“I swear that so soon as age will permit...I will use fire and steel to arrest the destiny of Rome.”
There came into my possession something called The First Book of Heroes. I don’t think there ever was a second or any other, but that didn’t matter. Marco Polo, Donald Campbell, Edmund Hilary, Christopher Columbus —the stories of all those guys with some excellent illustrations. And heading them up was the mightiest of all —Hannibal.
This guy really knocked me out. He took on the might of the Roman Empire and scared the living daylights out of them. Just the thought of the all-powerful trembling at the very mention of his name was enough. Admittedly, he was a mass murderer and terrorist who mercilessly wiped out thousands of innocent bystanders but that didn’t matter. He stood up to them when they thought no one could, and did it with plenty of style.
This book is very hard to find. Forget the internet where all the books on heroes concern the fictional variety, superheroes or bibical heroes (who are, of course, the same thing). No one seems interested anymore in actual heroes who actually did something worthwhile.
More images from the book follow in segments concerning Leif Ericson and Marco Polo. Something too wonderful to be lost forever.
Hannibal suffers similarly, in that most sites refer to Mr Lecter and the spin-off TV series, forgetting almost completely the origin of the name.