Punic Wars Quotes

“Scipio asked Hannibal, “Whom he thought the greatest captain?” The latter answered,
“Alexander . . . because with a small force he defeated armies whose numbers were beyond reckoning, and because he had overrun the remotest regions, merely to visit which was a thing above human aspirations.”
Scipio then asked, “ To whom he gave the second place ? ” and Hannibal replied,
“To Pyrrhus, for he first taught the method of encamping, and besides, no one ever showed such exquisite judgment in choosing his ground and disposing his posts; while he also possessed the art of conciliating mankind to himself to such a degree that the natives of Italy wished him, though a foreign prince, to hold the sovereignty among them, rather than the Roman people. . . .”
On Scipio proceeding to ask, “Whom he esteemed the third? ”
Hannibal replied, “Myself, beyond doubt.”
On this Scipio laughed, and added, “What would you have said if you had conquered me? ”
“Then I would have placed Hannibal not only before Alexander and Pyrrhus, but before all other commanders.”
― B.H. Liddell Hart, Scipio Africanus: Greater than Napoleon

“Remember these Romans, Hannibal. For the time being, we must ally with them. But the day will come when we will have our vengeance upon them, as we will upon the demons of Harappa. Never forget that.”

The boy's voice was grave. “I'll remember.”
― Jennifer McKeithen, Atlantis: On the Tides of Destiny

“Delenda est Carthago"

"Carthage must be destroyed”
― Marcus Porcius Cato (Censorius)

“He remembered, too, the day an exhausted horseman - dusty sash of Carthahinian purple around his chest - caught up to the army with a message. War had been formally declared. Carthage had refused to hand Hannibal over to Rome. Standing in the senate at Carthage the senior member of the Roman delegation had held out two fists, one for war and the other for peace. Which did Carthage choose? Defiantly, the suffete, the chief magistrate of the senate, replied that it was Rome’s choice. “We choose war,” the Roman replied. “And we accept it,” the Carthaginian senators cried out.”
― Sam Osherson, The Wolf Boy: A Novel