4. While Carthage was in flames Scipio repeated two lines of
the Iliad, which express the destruction of Troy,
acknowledging to Polybius, his friend and preceptor (Polyb.
[Fragm. 1. xxxix 'sub fin'.] in Excerpt. de Virtut. et Vit.
tom. ii. p. 1455-1465), that while he recollected the
vicissitudes of human affairs he inwardly applied them to
the future calamities of Rome (Appian. in Libycis [1. viii.
c. 132], p. 136, edit. Toll.).