Note 59 — Chapter VI
Reading edition
'Do you see that the enemy is close upon you, and that your back will soon be invested? Quick! seize some help and succour: it must be done speedily, not quietly. Get before them somehow; lead round your forces by some pass or other. Invest the enemy; bring relief to our own troops; cut off the enemy's supplies; make a road for yourself, by which provisions or supplies may reach yourself or your legions safely: give your whole heart to the business—it is a sudden emergency.'—Mil. Glor. 219-225.
This is the 'patriotic passage' which Mr. West discusses in the paper previously referred to. He holds that 'The passage, keeping steadily within the limits so rigidly imposed by Roman Stage-censorship, is written from the stand-point of sympathy with the plebs in favour of Scipio's assuming command against Hannibal, and reflects very brightly and completely those features of the Second Punic War which were prominent and recent in 205 b.c.'
The end of many of the prologues also shows that they were addressed to a people constantly engaged in war.