BOOK XXVIII.

_Successful operations against the Carthaginians in Spain,

under Silanus, Scipio's lieutenant, and L. Scipio, his

brother; of Sulpicius and Attalus, against Philip, king of

Macedonia. Scipio finally vanquishes the Carthaginians in

Spain, and reduces that whole country; passes over into

Africa, forms an alliance with Syphax, king of Numidia;

represses and punishes a mutiny of a part of his army;

concludes a treaty of friendship with Masinissa; returns to

Rome, and is elected consul; solicits Africa for his province,

which is opposed by Quintus Fabius Maximus; is appointed

governor of Sicily, with permission to pass over into Africa_.

1. At the time when Spain appeared to be relieved in proportion to the

degree in which the weight of the war was removed into Italy, by the

passage of Hasdrubal, another war sprang up there equal in magnitude

to the former. At this juncture, the Romans and Carthaginians thus

occupied Spain: Hasdrubal, son of Gisgo, had retired quite to the

ocean and Gades; the coast of our sea, and almost the whole of that

part of Spain which lies eastward, was subject to Scipio and the

Romans. The new general, Hanno, who had passed over from Africa, to

supply the place of the Barcine Hasdrubal, with a new army, and formed

a junction with Mago, having in a short time armed a large number

of men in Celtiberia, which lies in the midway between the two seas,

Scipio sent Marcus Silanus against him, with no more than ten thousand

infantry and five hundred horse. Silanus, by marching with all the

haste he could, (though the ruggedness of the roads, and narrow

defiles obstructed with thick woods, which are very frequent in Spain,

impeded him,) yet being guided by deserters from Celtiberia, natives

of that place, reached the enemy, anticipating not only messengers but

even all rumour of his coming. From the same source he ascertained,

when they were about ten thousand paces from the enemy, that they had

two camps, one on each side of the road in which they were marching;

that the Celtiberians, a newly-raised army, in number above nine

thousand, were on the left, and that the Carthaginian camp was

stationed on the right. The latter was secured and protected by

outposts, watches, and every kind of regular military guard, while the

former was disorderly and neglected, as belonging to barbarians, who

were raw soldiers, and were under the less apprehension, because they

were in their own country. Silanus, concluding that this was the camp

to be attacked first, ordered the troops to march as much as possible

towards the left, lest he should be observed from any point by the

Carthaginian outposts, and sending scouts in advance, pushed on

towards the enemy at a rapid pace.

2. He was now about three thousand paces from the enemy, when as yet

none of them had perceived him. The ground was covered with craggy

places, and hills overgrown with bushes. Here in a hollow valley, and

on that account unexposed to the view, he ordered his men to sit down

and take refreshment. In the mean time the scouts returned, confirming

the statements of the deserters. Then the Romans, collecting their

baggage in the centre, took arms, and marched to battle in regular

array. They were a thousand paces off when they were descried by

the enemy, when suddenly all began to be in a state of hurry and

confusion. At the first shout and tumult, Mago quitted the camp and

rode up at full speed. As there were in the Celtiberian army four

thousand targeteers and two hundred horsemen, this regular legion, as

it formed the flower of his troops, he stationed in the first line;

the rest, composed of light-armed, he posted in reserve. While he was

leading them out of the camp thus marshalled, the Romans discharged

their javelins at them before they had scarcely cleared the rampart.

The Spaniards stooped down to avoid the javelins thrown at them by

the enemy, and then rose up to discharge their own in turn; which the

Romans having received according to their custom in close array, with

their shields firmly united, they then engaged foot to foot, and began

to fight with their swords. But the ruggedness of the ground, while

it rendered ineffectual the agility of the Celtiberians who were

accustomed to a skirmishing kind of battle, was at the same time not

unfavourable to the Romans, who were accustomed to a steady kind of

fight, except that the narrow passes and the bushes, which grew here

and there, broke their ranks, and they were compelled to engage one

against one and two against two, as if matched together. The same

circumstance which obstructed the enemy's flight, delivered them

up, as it were, bound for slaughter. And now when almost all the

targeteers had been slain, the light-armed and the Carthaginians,

who had come up to their assistance from the other camp, having

been thrown into confusion, were put to the sword. Not more than two

thousand of the infantry, and all the cavalry, fled from the field

with Mago before the battle was well begun. The other general, Hanno,

was taken alive, together with those who came up when the battle was

now decided. Almost the whole of the cavalry and the veteran infantry,

following Mago in his flight, came to Hasdrubal on the tenth day in

the province of Gades. The newly-raised Celtiberian troops, stealing

off to the neighbouring woods, fled thence to their homes. By this

very seasonable victory, a stop was put to a war which was not by any

means so considerable as that to which it would have grown, had the

enemy been allowed, after having prevailed upon the Celtiberians to

join them, to solicit other nations also to take up arms. Scipio,

therefore, having liberally bestowed the highest commendations on

Silanus, and entertaining a hope that he might bring the war to a

termination, if he did not impede it by a want of activity on his own

part, proceeded into the remotest part of Spain against Hasdrubal. The

Carthaginian, who then happened to be encamped in Baetica, in order to

prevent his allies from wavering in their allegiance, retired quite to

the ocean and Gades, in a manner much more resembling a flight than a

march. He was afraid, however; that while he kept his forces together,

he should form the principal object of attack. Before he crossed the

strait to Gades he sent them into different cities, that they might

both provide for their own safety by the help of walls, and for that

of the town by their arms.

3. Scipio, seeing the enemy's forces thus distributed, and that to

carry about his forces to each of the several cities would be rather

tedious than important, marched his army back. Not to leave all that

country, however, to the Carthaginians, he sent his brother, Lucius

Scipio, at the head of ten thousand foot and one thousand horse,

to besiege the most important city of that quarter, called by the

barbarians Orinx, and situated on the borders of the Milesians, a

nation of Spain so called. The soil is fertile, and even silver is

dug out of it by the inhabitants. This place served as a fort to

Hasdrubal, from which he might make incursions on the inland states.

Scipio encamped near the city. Before he formed his lines round it, he

sent to the gates to sound the inclinations of the inhabitants, by a

direct interview, and persuade them to make trial of the friendship of

the Romans rather than of their power. As they answered nothing of a

friendly nature, he threw a double trench and rampart round the place,

dividing his army into three parts, in order that one division might

assault it while the other two rested. The first of these beginning

the attack, a furious and doubtful contest ensued. It was by no means

easy to approach and bring the ladders to the walls, on account of the

weapons which fell upon them; and even of those persons who had raised

them, some were thrown down with forks made for the purpose, others

were in danger of being laid hold of by iron grapples, and dragged

up hanging to the wall. Scipio, seeing that the contest was equalized

owing to the fewness of his party, and that the enemy, fighting from

the wall, were superior to him, called off the first division and

attacked them with the two others together. This so terrified the

besieged, who were already fatigued with fighting with the former,

that not only the townsmen forsook the walls in sudden flight, but the

Carthaginian garrison, fearing that the town had been betrayed, also

quitted their posts and collected themselves into a body. Upon this

the inhabitants began to be alarmed, lest if the enemy broke into the

town they should kill all they met indiscriminately, Carthaginian or

Spaniard. They therefore suddenly threw open the gates and rushed

out of the town, holding their shields before them, lest any weapons

should be cast at them from a distance, and stretching out to view

their bare right hands, that it might be seen they had thrown away

their swords. Whether this was not observed, in consequence of the

distance, or whether some deception was suspected, is not known; but

an attack was made on the deserters, and they were put to death as a

hostile force. Through this gate the enemy marched into the city in

battle-array. The other gates were cut through and broken down with

axes and sledges; and as each horseman entered, he galloped off to

seize the forum, as had been ordered. A body of veteran troops were

also added to the horse to support them. The legionary troops spread

themselves in every part of the city, but neither killed nor

plundered any, except such as defended themselves with arms. All the

Carthaginians were put under guard, with more than three hundred of

the inhabitants, who had shut the gates. The rest had the town put

into their hands, and their property restored. About two thousand of

the enemy fell in the assault on this city, and not more than ninety

of the Romans.

