"When, among other things, he asked Hannibal who he thought had been the greatest general, Hannibal replied Alexander, king of the Macedonians, because with a small number of men he had routed innumerable armies and because he had traveled to the farthest shores, visiting which lay beyond human expectations. When Scipio next asked him whom he placed second he said Pyrrhus: he was the man who had first shown how to lay out a camp, and in addition no one had shown such skill in choosing locations and stationing troops. To the further question of whom he declared third Hannibal replied himself. With a smile, Scipio said: "And what would you say if you had defeated me?" "Well, then, in that case," he replied, "I would have placed myself ahead of Alexander, Pyrrhus, and all the others.""