§39.51.1ad Prusiam regem legatus T. Quinctius Flamininus venit, quem suspectum Romanis et receptus post fugam Antiochi Hannibal et bellum adversus Eumenem motum faciebat.
To King Prusias came the envoy T. Quinctius Flamininus, whom Prusias' reception of Hannibal after the flight of Antiochus and the war waged against Eumenes had made suspect to the Romans.
§39.51.2ibi seu quia a Flaminino inter cetera obiectum Prusiae erat hominem omnium, qui viverent, infestissimum populo Romano apud eum esse, qui patriae suae primum, deinde fractis eius opibus Antiocho regi auctor belli adversus populum Romanum fuisset; §39.51.3seu quia ipse Prusias, ut gratificaretur praesenti Flaminino Romanisque, per se necandi aut tradendi eius in potestatem consilium cepit; a primo colloquio Flaminini milites extemplo ad domum Hannibalis custodiendam missi sunt.
There, either because Flamininus, among other things, had charged Prusias that the man most hostile of all living to the Roman people was with him—one who had been the promoter of war against the Roman people, first for his own country, and then, after its power was broken, for King Antiochus; or because Prusias himself, in order to curry favor with the present Flamininus and the Romans, took the counsel on his own of killing him or delivering him into their power; immediately after the first conference of Flamininus, soldiers were sent at once to guard the house of Hannibal.
§39.51.4semper talem exitum vitae suae Hannibal prospexerat animo et Romanorum inexpiabile odium in se cernens, et fidei regum nihil sane confisus: Prusiae vero levitatem etiam expertus erat; Flaminini quoque adventum velut fatalem sibi horruerat.
Hannibal had always foreseen such an end to his life in his mind, both discerning the inexpiable hatred of the Romans toward himself and having no trust at all in the faith of kings; indeed, he had also experienced the fickleness of Prusias, and had dreaded the arrival of Flamininus as fatal to him.
§39.51.5ad omnia undique infesta ut iter semper aliquod praeparatum fugae haberet, septem exitus domo fecerat, et ex iis quosdam occultos, ne custodia saepirentur.
In order to have some prepared way of flight always ready against all dangers from every quarter, he had made seven exits from his house, and some of them secret, lest they should be blocked by a guard.
§39.51.6sed grave imperium regum nihil inexploratum, quod vestigari volunt, efficit.
But the harsh command of kings leaves nothing unexplored which they wish to be tracked down.
totius circuitum domus ita custodiis complexi sunt, ut nemo inde elabi posset.
They surrounded the entire circuit of the house with guards in such a way that no one could escape from there.
§39.51.7Hannibal, postquam est nuntiatum milites regios in vestibulo esse, postico, quod devium maxime atque occultissimi exitus erat, §39.51.8fugere conatus, ut id quoque occursu militum obsaeptum sensit et omnia circa clausa custodiis dispositis esse venenum, quod multo ante praeparatum ad tales habebat casus, poposcit.
Hannibal, after it was announced that the king's soldiers were in the vestibule, having attempted to escape through a back door, which was the most out-of-the-way and of the most secret exit, when he perceived that this also was blocked by the opposition of the soldiers, and that everything around was closed by the posted guards, demanded the poison, which he had prepared long before for such emergencies.
§39.51.9“liberemus” inquit “diuturna cura populum Romanum, quando mortem senis exspectare longum censent.
"Let us deliver," he said, "the Roman people from their long-standing anxiety, since they think it too long to wait for the death of an old man.
§39.51.10nec magnam nec memorabilem ex inermi proditoque Flamininus victoriam feret.
Flamininus will bear no great nor memorable victory over an unarmed and betrayed man.
mores quidem populi Romani quantum mutaverint, vel hic dies argumento erit.
Indeed, how much the morals of the Roman people have changed, even this day will be proof.
§39.51.11horum patres Pyrrho regi, hosti armato, exercitum in Italia habenti, ut a veneno caveret praedixerunt: hi legatum consularem, qui auctor esset Prusiae per scelus occidendi hospitis, miserunt. ” §39.51.12exsecratus deinde in caput regnumque Prusiae, et hospitales deos violatae ab eo fidei testes invocans, poculum exhausit.
Their fathers warned King Pyrrhus, an armed enemy having an army in Italy, to beware of poison; these men have sent a consular envoy to instigate Prusias to murder his guest through a crime." Then, having called down curses upon the head and kingdom of Prusias, and invoking the gods of hospitality as witnesses of the faith violated by him, he drained the cup.
hic vitae exitus fuit Hannibalis.
This was the end of the life of Hannibal.