[The following is in regards to the death of Hannibal Barca, one of the most brilliant generals in human history. Much later in life, the Romans ordered his execution and, failing to escape as he had planned, he took his own life.]
Some say that, wrapping his upper garment about his neck, he commanded his servant to set his knee against his back, and not to cease twisting and pulling it till he had completely strangled him. Others say he drank bull’s blood, after the example of Themistocles and Midas. Livy writes that he had poison in readiness, which he mixed for the purpose, and that, taking the cup in his hands, “Let us ease,” said he, “the Romans of their continual dread and care, who think it long and tedious to await the death of a hated old man. Yet Titus will not bear away a glorious victory, nor one worthy of those ancestors who sent to caution Pyrrhus, an enemy, and a conqueror too, against the poison prepared for him by traitors.”
Source:
Plutarch, John Dryden, and Arthur Hugh Clough. "Flamininus." Plutarch's Lives. New York: Modern Library, 2001. 515. Print.
Further Reading:
No comments, yet...