4. As the taking of this town was a source of great joy to those who

effected it, as well as to the general and the rest of the army, so

their approach to their camp also presented a splendid spectacle,

on account of the immense crowd of captives they drove before

them. Scipio, having bestowed high commendations upon his brother,

representing the capture of Orinx as equal in importance to the

capture of Carthage by himself, led his forces back into hither

Spain. He could not make an attempt on Gades, or pursue the army

of Hasdrubal, now dispersed through all parts of the province, in

consequence of the approach of winter. He therefore dismissed the

legions into winter quarters, and sent his brother Lucius Scipio with

Hanno, the enemy's general, and other distinguished prisoners, to

Rome, while he retired himself to Tarraco. During the same year, the

Roman fleet under Marcus Valerius Laevinus, the proconsul, sailing

over from Sicily into Africa, devastated to a wide extent the fields

about Utica and Carthage. They carried off plunder from the remotest

borders of the Carthaginian territory around the very walls of Utica.

On their return to Sicily they were met by a Carthaginian fleet of

seventy ships of war, of which seventeen were taken and four sunk; the

rest were dispersed and compelled to fly. The Romans, victorious both

by land and sea, returned to Lilybaeum with immense booty of every

kind. The ships of the enemy having thus been driven from the whole

sea, large supplies of corn were conveyed to Rome.

5. In the beginning of the summer in which these events occurred,

Publius Sulpicius, proconsul, and king Attalus, having passed the

winter at Aegina, as before observed, united their fleets, consisting

of twenty-three Roman quinqueremes and thirty-five belonging to the

king, and proceeded to Lemnos. Philip also, that he might be prepared

for every kind of measure, whether it should be necessary to meet

the enemy on land or sea, came down to the coast of Demetrias and

appointed to his army a day on which to meet him at Larissa. On

the news of the king's arrival, ambassadors from his allies came to

Demetrias from all sides. For the Aetolians, inspirited both by

their alliance with the Romans and the approach of king Attalus, were

ravaging the neighbouring states; not only the Acarnanians, Boeotians,

and Euboeans were very much alarmed, but the Achaeans also were

kept in a state of terror, both by the hostile proceedings of the

Aetolians, and also by Machanidas, tyrant of Lacedaemon, who had

encamped at a short distance from the borders of the Argives. All of

these stating the dangers which threatened their possessions, both

by land and sea, entreated succour from the king. Philip received

accounts even from his own kingdom, that things were not in a state of

tranquillity; that both Scerdilaedus and Pleuratus were in motion,

and that some of the Thracians, and particularly the Maedians, would

certainly make incursions on the contiguous provinces of Macedonia,

should the king be occupied with a distant war. The Boeotians, indeed,

and the people inhabiting the inland parts of Greece, told him that

the Aetolians had obstructed by a ditch and rampart the straits of

Thermopylae, where the road is very narrow and confined, in order to

prevent their passing to the assistance of the allied states. So

many disturbances arising on all hands were sufficient to awaken an

inactive general. He dismissed the ambassadors, promising to assist

them all according as opportunity and circumstances allowed. For the

present, he sent to Peparethus a body of troops to garrison the

city, for this was the most urgent business, as information had been

received thence that Attalus, crossing over to Lemnos, was devastating

all the neighbouring country. He sent Polyphantas with a small

detachment to Boeotia, and also Menippus, one of his guards, with one

thousand targeteers (the target is not unlike the ordinary buckler)

to Chalcis. Five hundred Agrianians were added, that every part of the

island might be secured. He went himself to Scotussa, and ordered the

Macedonian soldiers to be removed thither from Larissa. Here he heard

that the Aetolians had been summoned to an assembly at Heraclea, and

that king Attalus was to come and advise with them as to the conduct

of the war. Determining to interrupt this meeting by his sudden

approach, he led his troops by forced marches to Heraclea, where he

arrived just after the assembly had broken up. However, he destroyed

the crops, which were nearly ripe, particularly those round the Aenian

bay. He then marched back to Scotussa, and leaving there the main

army, retired to Demetrias with the royal guards. In order to be

prepared against every attempt of the enemy, he sent persons hence to

Phocis, Euboea, and Peparethus, to select elevated situations, from

which fires lighted upon them might be seen from a distance. He fixed

a watch-tower on Tisaeum, a mountain whose summit is prodigiously

high, in order that when the enemy made any attempt he might instantly

receive intimation of it by means of fires lighted up at a distance.

The Roman general and king Attalus then passed over from Peparethus to

Nicaea, and thence sailed to Orcus, the first city of Euboea, on

the left as you proceed to Chalcis and the Euripus from the bay of

Demetrias. It was agreed upon between Attalus and Sulpicius, that the

Romans should attack the town on the side next the sea, and the king's

forces on the land side.

6. Four days after the fleet arrived, they attacked the city. That

time had been employed in private conferences with Plator, whom

Philip had put in command of the place. The city has two citadels,

one overhanging the coasts, the other in the middle of the town, from

which there is a subterraneous passage to the ocean, whose entrance

next the sea is defended by a strong fortification, a tower five

stories high. Here the affair commenced with a most furious contest,

the tower being furnished with all kinds of weapons, and engines and

machines of every kind for the purpose of the assault having been

landed from the ships. While the eyes and attention of all were turned

to that quarter, Plator opened one of the gates and received the

Romans into the citadel next the sea, which they instantly became

masters of. The inhabitants, driven thence, fled to the other citadel

in the middle of the city; but there had been troops posted there to

shut the gates against them; so that, being thus excluded, they

were surrounded and either slain or made prisoners. Meanwhile the

Macedonian garrison stood under the wall of the citadel, formed into a

compact body, neither confusedly attempting a retreat, nor obstinately

engaging in a contest. These men Plator, after obtaining permission

from Sulpicius, put on board ships and landed them at Demetrias in

Phthiotis; he himself withdrew to Attalus. Sulpicius, elated with the

success at Oreum, gained with so much ease, proceeded to Chalcis

with his victorious fleet, where the issue by no means answered

his expectations. The sea, which is wide on both sides, being here

contracted into a narrow strait, might perhaps, at first view,

exhibit the appearance of two harbours facing the two entrances of the

Euripus. It would be difficult to find a station more dangerous for

shipping; for not only do the winds come down with great violence from

the high mountains on each side, but the strait itself of the Euripus

does not ebb and flow seven times a day at stated times, as is

reported, but the current changing irregularly, like the wind, now

this way now that, is hurried along like a torrent rolling headlong

down a steep mountain, so that no quiet is given to vessels there day

or night. But not only did so perilous a station receive his ships,

but the town was strong and impregnable, covered on one side by the

sea, and very well fortified on the other towards the land, secured by

a strong garrison, and above all, by the fidelity of the praefects and

principal men, which was wavering and unsettled at Oreum. Though

the business had been rashly undertaken, the Roman still acted with

prudence, in so far as he speedily gave up the attempt, after he had

seen all the difficulties which surrounded him, that he might not

waste time, and passed his fleet over from thence to Cynus in Locris,

the port of the town of Opus, which is one mile distant from the sea.

7. Philip had received notice of this from Oreum, by the signal

fires; but through the treachery of Plator they were raised from the

watch-tower at a later period. As he was not a match for the enemy's

forces at sea, it was difficult for him to approach the island; and

thus, by delay, the opportunity was lost. He moved with promptness

to the assistance of Chalcis as soon as he received the signal. For

although Chalcis is a city of the same island, yet it is separated

from the continent by so narrow a strait, that they communicate by

means of a bridge, and the approach to it is easier by land than by

water. Philip therefore, going from Demetrias to Scotussa, and setting

out thence at the third watch, dislodged the guard, put to flight the

Aetolians who kept the pass of Thermopylae, and drove the enemy in

confusion to Heraclea, marching in one day to Elatia in Phocis, a

distance of above sixty miles. Almost on the same day the town of Opus

was taken and plundered by Attalus. Sulpicius had given it up to the

king because Oreum had been plundered a few days before by the Roman

soldiers, the royal soldiers not having shared the booty. The Roman

fleet having retired thither, Attalus, who was not aware of Philip's

approach, wasted time in levying contributions from the principal

inhabitants, and so sudden was his coming, that had he not been

descried by some Cretans, who happened to go farther from the town

than usual in quest of forage, he might have been surprised. He fled

hastily to the sea and his ships, without arms, and in the greatest

disorder. Just as they were putting off from the land Philip arrived,

and even from the shore created much alarm among the mariners. He

returned thence to Opus, accusing both gods and men, because he had

lost an opportunity of so great importance, almost snatched from his

hands. He also reproached the Opuntians with the like anger, because

they had, immediately on sight of the enemy, made almost a voluntary

surrender, though they might have prolonged the siege till his

arrival. Having settled affairs at Opus, he proceeded thence to

Thronium. Attalus, too, at first retired from Oreum; but there

receiving intelligence that Prusias, king of Bithynia, had invaded his

kingdom, he withdrew his attention from the Romans and the Aetolian

war, and passed over into Asia. Sulpicius also withdrew his fleet to

Aegina, from whence he had set out in the beginning of spring. Philip

took Thronium with as little difficulty as Attalus had at Opus. It was

inhabited by foreigners, fugitives from Thebes in Phthiotis, who, on

the capture of their own town by Philip, had fled to the protection of

the Aetolians, and received from them a city as a settlement which

had been laid waste and desolated in a former war by the same Philip.

