Imaginary Conversations and Poems

“Could a Numidian horseman ride no faster?” Hannibal cries over the fallen Roman general Marcellus—then, with Rome seemingly within his grasp, refuses to let anyone hasten his enemy’s death.

In Landor’s imagined ancient Italy, victory and mercy meet on a battlefield: Hannibal needs Marcellus to urge Rome toward peace, but the wounded commander will not trade his honor for his life. As soldiers close in and the surgeon warns that an arrow cannot be removed without killing him, the conqueror must choose what kind of triumph he wants. Elsewhere in this selection, Queen Elizabeth takes up the cause of the poet Edmund Spenser, and rulers, writers and warriors test one another in vivid, intimate encounters. What can an enemy ask of another when power is not the only thing at stake?

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