Dialogues of the Dead (25.7)

Do not do so yet, but hear what I have to say.

Who are you, my good man? Where do you come from, that you wish to speak?

From Italy. I am Scipio, the General who destroyed Carthage, [*] and overcame the Libyans in mighty battle.

Well, what have you to say?

That I am a lesser man than Alexander, but superior to Hannibal, for I drove him before me, after defeating him, and forcing him to flee ignominiously. Is he not shameless, then, in posing as the rival of Alexander, with whom even I, Scipio, the conqueror of Hannibal, do not presume to compare myself?

By heaven, what you say, Scipio, is reasonable! So let Alexander be adjudged [*] first, and after him you, and then, if you don’t mind, Hannibal third, though even he is of no little account.