Having recovered Thronium, as has been a little before mentioned, he

set out thence; and having taken Tritonos and Drymae, inconsiderable

towns of Doris, he came thence to Elatia, where he had ordered

the ambassadors of Ptolemy and the Rhodians to wait for him. While

consulting there as to the best method of bringing the Aetolian war to

a conclusion, (for these ambassadors attended the late council of

the Romans and Aetolians at Heraclea,) intelligence is brought that

Machanidas intended to attack the Elians while busied in preparing for

the celebration of the Olympic games. Thinking it his duty to prevent

such an attempt, he dismissed the ambassadors with a gracious answer

to the effect, that he had neither caused the war, nor would he be

any obstacle to the restoration of peace, if it should be possible on

equitable and honourable terms; then marching quickly through Boeotia

he came down from Megara, and thence to Corinth, where receiving

supplies of provisions, he went to Phlius and Pheneus. And now, when

he had proceeded as far as Heraea, having received intelligence that

Machanidas, terrified at the news of his approach, had retreated

to Lacedaemon, he betook himself to Aegium, where the Achaeans were

assembled in council, expecting at the same time to meet there a

Carthaginian fleet, which he had sent for, in order that he might

accomplish something by sea. But the Carthaginians had left a few days

before, and were gone to the Oxean islands; and thence, hearing

that the Romans and Attalus had left Oreum, to the harbours of the

Acarnanians, for they feared that it was intended to attack them,

and that they would be overpowered while within the straits of Rhium,

which is the name of the entrance of the Corinthian bay.

8. Philip was grieved and vexed when he reflected, that though he

proceeded with the utmost speed on all occasions, yet he had not

come up in time to accomplish any one object, and that fortune had

frustrated his activity by snatching away every advantage from

before his eyes. In the assembly, however, concealing his chagrin, he

discoursed with elated spirits, calling gods and men to witness, that

"he had never been wanting at any time or place, so as not to repair

instantly wherever the enemy's arms resounded, but that it was

difficult to calculate whether the war was carried on more boldly by

him or more pusillanimously by the enemy. Such was the manner in

which Attalus had slipped out of his hands from Opus; Sulpicius from

Chalcis; and so, within these few days, Machanidas. That flight,

however, was not always successful; and that that should not be

esteemed a difficult war in which victory would be certain if the

enemy could be brought to a regular engagement. He had already

obtained one very great advantage, which was a confession on the part

of the enemy themselves, that they were not a match for him; and in a

short time," he said, "he would be in possession of undoubted victory;

for that he would engage with him with a result no better than

their expectations." The allies listened to the king with great

satisfaction. He then gave up to the Achaeans Heraera and Triphylia.

Aliphera he restored to the Megalopolitans, they having brought

satisfactory proof that it belonged to their territories. Then having

received some ships from the Achaeans, three quadriremes and three

biremes, he sailed to Anticyra, whence with seven quinqueremes and

more than twenty barks, which he had sent to the bay of Corinth to

join the Carthaginian fleet, he proceeded to Erythrae, a town of

the Aetolians near Eupalium, where he made a descent. He was not

unobserved by the Aetolians; for all who were either in the fields

or in the neighbouring forts of Potidania and Apollonia, fled to the

woods and mountains. The cattle which they could not drive off in

their haste they seized and put on board. He sent Nicias, praetor of

the Achaeans, to Aegium with these and the other booty; and then going

to Corinth, ordered his army to march by land through Boeotia, while

he himself, sailing from Cenchreae along the coast of Attica, round

the promontory of Sunium, reached Chalcis, having passed almost

through the midst of the enemy's fleet. After commending in the

highest terms their fidelity and bravery, as neither fear nor hope

had influenced their minds, and after exhorting them to show the same

fidelity in maintaining the alliance, he sailed to Oreum; and having

placed such of the chief inhabitants as chose to fly, rather than

surrender to the Romans, in the command of the city and the direction

of affairs, he sailed over from Euboea to Demetrias, from which place

he at first set out to succour his allies. After this, having laid the

keels of one hundred ships of war at Cassandrea, and collected a large

number of ship carpenters for the completion of that business, and

as both the departure of Attalus and the seasonable assistance he had

brought to his allies had tranquillized affairs in Greece, he retired

into his own dominions, in order to make war upon the Dardanians.

9. Just at the close of the summer during which these operations were

carried on in Greece, when Quintus Fabius, son of Maximus, ambassador

from Marcus Livius the consul, brought a message to Rome to the

senate, to the effect, that the consul considered that Lucius Portius

with his legions formed a sufficient protection for the province, that

he might himself retire thence, and that the consular army might be

withdrawn, the fathers directed that not only Livius should return to

the city, but also his colleague, Caius Claudius. The only difference

made between them in the decree was, that they ordered the army of

Marcus Livius to be led back, and the legions of Nero to remain

in their province opposed to Hannibal. The consuls agreed between

themselves by letter, that as they had conducted the affairs of the

commonwealth with unanimity, they should arrive at the city at the

same time, though they came from different quarters. He who arrived

first at Praeneste was enjoined to wait there for his colleague. It so

happened that they both came to Praeneste on the same day, and thence,

sending a proclamation before them, directing that there should be

a full attendance of the senate at the temple of Bellona, three days

after, they came up to the city, when they were met by the whole body

of the inhabitants. Not only did the whole body pour around them

and salute them, but each person individually, desiring to touch the

victorious right hands of the consuls, some congratulated them, while

others thanked them because by their services the state had been

preserved. In the senate, when, having made a recital of their

services according to the custom observed by all generals, they had

requested, that "in consideration of the brave and successful conduct

of the affairs of the commonwealth, honours should be paid to the

immortal gods, and they themselves enter the city in triumph;" the

fathers replied, that "they most willingly decreed those things which

they requested in gratitude to the gods in the first instance, and,

next to them, to the consuls." A supplication in the name of both,

and a triumph to both of them, having been decreed, lest after having

carried on the war with entire unanimity they should have a separate

triumph, they made the following agreement; that "since both the

service had been performed in the province of Marcus Livius, and he

was in possession of the command on the day on which the battle was

fought, and further, that as the army of Livius had been withdrawn

and had come to Rome, while Nero's could not be withdrawn from the

province, Marcus Livius should enter the city in a four-horse chariot

and followed by the soldiers; Caius Claudius on horseback without

soldiers." This plan of associating the generals in the triumph

increased the glory of both, but particularly of him who had yielded

to his colleague in the honours he received, as much as he surpassed

him in merit. The people said, that "the general on horseback had

traversed the whole length of Italy in the space of six days, and had

fought a pitched battle with Hasdrubal in Gaul, on the very day on

which Hannibal supposed that he was occupying a camp pitched in Apulia

to oppose him. That thus one consul, acting in defence of either

extremity of Italy against two leaders, had opposed against one his

skill, against the other his person. That the name of Nero had been

sufficient to confine Hannibal within his camp, while with regard

to Hasdrubal, by what, but his arrival, had he been overwhelmed and

annihilated? The other consul might move along raised aloft in a

chariot, drawn if he pleased by a number of horses, but that the real

triumph was his who was conveyed by one horse; and that Nero, though

he should go on foot, would be immortalized, whether on account of the

glory he had acquired in the war, or the contempt he had shown for it

in the triumph." Such continual expressions of the spectators attended

Nero all the way to the Capitol. The money they brought into the

treasury was three hundred thousand sesterces, with eighty thousand

asses of brass. Marcus Livius distributed among the soldiers fifty-six

asses each. Caius Claudius promised the same sum to his absent troops

when he returned to the army. It was observed that more verses were

written by the soldiery upon Caius Claudius in their jocular style,

than upon their own consul; that the horsemen highly extolled Lucius

Veturius and Quintus Caecilius, lieutenant-generals, and exhorted the

commons to create them consuls for the ensuing year; that the consuls

added their authority to the recommendation of the knights, relating

in the public assembly the following day with what courage and

fidelity their two lieutenant-generals in particular had served them.

