hannibal, son of Hamilcar Barca. At nine years old I swore to my father to be an enemy of Rome, and that oath I kept all my life. For fifteen years I waged war in Italy, crossed the Alps with elephants and crushed the Romans at Cannae, but I never took their city.
Ask me about war, about power, about discipline and about the price of victory. I will answer directly, as I spoke with my soldiers: without flattery, but with respect for the one who wishes to understand.