Livy’s work was even in his lifetime regarded as the most perfect example of historical writing. The younger Pliny tells us that a citizen of Cadiz travelled all the way to Rome merely to see Livy, and when he had seen him returned at once to Cadiz, feeling that the other sights of Rome were of no further interest. Livy’s influence upon later Roman writers was of the utmost importance, and his work has served as a model for more than one historian in more recent times. His enthusiasm for what is good and noble, his admiration for the great men of Rome, and his worship of Rome itself, give to his work something of the exalted character that belongs to a hymn of praise or a panegyric. His great history served, like Virgil’s _Æneid_, to give permanent literary expression to the greatness of the past days of the Roman commonwealth. It would occupy too much space to try to give specimens of all the varieties of Livy’s style and composition. His descriptions of battles, among which that of the defeat of Antiochus at Magnesia[88] deserves special mention, are masterpieces of painting in words, even when they betray his lack of military knowledge, and his summaries of the characters of important persons are admirable. The introduction to the history of the war with Hannibal, with the description of the siege of Saguntum, the hesitation at Rome, and the scene in the Carthaginian senate, is unsurpassed. [Sidenote: Speech of Hanno.] The speech of Hanno, who alone among the Carthaginian senators wished to preserve peace by relinquishing Saguntum and delivering Hannibal into the hands of the Romans, is one of the most remarkable of the many striking passages in this wonderful history:[89]