10. When the time for the elections approached, and it was resolved

that it should be held by a dictator, the consul Caius Claudius

nominated as dictator his colleague Marcus Livius, who appointed

Quintus Caecilius his master of the horse. Lucius Veturius and Quintus

Caecilius were created consuls by Marcus Livius the dictator, the

latter being then master of the horse. After this the election of

praetors was held. The persons appointed were, Caius Servilius, Marcus

Caecilius Metellus, Titus Claudius Asellus, and Quintus Mamilius

Turinus, who was at that time plebeian aedile. When the elections were

finished, the dictator, having abdicated his office and dismissed his

army, set out for his province of Etruria, according to a decree of

the senate, to make inquiry what states of the Tuscans and Umbrians

had formed schemes of revolt from the Romans to Hasdrubal at the time

of his approach, and what states had assisted him with auxiliaries,

provisions, or succours of any kind. Such were the transactions this

year at home and abroad. The Roman games were thrice repeated in full

by the curule aediles, Cneius Servilius Caepio and Servius Cornelius

Lentulus. In the same manner the plebeian games also were once

repeated entire by the plebeian aediles, Manius Pomponius Matho and

Quintus Mamilius Thurinus.

In the thirteenth year of the Punic war, when Lucius Veturius Philo

and Quintus Caecilius Metellus were consuls, Bruttium was assigned to

both of them, as their province, to carry on the war with Hannibal.

The praetors then cast lots for their provinces: Marcus Caecilius

Metellus had the city jurisdiction; Quintus Mamilius, the foreign;

Caius Servilius, Sicily; Tiberius Claudius, Sardinia. The armies were

distributed thus: to one of the consuls was given the army which

Caius Claudius the consul of the former year, to the other that which

Quintus Claudius the propraetor, had commanded, consisting of two

legions each. It was decreed that Marcus Livius, proconsul, who was

continued in command for the year, should take the two legions of

volunteer slaves from Caius Terentius the propraetor, and that Quintus

Mamilius, transferring his judicial business to his colleague, should

occupy Gaul with the army which Lucius Porcius, the praetor, had

commanded, with orders to lay waste the lands of those Gauls who

had revolted to the Carthaginians on the approach of Hasdrubal. The

protection of Sicily was assigned to Caius Servilius with the two

legions which fought at Cannae, in the same manner as Caius Mamilius

had held it. The old army which Aulus Hostilius had commanded was

conveyed out of Sardinia, and the consuls enlisted a new legion, which

Tiberius Claudius might take over with him. Quintus Claudius and

Caius Hostilius Tubulus were continued in command for a year, that the

former might hold Tarentum as his province, the latter, Capua. Marcus

Valerius, the proconsul, to whom had been committed the protection

of the sea-coast round Sicily, was ordered to deliver thirty ships

to Caius Servilius, and return to the city with all the rest of the

fleet.

11. In a state where the greatest anxiety prevailed, in consequence

of the very critical situation in which the war stood, and where all

events, prosperous or adverse, were attributed to the interposition of

the gods, accounts of many prodigies were received; that the temple of

Jupiter at Tarracina, and that of Mater Matuta at Satricum, had been

struck by lightning. The people of Satricum were no less terrified

by two snakes gliding into the temple of Jupiter by the very doors. A

report was brought from Antium, that bloody ears of corn had been seen

by the reapers. At Caere a pig with two heads had been littered, and

a lamb yeaned which was both male and female. Intelligence was brought

that two suns had been seen at Alba, and that light had suddenly

appeared during night at Fregellae. An ox was reported to have spoken

in the Roman territory. A copious perspiration was said to have exuded

from the altar of Neptune, in the Flaminian circus; and the temples

of Ceres, Safety, and Quirinus were said to have been struck by

lightning. The consuls were directed to expiate these prodigies with

victims of the larger sort, and to make a supplication for one day.

These things were executed according to a decree of the senate. The

extinction of the fire in the temple of Vesta struck more terror

upon the minds of men than all the prodigies which were reported from

abroad, or seen at home; and the vestal, who had the guarding of it

for that night, was scourged by the command of Publius Licinius

the pontiff. Although this event was not appointed by the gods as a

portent, but had happened through human neglect, yet it was thought

proper that it should be expiated with victims of the larger sort, and

that a supplication should be made at the temple of Vesta.

Before the consuls set out for the campaign, they were cautioned by

the senate to take care that the common people should be brought back

into the country; for since, through the goodness of the gods, the

war was removed from the city of Rome and Latium, the country might

be inhabited without fear. That it was most inconsistent that greater

care should be taken in cultivating Sicily than Italy. But it was a

matter by no means easy for the people, the free labourers having been

cut off by war, and there being a scarcity of slaves, their cattle

having been carried off as booty, and the farmhouses pulled down or

burnt. A large number, however, compelled by the authority of the

consuls, returned into the country. The mention of this affair

had been occasioned by ambassadors of Placentia and Cremona, who

complained that their lands were being invaded and laid waste by

the neighbouring Gauls; that a large portion of their settlers had

dispersed; that their cities were thinly inhabited, and their lands

devastated and deserted. Mamilius the praetor was charged with the

protection of the colonies from the enemy. The consuls, in conformity

with a decree of the senate, issued an edict that all who were

citizens of Cremona and Placentia should return to those colonies

before a certain day; after which, in the beginning of spring, they

set out for the campaign. Quintus Caecilius, the consul, received

the army from Caius Nero; Lucius Veturius received his from Quintus

Claudius the propraetor, filling it up with new-raised soldiers,

whom he had himself enlisted. The consuls marched their army into the

territory of Consentia, and devastating the country on all hands,

when the troops were loaded with plunder, they were thrown into such

confusion by some Bruttians and Numidian spearmen, who attacked them

in a narrow defile, that not only the booty but the troops were

in danger. There was more of confusion, however than fighting; and

sending the booty in advance, the legions themselves also escaped into

a place free from danger. Proceeding thence into Lucania, the whole of

that people returned, without a contest, into subjection to the Roman

people.

12. No action with Hannibal took place this year; for neither did he

present himself after the public and personal calamity so recently

inflicted, and the Romans did not provoke him while he remained quiet,

such power did they consider that single general possessed, though

every thing else around him was falling into ruin. Indeed I know not

whether he was not more deserving of admiration in adversity than in

prosperity; inasmuch as though he carried on a war in the territory

of enemies through a period of thirteen years, at so great a distance

from home, with varying success, and with, an army not composed of his

own countrymen, but made up of the offscouring of all nations,

without communion of laws, customs, or language, different in their

appearance, their dress, their arms, their religious ceremonies and

observances, and I had almost said, their gods; yet he so effectually

united them by some one bond, that no disturbance ever arose either

among the soldiers themselves, or between them and their general,

though he often wanted money to pay them, and provisions, as being

in a hostile country, through want of which, in the former Punic war,

many dreadful transactions had occurred between the generals and their

soldiers. But after the destruction of Hasdrubal and his army, in

which all hopes of victory had been treasured up; and after retiring

from the possession of every other part of Italy by withdrawing into

Bruttium, one corner of it; to whom does it not appear wonderful that

no disturbance arose in the camp? For to other circumstances this also

was added, that he had no nope of subsisting his army, except from the

lands of Bruttium, which, though they were all cultivated, would be

very insufficient for the maintenance of so large an army. Besides,

many of the youth were drawn off from the cultivation of the fields,

and engaged in the war; and a custom also prevailed among the people

of that nation, grafted on a naturally depraved inclination, of

carrying on a predatory kind of warfare. Nor did he receive any

supplies from home, where they were anxious about the retention of

Spain, as if every thing was going on prosperously in Italy. In Spain

the state of affairs was in one respect similar, but in another widely

different; similar in that the Carthaginians, having been defeated

with the loss of their general, had been driven to the remotest coast

of that country, even to the ocean; but different, because Spain, both

from the nature of the country and the genius of its inhabitants, was

better adapted not only than Italy, but than any other part of the

world, for renewing a war. And accordingly, therefore, though this was

the first of the provinces on the continent which the Romans entered,

it was the last which was at length reduced, in the present age, under

the conduct and auspices of Augustus Caesar. Here Hasdrubal, son of

Gisgo, the greatest and most renowned general concerned in the war,

next to the Barcine family, returning from Gades, and encouraged in

his hopes of reviving the war by Mago, son of Hamilcar, by means

of levies made throughout the Farther Spain, armed as many as fifty

thousand foot and four thousand five hundred horse. With regard to

his mounted force, authors are pretty much agreed, but some state that

seventy thousand infantry were led to the city Silpia. Here the two

Carthaginian generals sat down on open plains, with a determination

not to avoid a battle.

