The Romans breathed easy at last but still, for the duration of the empire, the expression “Hannibal at the gates” was used to describe any hopeless position and struck fear into the hearts of the indomitable Roman legions. But that he won or lost was not so important, the point was that he was there. A mighty empire, thinking itself invulnerable, was brought to its knees. It would be far from the last time in history that Imperial might would suffer such embarrassment, but every time it happened, the name Hannibal would leap onto everyone’s lips. What it meant that no empire was safe, simply because it was an empire. Sooner or later, a Hannibal would come and knock them back into perspective. And the more invulnerable they thought they were, the more likely it was to happen.