7 sorte = by an oracular response (which was often written on a little tablet or lot, sors).
11 aedem, i.e. the cella (chapel, the part enclosed within the four side-walls) of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus.
13-14 seu consulto seu temere vulgatae = whether designedly or undesignedly spread abroad.
17 humanae = which one has for a mere man.—Rawlins.
19 tantam rerum molem = so stupendous a task.—R. In 212 or 211 B.C. the two brothers, Publius and Gnaeus Scipio, were totally defeated by Hasdrubal and fell at the head of their troops. Scipio, son of this P. Scipio, was in 210 B.C. sent to Spain, at the age of 27, as proconsul in command of a reinforcement of 11,000 men.
Character of Scipio. ‘He was a man far above the average of his contemporaries, and possessed a greatness of mind which could not fail to rivet attention. He differed from the majority of generals by not only daring to conceive bold plans, but by contriving to carry them out.’—Ihne.
SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B.C.
Scipio takes New Carthage, 210 B.C.
Scipio ipse, ut ei nuntiatum est aestum decedere, quod per piscatores Tarraconenses nunc levibus cymbis, nunc, ubi eae siderent, vadis pervagatos stagnum compertum habebat, facilem pedibus ad murum transitum dari, eo secum armatos quingentos 5 duxit. Ubi urbem sine certamine intravere, pergunt inde, quanto maximo cursu poterant, ad eam portam, circa quam omne contractum certamen erat. In quod adeo intenti omnium non animi solum fuere, sed etiam oculi auresque pugnantium spectantiumque 10 et adhortantium pugnantes, ut nemo ante ab tergo senserit captam urbem, quam tela in aversos inciderunt et utrimque ancipitem hostem habebant. Tunc turbatis defensoribus metu et moenia capta, et porta intus forisque pariter refringi coepta; et mox 15 caedendo confectis ac distractis, ne iter impediretur, foribus armati impetum fecerunt. . . . Quoad dedita arx est, caedes tota urbe passim factae, nec ulli puberum qui obvius fuit parcebatur; tum signo dato caedibus finis factus; ad praedam victores versi, 20 quae ingens omnis generis fuit.