13. When Scipio received an account of the collection of so large an

army, he felt convinced that he would not be a match for so great a

multitude with the Roman legions only, without making a show at least

of the auxiliary troops of the barbarians; at the same time that he

did not think it right that they should form so large a portion of

his force as to occasion important consequences if they should

change sides, which had brought ruin upon his father and his uncle.

Therefore, sending forward Silanus to Colca, who was sovereign of

twenty-eight towns, to receive from him the infantry and cavalry,

which he promised to enlist during the winter, he himself set out from

Tarraco; and collecting small bodies of auxiliaries from his allies,

who lay near his road as he proceeded, he came to Castulo. To this

place Silanus led the auxiliaries, consisting of three thousand

infantry and five hundred horse. Thence he advanced to the city of

Baecula, with his entire army of countrymen and allies, foot and

horse, amounting to forty-five thousand. Mago and Masinissa attacked

them with the whole body of their cavalry while forming their camp,

and would have dispersed those engaged in the works, had not a party

of horse, concealed by Scipio behind an eminence conveniently situated

for the purpose, unexpectedly charged them when rushing on to the

attack, and, ere the battle was well begun, routed all the most

forward, both those who had advanced nearest the rampart, and those

who were foremost in charging the very workmen. With the rest of the

troops who came up with their standards, and in order of march, the

contest lasted longer, and was for a considerable time doubtful. But

when first the light cohorts from the outposts, and then the troops

withdrawn from the works and ordered to take arms, came up, being more

numerous than those which had been engaged, and fresh while they were

fatigued, and now a large body of armed troops rushed from the camp

to the battle, the Carthaginians and Numidians at once turned their

backs. At first they moved off in troops without breaking their ranks,

through fear or precipitation; but afterwards, when the Romans pressed

furiously upon their rear, and they were unable to bear the violence

of their attack, then at length, utterly regardless of order,

they fled precipitately in every direction, as suited each man's

convenience. And although, in consequence of this battle, the spirits

of the Romans were considerably raised, and those of the enemy

depressed, yet, for several days following, the horsemen and

light-armed troops never ceased from skirmishes.

14. After having made sufficient trial of their strength in these

slight engagements, Hasdrubal first led out his forces for battle,

and then the Romans also advanced. But both the armies stood drawn up

before their ramparts; and as neither party began the attack, and the

sun was now going down, the Carthaginian first, and then the Roman,

led back his troops into the camp. The same occurred for several days.

The Carthaginian was always the first to lead out his troops into the

field, and the first to give the signal for retiring, when they were

weary with standing. Neither party sallied from their posts, nor was a

weapon discharged, or a word uttered. On one side the Romans occupied

the centre, on the other, the Carthaginians and Africans together; the

allies occupied the wings, which were composed of Spaniards on

both sides. The elephants which stood before the Carthaginian line,

appeared at a distance like castles. It was now commonly talked of in

both camps, that they would fight in the order in which they had

stood when drawn up, and that their centres, composed of Romans and

Carthaginians, who were the principals in the war, would engage with

equal courage and strength. When Scipio perceived that this was firmly

believed, he studiously altered all his arrangements against the day

on which he intended to fight. He issued orders through the camp at

evening, that the men and horses should be refreshed and fed before

daylight, and that the horsemen, armed themselves, should keep their

horses bridled and saddled. When it was scarcely yet daylight, he

sent all his cavalry, with the light troops, against the Carthaginian

outposts, and then without delay advanced himself, at the head of the

heavy body of the legions, having strengthened his wings with Roman

soldiers, and placed the allies in the centre, contrary to the full

anticipations of his own men and of the enemy. Hasdrubal, alarmed by

the shout of the cavalry, sprang out of his tent, and, perceiving a

tumult before the rampart, and his own troops in a state of hurry and

confusion, the standards of the legions gleaming at a distance, and

the plain filled with the enemy, immediately sent out the whole body

of his cavalry against the horsemen of the enemy; marching himself

out of the camp, at the head of the infantry, without departing at all

from the usual arrangement in forming his line. The battle between the

cavalry had continued for a long time doubtful; nor could they decide

it themselves, because, when repulsed, which was the case in a manner

alternately, they had a safe retreat upon the line of infantry. But

when the armies were not more than five hundred paces distant from

each other, Scipio, sounding a retreat and opening his files, received

into the midst of them the whole body of his cavalry and light-armed

troops; and dividing them into two parts, placed them in reserve

behind the wings. After this, when it was now time to commence the

battle, he ordered the Spaniards, who formed the centre, to advance at

a slow pace; he himself sent a messenger from the right wing, for that

he commanded, to Silanus and Marcius to extend the wing on the left in

the same manner as they should see him extend that on the right, and

engage the enemy with the light-armed of the horse and foot, before

the two centres could meet. The wings being thus extended, they

advanced against the enemy at a rapid pace, with three cohorts

of infantry, and three troops of horse, each with the addition of

skirmishers, the rest following them in an oblique line. There was a

depression in the centre of the line, because the battalions of the

Spaniards advanced slower than the rest, and the wings had already

encountered the enemy, when the veteran Carthaginians and Africans had

not yet come within distance to discharge their darts; nor dared they

run in different directions to the wings to assist them when fighting,

lest they should expose their centre to the enemy approaching over

against them. The wings were hard pressed, by a twofold attack; the

cavalry, the light-armed, and the skirmishers, wheeling round, charged

their flanks, while the cohorts pressed them hard in front, in order

to separate the wings from the rest of the line.

15. The battle was now extremely unequal in every part, both because

an irregular band of Balearians and raw Spaniards were opposed to

Roman and Latin soldiers, and further, because, as the day was now

getting on, Hasdrubal's troops began to grow languid, having been

dispirited by the alarm in the morning, and compelled to go out

hastily into the field, without refreshing themselves with food.

Scipio had designedly spun out the day, in order that the battle might

take place at a late hour; for it was not until the seventh hour that

the battalions of infantry charged the wings. It was considerably

later before the battle reached the centres, so that the heat from the

meridian sun, and the fatigue of standing under arms, together with

hunger and thirst, enfeebled their bodies before they engaged the

enemy. Thus they stood still, supporting themselves upon their

shields. In addition to their other misfortunes, the elephants

too, terrified at the tumultuous kind of attack of the cavalry, the

skirmishers, and the light-armed, had transferred themselves from the

wings to the centre. Fatigued therefore in mind and body, they gave

ground, preserving their ranks, however, just as though the army

were retreating entire at the command of their general. But when the

victors, perceiving that the enemy had given way, charged them on all

sides with increased vehemence on that very account, so that the shock

could hardly be sustained, though Hasdrubal endeavoured to stop them

and hinder them from retiring, vociferating, "that there were hills

on their rear, and a safe refuge if they would retreat without

precipitation;" yet, fear getting the better of their sense of shame,

and all those who were nearest the enemy giving way, they immediately

turned their backs, and all gave themselves up to disorderly flight.

