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Will this be enough for the Romans?

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Aulus Gellius (text ref.: n.A. 5.5), a Roman writer of the 2nd century AD, tells a nice little anecdote he attributes to Hannibal and the Seleucid king Antiochos III, though most likely entirely fictitious:

[...] Antiochus displayed to him on a wide field the vast forces which he had mustered to make war on the Romans, and was manoeuvring his army, glittering and adorned with gold and silver. He also fielded scythed chariots, elephants with turrets, and horsemen with shining bridles, saddle-blankets, reins and trappings. Then the king, vainglorious at the sight of an army this great and well-armed, turned to Hannibal and asked: "Do you think that all this could be equalled, and that it is enough for the Romans?" Deriding both the worthlessness and low efficiency of the king's troops in their precious armour, the Carthaginian replied: "I think it will be enough, yes. Fairly enough for the Romans, even though they are most avaricious." [...]


When we attended Jenny Dolfen's watercolour workshop, where I coloured a pencil sketch of Antiochos, she cited Gellius, and I felt compelled to do a small pencil sketch depicting the scene. Two days ago, I had the time to finally colour it. So here's the witty Hannibal, the vainglorious Antiochos, and the glittering and glorious Seleucid army.

Schmincke watercolours on 140 lbs watercolour paper, original size is 10 by 10 inches (slightly cropped here because my scanner is a bit small).
References: none at hand at the time of drawing, I just hope the war elephant isn't totally wonky.
Image size
2808x2400px 1.4 MB
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