Liv. 21.2.1Hīs ānxius cūrīs ita sē Āfricō bellō, quod fuit sub recentem Rōmānam pācem, per quīnque annōs, ita deinde novem annīs in Hispāniā augendō Pūnicō imperiō gessit, ut appārēret, maius eum, quam quod gereret, agitāre in animō bellum et, sī diūtius vīxisset, Hamilcare duce Poenōs arma Ītaliae inlātūrōs fuisse, quae Hannibalis ductū intulērunt.Troubled by these anxieties, he so conducted himself in the African war, which followed immediately upon the recent peace with Rome, for five years, and then for nine years in Spain in enlarging the Carthaginian empire, that it was plain he was contemplating a greater war than the one he was waging, and that, had he lived longer, the Carthaginians would have carried under Hamilcar's command the war into Italy which they carried there under Hannibal's leadership. Liv. 21.2.2Mors Hamilcaris peropportūna et pueritia Hannibalis distulērunt bellum.The very timely death of Hamilcar and the boyhood of Hannibal postponed the war. Liv. 21.2.3Medius Hasdrubal inter patrem ac fīlium octō ferme annōs imperium obtinuit, flōre aetātis, utī ferunt, prīmō Hamilcarī conciliātus, gener inde ob aliam indolem profectō animī adscītus et, quia gener erat, factiōnis Barcīnae opibus, quae apud mīlitēs plēbemque plūs quam modicae erant, haud sānē voluntāte prīncipum in imperiō positus.Between father and son, Hasdrubal held command for about eight years; by the first bloom of his youth, so they say, he had won Hamilcar's favour, then was taken on as his son-in-law for a different quality, namely of mind, and because he was son-in-law he was placed in command by the influence of the Barcine faction, which was more than moderate among the soldiers and the common people, though certainly not by the wish of the nobles.
Liv. 21.2.5Is plūra cōnsiliō quam vī gerēns hospitiīs magis rēgulōrum conciliandīsque per amīcitiam prīncipum novīs gentibus quam bellō aut armīs rem Carthāginiēnsem auxit.Conducting affairs more by policy than by force, he enlarged the Carthaginian state rather by forming ties of hospitality with petty kings and by winning over new peoples through the friendship of their chiefs than by war or arms. Liv. 21.2.5Cēterum nihilō eī pāx tūtior fuit: barbarus eum quīdam palam ob īram interfectī ab eō dominī obtruncāvit, conprēnsusque ab circumstantibus haud aliō, quam sī ēvāsisset, vultū, tormentīs quoque cum lacerārētur, eō fuit habitū ōris, ut superante laetitiā dolōrēs rīdentis etiam speciem praebuerit.Yet peace made him no safer: a certain barbarian, in anger because Hasdrubal had put his master to death, cut him down in public; and when seized by the bystanders he wore the same expression as if he had escaped, and even while he was being torn by tortures he kept such a look on his face that, his joy overcoming his pains, he even presented the appearance of a man smiling.
Liv. 21.2.7Cum hōc Hasdrubale, quia mīrae artis in sollicitandīs gentibus imperiōque suō iungendīs fuerat, foedus renovāverat populus Rōmānus, ut fīnis utrīusque imperiī esset amnis Hibērus Saguntīnīsque mediīs inter imperia duōrum populōrum lībertās servārētur.With this Hasdrubal, because he had shown remarkable skill in tempting nations and joining them to his empire, the Roman people had renewed the treaty, on the terms that the river Ebro should be the boundary of each empire and that the Saguntines, lying between the empires of the two peoples, should keep their freedom.