The first place they halted at was the foot of the hills, where

they endeavoured to recall the soldiers to their ranks, the

Romans hesitating to advance their line up the opposite steep; but

afterwards, when they saw them push on briskly, renewing their flight,

they were driven into their camp in extreme alarm. Nor were the Romans

far from the rampart; and such was their impetuosity, that they would

have taken their camp had not so violent a shower of rain suddenly

poured down, while, as is usually the case, the solar rays darted with

the greatest intensity between the clouds surcharged with water, that

the victors with difficulty returned to their camp. Some were even

deterred, by superstition, from making any further attempts that day.

Though night and the rain invited the Carthaginians to take necessary

rest, yet, as their fears and the danger would not allow them to

delay, as it was expected that the enemy would assault their camp as

soon as it was light, they raised their rampart by stones collected

from the neighbouring valleys around them on all sides, with the

determination to defend themselves by works, since there was but

little protection in their arms. But the desertion of their allies

made it appear safer to fly than stay. Attanes, prince of the

Turdetani, began this revolt; he deserted at the head of a numerous

band of his countrymen. Then two fortified towns, together with their

garrisons, were delivered up by their praefects to the Romans. And,

lest the evil should spread more widely, now that the disposition

to revolt from the Carthaginians had evinced itself in one instance,

Hasdrubal decamped during the silence of the ensuing night.

16. The troops in the outposts having brought word, as soon as it was

light, that the enemy had departed, Scipio, despatching his cavalry

in advance, ordered the army to move forward; and so rapidly were they

led, that had they directly followed the track of the fugitives, they

would certainly have overtaken them; but they trusted to the report of

their guides, that there was a shorter cut to the river Baetis, where

they might attack them while crossing it. Hasdrubal, being precluded

from passing the river, turned his course to the ocean; and they now

advanced in disorder and in the manner of fugitives, so that the Roman

legions were left considerably behind. The cavalry and light-armed,

attacking sometimes their rear, and sometimes their flank, harassed

and delayed them; and as they were obliged to halt, in consequence of

these frequent annoyances, and engaged sometimes the cavalry, at other

times the skirmishers and the auxiliary infantry, the legions came up.

After this it was no longer a fight, but a butchering as of cattle,

till the general himself, who was the first to run away, made his

escape to the neighbouring hills with about six thousand men half

armed; the rest were slain or made prisoners. The Carthaginians

hastily fortified an irregular camp on the highest eminence, and from

thence they defended themselves without difficulty, the enemy failing

in his attempt to get at them, from the difficulty of the ascent. But

a siege in a place bare and affording no means of subsistence, was

hardly to be supported, even for a few days; the troops therefore

deserted to the enemy. At last the general himself, having procured

some ships, for the sea was not at a great distance, left his army by

night and effected his escape to Gades. Scipio, having heard of the

flight of the general of the enemy, left ten thousand foot and one

thousand cavalry for Silanus to carry on the siege of the camp, and

returned to Tarraco with the rest of the troops, after a march of

seventy days, during which he took cognizance of the causes of the

petty princes and states, in order that rewards might be conferred

according to a just estimate of their merits. After his departure,

Masinissa, having held a private conference with Silanus, passed

over into Africa with a few of his countrymen, in order that he might

induce his nation also to acquiesce in his new designs. The cause of

this sudden change was not so evident at the time, as the proof was

convincing which was afforded by his subsequent fidelity, preserved

to extreme old age, that he did not on this occasion act without

reasonable grounds. Mago went to Gades in the ships which had been

sent back by Hasdrubal. Of the rest of the troops thus abandoned by

their generals, some deserted and others betook themselves to flight,

and in this manner were dispersed through the neighbouring states.

There was no body of them considerable either for numbers or strength.

Such were, as near as possible, the circumstances under which the

Carthaginians were driven out of Spain, under the conduct and auspices

of Publius Scipio, in the thirteenth year from the commencement of

the war, and the fifth from the time that Publius Scipio received the

province and the army. Not long after, Silanus returned to Tarraco to

Scipio, with information that the war was at an end.

17. Lucius Scipio was sent to Rome to convey the news of the reduction

of Spain, and with him a number of distinguished captives. While

everybody else extolled this achievement as an event in the highest

degree joyful and glorious, yet the author of it alone, whose valour

was such that he never thought he had achieved enough, and whose

search for true glory was insatiable, considered the reduction of

Spain as affording but a faint idea of the hopes which his aspiring

mind had conceived. He now directed his view to Africa and Great

Carthage, and the glorious termination of the war, as redounding to

his honour, and giving lustre to his name. Judging it therefore to

be now necessary to pave the way to his object, and to conciliate

the friendship of kings and nations, he resolved first to sound the

disposition of Syphax, king of the Masaesylians, a nation bordering

on the Moors, and lying for the most part over-against that quarter of

Spain in which New Carthage is situated. The king was at the present

juncture in league with the Carthaginians; and Scipio, concluding that

he would not hold it as more binding and sacred than was customary

with barbarians, sent Caius Laelius as envoy to him with presents. The

barbarian, delighted with these, and seeing that the Roman cause was

then successful in every quarter, but that the Carthaginians were

unfortunate in Italy, and no longer existed in Spain, consented to

accept the friendship of the Romans, but refused to give or receive

a solemn ratification of it except the Roman general himself were

present in person. This being the case, Laelius returned to Scipio,

having received from the king merely an assurance of a safe journey.

To one desirous of getting a footing in Africa, Syphax was of great

importance, as he was the most powerful king in that country, had

already had experience of the Carthaginians themselves in war, and

the boundaries of his dominions lay very conveniently with respect

to Spain, from which they are separated by a narrow strait. Scipio,

therefore, considering it an object of sufficient importance to

warrant his attempting it, notwithstanding the greatness of the danger

which attended it, since he could not effect it otherwise, left for

the protection of Spain Lucius Marcius at Tarraco, and Marcus Silanus

at New Carthage, to which place he had gone on foot by long marches;

and setting out himself in company with Caius Laelius, with two

quinqueremes from Carthage, passed over into Africa, working the

vessels with oars for the greatest part of the voyage, in consequence

of the calmness of the sea, though sometimes they were assisted by

a gentle breeze. It so happened, that just at that time Hasdrubal,

having been driven out of Spain, had entered the harbour with seven

triremes, and having cast anchor was mooring his ships. The sight of

two quinqueremes, which it was the firm opinion of everybody belonged

to the enemy, and might be overpowered by superior numbers before

they entered the harbour, produced no other effect than a tumult

and confusion among the soldiers and sailors, who endeavoured to no

purpose to get their arms and ships ready; for their sails, impelled

by a somewhat brisker gale from the sea, brought the quinqueremes into

the harbour before the Carthaginians weighed their anchors, and no one

dared make any further stir now that they were in the king's harbour.

Thus Hasdrubal, who landed first, and Scipio and Laelius, who landed

soon after, proceeded to the king.

18. Syphax considered it highly honourable to him, as it really was,

that generals of the two most powerful people of the age should come

to him on the same day to solicit peace and friendship with him. He

invited them both to become his guests; and, as it was the will of

fortune that they should be under one roof, and under the protection

of the same household gods, he endeavoured to bring them together to

a conference, in order to put an end to the difference between them;

when Scipio declared, that there was no personal enmity between the

Carthaginian and himself which he might do away with by a conference,

and that he could not transact any business relating to the republic

with an enemy without the command of the senate. But the king

being earnest in his endeavours to persuade him to come to the same

entertainment, lest one of his guests should appear to be excluded, he

did not withhold his assent. They supped together at the king's table,

and Scipio and Hasdrubal even sat at meat on the same couch, because

it was the king's pleasure. So courteous was the manner of Scipio, so

naturally happy and universal was his genius, that by his conversation

he gained the esteem not only of Syphax, a barbarian, and unused to

Roman manners, but even of a most inveterate enemy, who openly avowed,

that "he appeared to him more to be admired for the qualities he

displayed on a personal interview with him, than for his exploits in

war, and that he had no doubt that Syphax and his kingdom were already

at the disposal of the Romans, such were the abilities that man

possessed for gaining the esteem of others. That it, therefore, was

incumbent upon the Carthaginians not more to inquire by what means

they had lost Spain, than to consider how they might retain possession

of Africa. That it was not from a desire to visit foreign countries,

or to roam about delightful coasts, that so great a Roman captain,

leaving a recently subdued province, and his armies, had crossed over

into Africa with only two ships, entering an enemy's territory, and

committing himself to the untried honour of the king, but in pursuance

of a hope he had conceived of subduing Africa. That it had been long

the object of his anxious solicitude, and had drawn from him open

expressions of his indignation, that Scipio was not carrying on war

in Africa in the same way as Hannibal was in Italy." Scipio, having

formed a league with Syphax, set out from Africa, and, after having

been tossed about during his voyage by variable and generally

tempestuous winds, made the port of New Carthage on the fourth day.

