§12.1Quae dum in Asia geruntur, accidit casu ut legati Prusiae Romae apud T. Quintium Flamininum consularem cenarent, atque ibi de Hannibale mentione facta ex iis unus diceret eum in Prusiae regno esse.
While these things were being done in Asia, it happened by chance that the ambassadors of Prusias were dining in Rome at the house of the consular Titus Quinctius Flamininus, and there, mention having been made of Hannibal, one of them said that he was in the kingdom of Prusias.
§12.2id postero die Flamininus senatui detulit.
On the following day, Flamininus reported this to the senate.
patres conscripti, qui Hannibale vivo numquam se sine insidiis futuros existimarent, legatos in Bithyniam miserunt, in eis Flamininum, qui ab rege peterent, ne inimicissimum suum secum haberet sibique dederet. his Prusia negare ausus non est;
The conscript fathers, who, as long as Hannibal was alive, thought they would never be without plots against them, sent ambassadors to Bithynia, among them Flamininus, to request of the king that he should not keep their greatest enemy with him, but deliver him up to them.
§12.3illud recusavit, ne id a se fieri postularent, quod adversus ius hospitii esset: ipsi, si possent, comprehenderent: locum, ubi esset, facile inventuros.
To these, Prusias did not dare to say no; but he objected to this, that they should not demand of him to do what was contrary to the law of hospitality: let them, if they could, capture him themselves; they would easily find the place where he was.
Hannibal enim uno loco se tenebat, in castello quod ei a rege datum erat muneri, idque sic aedificarat, ut in omnibus partibus aedificii exitus haberet, scilicet verens ne usu veniret, quod accidit.
For Hannibal kept himself in one place, in a fortress which had been given to him as a gift by the king, and he had built it in such a way that it had exits in all parts of the building, clearly fearing lest that which did happen might come to pass.
§12.4huc cum legati Romanorum venissent ac multitudine domum eius circumdedissent, puer ab ianua prospiciens Hannibali dixit plures praeter consuetudinem armatos apparere.
When the ambassadors of the Romans had come here and had surrounded his house with a multitude, a boy looking out from the door told Hannibal that more armed men than usual were appearing.
qui imperavit ei, ut omnes fores aedificii circumiret ac propere sibi nuntiaret, num eodem modo undique obsideretur.
Hannibal ordered him to go around all the doors of the building and quickly report to him whether he was blockaded in the same way on all sides.
§12.5puer cum celeriter, quid vidisset, renuntiasset omnesque exitus occupatos ostendisset, sensit id non fortuito factum, sed se peti neque sibi diutius vitam esse retinendam.
When the boy had quickly reported what he had seen and had shown that all the exits were occupied, Hannibal perceived that this had not happened by accident, but that he was being sought, and that life was no longer to be retained by him.
quam ne alieno arbitrio dimitteret, memor pristinarum virtutum venenum, quod semper secum habere consuerat, sumpsit.
Lest he should surrender it at another's pleasure, mindful of his former virtues, he took the poison which he had always been accustomed to have with him.