Tom Holland

So the story goes from meeting up again.

They're having a chat and Scipio asks Hannibal, which general do you think is the greatest of all time?

Hannibal answers Hannibal.

and giving his reasons as he does so, that obviously, in first place, is Alexander the Great.

And then he says, actually, I would also place Pyrrhus in second, and Pyrrhus was the guy who had invaded Italy a few generations before Hannibal's invasion.

And again, Hannibal gives reasons why Pyrrhus has the number two position.

And Scipio, who's obviously a little bit disappointed that Hannibal hasn't mentioned him, then says, oh, and who would you put in the third place?

And Hannibal then says, well, I'd put myself at number three.

Brilliant.

And Scipio, to give him credit, laughs at this and says, well, what if you had beaten me at the Battle of Zama?

And Hannibal replied, oh, well, in that case, I would have put myself above Alexander and above Pyrrhus and above all other commanders.

I think it's a wonderful conversation.

And

I like the fact that Scipio laughs.

I mean, there hasn't been much laughter in this story.

It's the only record we have of either Scipio or Hannibal laughing.

And it's obvious from Hannibal's reply that he's a very witty and amusing man.

Is he witty or is he just boastful?

He is witty.

The account that we have of it specifies that he was being witty.