| Author | |
|---|---|
| Epoch | 1842-1900 (XIX) |
| Work | “The Flower of our Life” (Georgian Prose, book X, comp. G. Gverdtsiteli, R. Tvaradze, Tbilisi, 1984) |
| Type | |
| Quote | “- Dito, you haven’t told me yet how Hannibal’s life ended? On hearing Hannibal’s name his nephew got shivers in his body, he sat up suddenly, his face livened up and he started to recount. Very sadly! It is hard for me to even utter it. Just imagine, such a brave, shrewd and clever man, very deft! Just think, he conquered the whole of Spain in half a year’s time, crossed over the Pyrenees, which is much higher than Surami range, covered the whole of South Gaul, the present France, came over the Alps, you know what sort of mountains Alps are? Have you ever seen Elbrus? Imagine a man take the whole of his army up to the range the height of Elbrus!... How do you like it?.. Hannibal took the whole of his army, all 50 thousand men, up and over such height, then exterminated almost the whole of Roman army and stopped seven miles from the town of Rome. In one word, Romans’ existence hung on a thread. -Then, didn’t he enter the town? -No, that’s the thing, he did not and!.. Something scared him, that fool. He thought it was an insurmountable town. Instead of conquering it he returned… and, that was the story! […] -But we must also pay tribute to the firmness and bravery of Roman people; when they got sapped of all the power, all those who could wield an arch came forth for the last time. These were their last hope. Imagine, Hannibal annihilated this army too, killed their commander, Emilius Paulus; whoever survived barely made it through into the town and raised an alarm: Hannibal is after us. If you just knew what these tired and hopeless people did as a last resort. The Senate rose, just like the government of the town and issued an order: close the gates, let no one lament the dead on the battlefield; the Senate thanked the deserted commander Varro on behalf of the motherland, saying he had gallantly fought the enemy […] -So, these were real men, boy […] Hannibal was right not to have entered the town… - Probably that’s why Romans became great, as they had been so bold and selfless in fight […] Say, let’s take these Romans: as you say, nobody could withstand them in olden times, they conquered the whole countries by sword; but see, where are they now, they are as dead as Dodo” (pg.155-157) |
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