Meanwhile, in 193 B.C., envoys from Rome arrived at the court of Antiochus. The king was absent, mourning the loss of a son whom, so ran the report, he had himself poisoned from jealousy. But Hannibal was there, and he and the Romans appeared to be so friendly that the courtiers grew suspicious, and by their tales made the king also suspect the good faith of the Carthaginian. When Antiochus returned to his court Hannibal did all he could to allay his suspicions, telling him of the vow he had taken when a child--the vow of undying hatred to Rome. It is said that one of the Roman ambassadors was Scipio Africanus, and that one day as he chatted with Hannibal he asked him who he thought was the greatest general that had ever lived. ‘Alexander,’ said Hannibal, meaning Alexander the Great, who died in 323 B.C. ‘Who next?’ asked Scipio. ‘Pyrrhus,’ was the answer. ‘Who third?’ then demanded the Roman. ‘Myself,’ answered Hannibal. ‘What should you have said, then,’ asked Scipio, ‘if you had conquered me?’ ‘I should have said that I was greater than either Alexander or Pyrrhus,’ was the quick retort. Early in the spring of 192 B.C. the ambassadors had an interview with the king. He, however, refused to listen to their demands, which were, that he should not molest the Greek towns which had appealed to Rome to save them from the interference of the King of Syria. War was now inevitable, but before it actually began his officers had persuaded the king not only to ignore any advice Hannibal might give, but to offer him no responsible command in the campaign that was before them. ‘If you follow Hannibal’s advice,’ said one of the king’s officers, ‘the glory will all be his, and not the king’s, while if he fails, the fleet and the army will be fatally weakened. Hannibal is but a soldier of fortune, and may usefully be employed as a subordinate, but in a position of supremacy he would be intolerable.’ To such foolish words Antiochus listened, and was so influenced by them that he gave the general who had led so many armies to victory only a subordinate naval command. I need not tell you of all the battles that were fought in this war, but in the end the King of Syria was defeated. Peace was made, and one of the conditions of the Roman Senate was, that ‘above all, Hannibal the Carthaginian should be given up.’ So once again the great soldier was forced to flee, or fall into the hands of his lifelong enemies. He reached Crete in 190 B.C., and before long he was at the court of Prusias, King of Bithynia. Here he won a great victory for the king, with whom he had taken service. Unfortunately his victory happened to be over one of the allies of Rome, and she at once demanded that Prusias should deliver the Carthaginian into her hands. Prusias may have been grateful to Hannibal, but he was too weak to defy Rome, and he promised that the general should be surrendered.