19. As Spain was undisturbed by a Carthaginian war, so it was evident

that some of the states remained quiet more from fear, arising from

a consciousness of demerit, than from sincere attachment. The most

remarkable of them, both for their greatness and guilt, were Illiturgi

and Castulo. Castulo had been in alliance with the Romans when

in prosperity, but had revolted to the Carthaginians after the

destruction of the Scipios and their armies. The Illiturgians, by

betraying and putting to death those who fled thither after that

calamity, had added villany to revolt. It would have been more

deserved than expedient to have executed severe vengeance upon these

people on his first arrival, while the affairs of Spain were in an

uncertain state; but now, when all was tranquil, as the time for

visiting them with punishment appeared to have arrived, he summoned

Lucius Marcius from Tarraco, and sent him with a third of his forces

to attack Castulo, and with the rest of the army he himself reached

Illiturgi, after about five days' march. The gates were closed, and

every arrangement and preparation made for repelling an attack; so

completely had the consciousness of what they deserved produced

the same effect as a declaration of war against them. From this

circumstance Scipio commenced his exhortation to his soldiers: he

said, that "by closing their gates the Spaniards had themselves shown

what their deserts were by what they feared, and that therefore they

ought to prosecute the war against them with much greater animosity

than against the Carthaginians. For with the latter the contest

was carried on for empire and glory almost without any exasperated

feeling, while they had to punish the former for perfidy, cruelty, and

villany. That the time had now arrived when they should take vengeance

for the horrid massacre of their fellow soldiers, and for the

treachery which was prepared for themselves, had they been carried in

their flight to the same place; and by the severity of the punishment

inflicted in the present instance, establish it as a law for ever,

that no one should consider a Roman citizen and soldier, whatever his

situation, a fit object for injurious treatment." Animated by this

exhortation of their general, they distributed the scaling-ladders to

men selected from each of the companies; and the army being divided

into two parts, so that Laelius, as lieutenant-general, might command

one, they attacked the city in two places at once; thus creating an

alarm in two quarters at the same time. It was not by the exhortations

of one general, nor of the several nobles who were present, that the

townsmen were stimulated to a vigorous defence of the city, but by

the fear which they themselves entertained; they bore in mind, and

admonished each other, that the object aimed at was punishment, and

not victory. That the only question for them was, where they should

meet death, whether in the battle and in the field, where the

indiscriminate chance of war frequently raised up the vanquished and

dashed the victor to the ground; or whether, after a short interval,

when the city was burnt and plundered, after suffering every horror

and indignity, they should expire amid stripes and bonds before the

eyes of their captive wives and children. Therefore, not only those

who were of an age to bear arms, or men only, but women and children,

beyond the powers of their minds and bodies, were there, supplying

with weapons those who were fighting in defence of the place, and

carrying stones to the walls for those who were strengthening the

works; for not only was their liberty at stake, which excites the

energies of the brave only, but they had before their eyes the utmost

extremity of punishment, to be inflicted on all indiscriminately, and

an ignominious death. Their minds were worked up to the highest pitch,

both by emulation in toil and danger, and also by the mere sight of

each other. Accordingly the contest was entered upon with such ardour,

that the army which had subdued the whole of Spain was frequently

driven back from the walls of one town, and exhibited such a want

of resolution in the contest as was not very honourable to it. When

Scipio perceived this, he was afraid lest, by the failure of his

attempts, the courage of the enemy should be raised and his own troops

be dispirited; and thinking it incumbent upon him to exert himself

in person and share the danger, reproved his soldiers for their

cowardice, and ordered the scaling-ladders to be brought, threatening

to mount the wall himself, since the rest hesitated. He had now

advanced near the walls with no small danger, when a shout was raised

from all sides by the soldiers, who were alarmed at the danger their

general was exposed to, and the scaling-ladders began to be reared in

several places at once. Laelius too, in another quarter, pressed on

vigorously. It was then that the energy of the townsmen was subdued,

and those who defended the walls being beaten off, the Romans took

possession of them. The citadel also was captured during the confusion

on a side where it was thought impregnable.

20. Some African deserters, who were at that time among the Roman

auxiliaries, while the townsmen were occupied in defending those

quarters whence danger was apprehended, and the Romans were making

approaches where they could gain access, observed that the most

elevated part of the town, which was protected by a very high rock,

was neither fortified by any work nor furnished with defenders. Being

men of light make and nimble from being well exercised, they climbed

up wherever they could gain access over the irregular projections of

the rock, carrying with them iron spikes. If in any part they met with

a cliff too steep and smooth, they fixed spikes at moderate intervals,

and having thus formed a sort of steps, and those who were foremost

pulling up those who followed, and those who were behind lifting up

those before them, they succeeded in gaining the summit, whence they

ran down with a shout into the city, which had already been taken by

the Romans. Then it became manifest indeed that it was resentment and

hatred which prompted the assault upon the city. No one thought of

taking any alive, nor of booty, though every thing lay exposed to

plunder. They butchered all indiscriminately, armed and unarmed,

male and female. Their cruel resentment extended to the slaughter of

infants. They then set fire to the houses, and pulled down those which

could not be consumed by fire, so bent were they upon erasing even

every vestige of the city, and blotting out the memory of their

enemies. Scipio marched his army thence to Castulo, which was

defended, not only by Spaniards who had assembled there, but also by

the remains of the Carthaginian army, which had gone there from the

various places to which they had been dispersed in their flight. But

the news of the calamity of the Illiturgians had reached them

before the arrival of Scipio; and in consequence of this, dismay

and desperation had seized them; and as their cases were differently

circumstanced, and each party was desirous of consulting its own

safety independent of the other, at first secret jealousy, and then

an open rupture, created a separation between the Carthaginians

and Spaniards. Cerdubellus without disguise advised the latter to

surrender. Himilco commanded the Carthaginian auxiliaries, which,

together with the city, Cerdubellus delivered up to the Romans, having

secretly obtained terms. This victory was attended with less cruelty;

for not only was the guilt of this people less than the others, but

their voluntary surrender had considerably mitigated resentment.

21. Marcius was then sent against the barbarians, to reduce under the

authority and dominion of the Romans such of them as had not yet been

subdued. Scipio returned to Carthage, to pay his vows to the gods, and

to exhibit a gladiatorial show, which he had prepared on account of

the death of his father and uncle. This exhibition of gladiators

was not formed from that description of men which the lanistae are

accustomed to procure, such as slaves, or those who sell their blood.

All the service of the combatants was voluntary and gratuitous; for

some were sent by the petty princes, to show an example of the natural

courage of their people; others came forward to fight, in compliment

to their general; others were induced to give and accept challenges,

by a spirit of emulation and a desire of victory. Some decided by

the sword disputes which they either could not or were unwilling to

determine by argument, with an agreement that the matter in question

should be given up to the victor. Nor was it confined to men of

obscure rank, but comprehended persons of distinction and celebrity;

such were Corbis and Orsua, cousins-german, who, having a dispute

about the sovereignty of a city called Ibis, declared that they would

contest it with the sword. Corbis was the elder of the two. The father

of Orsua was the last sovereign, having succeeded to that dignity on

the death of his elder brother. When Scipio was desirous of settling

the dispute by argument and allaying their irritation, they both

declared that they had refused that to their mutual kinsmen, and that

they would appeal to no other judge, whether god or man, than Mars.

The elder presuming upon his strength, the younger on the prime of

youth, each wished to die in the combat rather than become the subject

of the other; and every effort failing to prevent their prosecuting

their mad design, they exhibited to the army a most interesting

spectacle, and a proof how great mischief is occasioned among men by a

thirst for power. The elder, in consequence of his experience in

arms and his address, easily mastered the unscientific efforts of

the younger. To this show of gladiators were added funeral games,

proportioned to the means possessed, and with such magnificence as the

provinces and the camp afforded.

