Johnny Cardarelli Hannibal story
/
Latin
English
' Pater meus ' inquit ' Hamilcar puerulo me , utpote non amplius VIIII annos nato , in Hispaniam imperator proficiscens Carthagine , Iovi optimo maximo hostias immolavit . Quae divina res dum conficiebatur , quaesivit a me , vellemne secum in castra proficisci . Id cum libenter accepissem atque ab eo petere coepissem , ne dubitaret ducere , tum ille ' Faciam ' , inquit ' si mihi fidem , quam postulo , dederis . ' Simul me ad aram adduxit , apud quam sacrificare instituerat , eamque ceteris remotis tenentem iurare iussit numquam me in amicitia cum Romanis fore . Id ego ius iurandum patri datum usque ad hanc aetatem conservavi .
He
said
‘My
father
Hamilcar
,
with
me
being
a
little
boy
,
not
more
than
9
years
ago
,
in
Carthage
setting
out
to
the
Spain
as
the
commander
,
he
offered
sacrifices
to
Jupiter
the
biggest
and
best
.
While
this
divine
thing
was
being
done
,
he
asked
,
if
I
wanted
to
go
to
the
camps
with
him
.
When
I
accepted
this
freely
and
I
began
to
ask
him
,
that
he
not
be
uncertain
to
lead
me
,
then
he
said
that
‘I
will
do
it
if
you
will
give
me
the
faith
I
ask
for
.
’
at
the
same
time
he
lead
me
to
the
sacrifice
,
with
that
the
sacrifice
was
set
up
,
and
with
the
rest
having
been
removed
,
he
ordered
me
to
,
holding
on
,
swear
that
to
never
be
a
friend
with
the
romans
.
I
kept
this
sworn
oath
,
having
been
given
by
my
father
,
up
until
this
age
.