§9.25.1φιλάργυρός γε μὴν δοκεῖ γεγονέναι διαφερόντως καὶ φίλῳ κεχρῆσθαι φιλαργύρῳ Μάγωνι τῷ τὰ κατὰ τὴν Βρεττίαν χειρίζοντι. §9.25.2ταύτην δὲ τὴν ἱστορίαν ἐγὼ παρέλαβον μὲν καὶ παρʼ αὐτῶν Καρχηδονίων· §9.25.3ἐγχώριοι γὰρ οὐ μόνον τὰς τῶν ἀνέμων στάσεις κατὰ τὴν παροιμίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ τῶν ἐγχωρίων ἀνθρώπων ἤθη κάλλιστα γινώσκουσιν· §9.25.4ἔτι δὲ Μασαννάσου ἀκριβέστερον διήκουσα, φέροντος ἀπολογισμοὺς καθόλου μὲν περὶ πάντων Καρχηδονίων, μάλιστα δὲ περὶ τῆς Ἀννίβου καὶ Μάγωνος τοῦ Σαυνίτου προσαγορευομένου φιλαργυρίας. §9.25.5πρὸς γὰρ τοῖς ἄλλοις ἔφη γενναιότατα κεκοινωνηκότας ἑαυτοῖς πραγμάτων τοὺς προειρημένους ἀπὸ τῆς πρώτης ἡλικίας καὶ πολλὰς μὲν πόλεις κατʼ Ἰβηρίαν, πολλὰς δὲ κατὰ τὴν Ἰταλίαν εἰληφότας ἑκατέρους, τὰς μὲν κατὰ κράτος, τὰς δʼ ἐκ παραδόσεως, οὐδέποτε μετεσχηκέναι τῆς αὐτῆς πράξεως ἀλλήλοις, §9.25.6ἀλλʼ ἀεὶ μᾶλλον ἑαυτοὺς ἢ τοὺς πολεμίους στρατηγεῖν χάριν τοῦ μὴ συμπαρεῖναι θάτερον θατέρῳ πόλεως καταλαμβανομένης, ἵνα μήτε διαφέρωνται πρὸς σφᾶς ἐκ τῶν τοιούτων μήτε μερίζωνται τὸ λυσιτελές, ἐφαμίλλου τῆς ὑπεροχῆς αὐτῶν ὑπαρχούσης.
Indeed, he seems to have been exceptionally fond of money, and to have had as a friend Mago, who was also fond of money and managed affairs in Bruttium. I received this account also from the Carthaginians themselves; for the natives, according to the proverb, know best not only the quarters of the winds, but also the characters of their own countrymen. Moreover, I heard it more accurately from Masanissa, who gave explanations generally about all Carthaginians, but especially about the money-loving nature of Hannibal and of Mago who was called the Samnite. For he said that, in addition to other things, although the aforementioned had associated with each other in affairs most closely from their earliest youth, and each of them had taken many cities in Iberia and many in Italy, some by force and others by capitulation, they had never shared in the same operation with each other, but always directed their operations against each other rather than against the enemy, for the sake of one not being present with the other when a city was being taken, so that they might neither quarrel with one another from such occasions nor divide the profit, since their superiority was equal.