22. Meanwhile the operations of the war were carried on with unabated

activity by the lieutenant-generals. Marcius, crossing the river

Baetis, which the natives call Certis, received the submission of two

powerful cities without a contest. There was a city called Astapa,

which had always sided with the Carthaginians; nor was it that which

drew upon it the resentment of the Romans so much as the fact, that

its inhabitants harboured an extraordinary animosity against them,

which was not called for by the necessities of the war. Their city

was not so secured by nature or art as to make their dispositions so

fierce, but the natural disposition of the inhabitants, which took

delight in plunder, had induced them to make excursions into the

neighbouring lands belonging to the allies of the Romans, and to

intercept such Roman soldiers, suttlers, and merchants as they found

ranging about. They had also surrounded, by means of an ambuscade, and

put to the sword on disadvantageous ground, a large company which was

crossing their borders, for it had proved hardly safe to go in small

parties. When the troops were marched up to assault this city, the

inhabitants, conscious of their guilt, and seeing that it would be

dangerous to surrender to an enemy so highly incensed, and that they

could not hope to keep themselves in safety by means of their walls or

their arms, resolved to execute upon themselves and those belonging

to them a horrid and inhuman deed. They fixed upon a place in their

forum, in which they collected the most valuable of their property,

and having directed their wives and children to seat themselves

upon this heap, they raised a pile of wood around it and threw on it

bundles of twigs. They then ordered fifty armed youths to stand there

and guard their fortunes, and the persons dearer to them than their

fortunes, as long as the issue of the battle continued doubtful. If

they should perceive that the battle went against them, and that

it came to the point that the city must be captured, they might be

assured that those whom they saw going out to engage the enemy would

perish in the battle itself; but implored them by all the gods,

celestial and infernal, that, mindful of their liberty, which must be

terminated on that day either by an honourable death or ignominious

servitude, they would leave nothing on which an exasperated enemy

could wreak his fury; that they had fire and sword at their command,

and it was better that friendly and faithful hands should destroy

what must necessarily perish, than that enemies should insult it with

haughty wantonness. To these exhortations a dreadful execration was

added against any one who should be diverted from this purpose by hope

or faint-heartedness. Then throwing open the gates, they rushed out at

a rapid pace and with the utmost impetuosity. Nor was there any guard

sufficiently strong opposed to them; for there could be nothing that

was less apprehended than that they would have the courage to sally

from their walls. A very few troops of horse, and the light-armed,

hastily sent out of the camp for that purpose, opposed them. The

battle was furious and spirited, rather than steady and regular in any

degree. The horse, therefore, which had first encountered the enemy,

being repulsed, created an alarm among the light-armed; and the battle

would have been fought under the very rampart, had not the legions,

which were their main strength, drawn out their line, though they had

a very short time to form in. These too, for a short time, wavered

around their standards, when the Astapans, blind with rage, rushed

upon wounds and the sword with reckless daring; but afterwards the

veteran soldiers, standing firm against their furious assaults,

checked the violence of those that followed by the slaughter of the

foremost. Soon after, the veteran troops themselves made an attempt to

charge them, but seeing that not a man gave ground, and that they were

inflexibly determined on dying each in his place, they extended their

line, which the number of their troops enabled them to do with ease,

and, surrounding their flanks, slew them all to a man while fighting

in a circle.

23. But these, however, were acts committed by exasperated enemies in

the heat of battle, and executed, in conformity with the laws of war,

upon men armed and most fiercely resisting; there was another more

horrible carnage in the city, where a harmless and defenceless crowd

of women and children were butchered by their own countrymen, who

threw their bodies, most of them still alive, upon the burning pile

while streams of blood damped the rising flame; and lastly, wearied

with the piteous slaughter of their friends, they threw themselves,

arms and all, into the midst of the flames. When the carnage was now

completed the victorious Romans came up, and at the first sight of so

revolting a transaction they stood for some time wrapt in wonder

and amazement; but afterwards, from a rapacity natural to humanity,

wishing to snatch out of the fire the gold and silver which glittered

amid the heap of other materials, some were caught by the flames,

others scorched by the hot blasts, as the foremost were unable to

retreat, in consequence of the immense crowd which pressed upon them.

In this manner was Astapa destroyed by the sword and fire, without

affording any booty to the soldiers. After the rest of the people in

that quarter, influenced by fear, had made submission to him, Marcius

led his victorious troops to Scipio, at Carthage. Just at this same

time deserters arrived from Gades, who promised to betray the town and

Carthaginian garrison which occupied it, together with the commander

and the fleet. Mago had halted there after his flight, and having

collected some ships on the ocean, had got together a considerable

number of auxiliaries from the coast of Africa, on the other side the

strait, and also by means of Hanno the prefect from the neighbouring

parts of Spain. After pledges had been exchanged with the deserters,

Marcius and Laelius were sent thither, the former with the light

cohorts, the latter with seven triremes and one quinquereme, in order

that they might act in concert by land and sea.

24. In consequence of Scipio's being afflicted with a severe fit of

illness, which rumour represented as more serious than it really was;

for every one made some addition to the account he had received, from

a desire inherent in mankind of intentionally exaggerating reports,

the whole province, and more especially the distant parts of it, were

thrown into a state of ferment; and it was evident what a serious

disturbance would have been excited had he really died, when an

unfounded report created such violent commotions. Neither the

allies kept their allegiance, nor the army their duty. Mandonius and

Indibilis, who were not at all satisfied with what had occurred, for

they had anticipated with certainty that they would have the dominion

of Spain on the expulsion of the Carthaginians, called together their

countrymen the Lacetani, and summoning the Celtiberian youth to arms,

devastated in a hostile manner the territories of the Suessetanians

and Sedetanians, allies of the Romans. Besides, a mutiny arose in the

camp at Sucro. Here were eight thousand men, stationed as a guard over

the nations dwelling on this side the Iberus. It was not on hearing

uncertain rumours respecting the life of the general that their minds

were first excited, but previously, owing to the licentiousness which

naturally results from long-continued idleness, and in some degree

also owing to the restraint felt in time of peace by men who had been

accustomed to live freely on what they gained by plunder in an enemy's

country. At first they only discoursed in private, asking what they

were doing among people who were at peace with them, if there was

a war in the province? if the war was terminated and the province

completely subdued, why were they not conveyed back into Italy?

The pay also was demanded with more insolence than was customary or

consistent with military subordination, and the guards cast reproaches

upon the tribunes while going round to the watches. Some too had gone

out by night into the neighbouring lands, belonging to persons at

peace with the Romans, to plunder; but at last they quitted their

standards in the day-time and openly without furloughs. Every thing

was done according to the caprice and unrestrained will of the

soldiers, and nothing according to rule and military discipline, or

the orders of those who were in command. The form, however, of a Roman

camp was preserved solely in consequence of the hopes they entertained

that the tribunes, catching the spirit of insubordination, would

not be averse from taking part in the mutiny and defection, on which

account they suffered them to dispense justice in their courts, went

to them for the watch-word, and served in their turn on the outposts

and watches; and as they had taken away the power of command, so they

preserved the appearance of obedience to orders, by spontaneously

executing their own. Afterwards, when they perceived that the tribunes

censured and reprobated their proceedings, endeavoured to counteract

them, and publicly declared that they would not take any share in

their disorderly conduct, the mutiny assumed a decided character;

when, after driving the tribunes from their courts, and shortly after

from the camp, the command was conferred by universal consent upon

Caius Albius of Cales and Caius Atrius of Umbria, common soldiers,

who were the prime movers of the sedition. These men were so far from

being satisfied with the ornaments used by tribunes, that they had the

audacity to lay hold even of the insignia of the highest authority,

the fasces and axes, without ever reflecting that their own backs and

necks were in danger from those very rods and axes which they carried

before them to intimidate others. Their mistaken belief of the death

of Scipio had blinded their minds, and they doubted not that, in a

short time, when that event should be made generally known, all

Spain would blaze with war; that during this confusion money might

be exacted from the allies and the neighbouring cities plundered; and

that in this unsettled state of affairs, when there was nothing which

any man would not dare, their own acts would be less conspicuous.