The Road to RomeC. Scribner's Sons, 1927 - 178 pages |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
afraid Alps AMYTIS FABIUS AMYTIS HANNIBAL AMYTIS Of course AMYTIS Oh AMYTIS Yes attack Ba-al BALA battle bugle call Cannæ Capua Carthage Carthaginian CARTHALO CATO CORPORAL damned dear death destroy Rome DRUSUS elephants enemies enters FABIA FABIUS Amytis FABIUS FABIA Fabius Maximus FABIUS Oh FABIUS Yes gates of Rome Gauls glory gods goes Hamilcar HANNIBAL AMYTIS HANNIBAL MAGO HANNIBAL Oh HANNIBAL Yes Hannibal's happened HASDRUBAL heard human equation husband infantry lady Lake Trasimenus Livy look MAGO HANNIBAL MAHARBAL mother nibal numbers Numidian cavalry Perhaps realize river Road to Rome Roman army salutes SCIPIO SECOND GUARDSMAN Senate SERGEANT SERTORIUS Sicily sits slaves soldier Spain stands starts suppose sword talk tell There's thing THIRD GUARDSMAN THOTHMES thought three guardsmen TIBULLUS to-day told Trasimenus turns upstage VARIUS and META Varro victories wait wife women in Rome
Popular passages
Page 132 - I'm going to justify that reputation. I shall give you the final satisfaction of knowing that Hannibal, the merciless conqueror of Rome, is not a myth. . . . Come here . . . (She advances to him, slowly but without hesitation. He clutches her throat with his left hand. His right hand holds the dagger.) AMYTIS. Why do you choose to have me die, this way? HANNIBAL. I couldn't trust Mago to do this. You might have told him some of the things you have told me. He might have weakened. AMYTIS. Yes —...
Page iii - ALL the roads of our neighbourhood were cheerful and friendly, having each of them pleasant qualities of their own ; but this one seemed different from the others in its masterful suggestion of a serious purpose, speeding you along with a strange uplifting of the heart.
Page 134 - I'll find it — but never with you. You must die. (He is very close to her.) AMYTIS. War is death, Hannibal. Rome is dying, Carthage is dying— but we're alive. . . . You can conquer men, Hannibal. You can conquer armies. But you can't conquer life. HANNIBAL. You must die. AMYTIS. Go out and destroy the wind, Hannibal. Destroy the stars, and the night itself — if you can. Then come back and kill me. (A bugle is heard, blowing the Carthaginian version of "taps...
Page 66 - Our cavalry, such as it is, can be held within the city, prepared to make a sortie through the east gate when the situation becomes desperate . . . FABIA — Fabius . . . FABIUS (still not listening) — You, Drusus, will take command of the infantry on the left . . . FABIA (louder) — Fabius! FABIUS — And you, Scipio . . . What is it, mother? FABIA — Did you notice anything about Amytis when she left? FABIUS — She seemed to be in a hurry. FABIA — Did you notice anything strange in her appearance?...
Page xxiii - Yes, they are few indeed, (some may say,) but they are vigorous in mind and body ; men whose strength and power scarce any force may withstand. On the contrary, they are but the resemblances, nay, are rather the shadows of men; being worn out with hunger, cold, dirt, and filth, and bruised and enfeebled among stones and rocks. Besides all this, their joints are frost-bitten, their sinews stiffened 1 Because Spain was his proper province as consul.
Page 70 - There is another chest at the bac\, to the left of the main entrance. It is night — an hour later than the conclusion of Act I — and two braziers are burning dimly, one at the left and another at the right. Although the scene is a Roman temple, and although it is probable that HANNIBAL did not carry many household effects with him on his long march, strict realism and logic may be sacrificed for purposes of dramatic effectiveness in this scene. The barbaric splendor of Carthage itself must be...
Page 124 - Here you are — along in the night — with your triumphant army behind you, with Rome cringing at your feet. Here you are, Hannibal — and here am I! ( He makes a step forward, toward her, and for a moment there is the suggestion that he has weakened. But he braces himself, and again steps back.) HANNIBAL. I'll have to decline your kind offer and put you to death . . . and this time you won't be allowed to talk your way out of it.
Page 173 - From Ba-al? HANNIBAL. No — from Tanit, the daughter of Ba-al. (This last with a furtive glance toward AMYTIS.) HASDRUBAL. Then there is no hope. If Ba-al has sent his daughter to rule our destiny, then we are lost, forever. HANNIBAL (speaking now directly at AMYTIS, as though they again were alone). She told me to look for the human equation. . . . When you have found that, she said, you will know that all your conquests, all your glory, are but whispers in the infinite stillness of rime — that...
Page 101 - I'm ready to die — for the glory of Rome, or whatever it is we're fighting for now. I'm not afraid — no, I mean that. I'm really not afraid. That's not heroism, either. It's just the attitude of stoicism that comes to everyone, I suppose. You soldiers who have been in battle must know what I mean. MAGO Must we listen to all this? HANNIBAL Go on. AMYTIS In Athens, when men were condemned to death, they were granted one last request — provided, of course, that it was within reason. If they wanted...
Page 59 - I may be a traitor to Rome, but am not a traitor to my own convictions. I didn't start this war. I've never given it my support or encouragement. I have no axe to grind with Hannibal. Why should I sacrifice my life merely because the Roman army has failed to subdue a weaker enemy ?