History of Rome, Vol III by Titus Livius

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14. These words, dictated not merely by the hatred naturally felt
towards an enemy, but also by the anguish of jealousy, on seeing the
object of his affections in the possession of his rival, affected the
mind of Scipio with no ordinary degree of anxiety. His accusations
against Masinissa derived credibility from the fact of the nuptials
having, been celebrated in the most violent hurry, almost amid the
clash of arms, without consulting or waiting for Laelius, and with
such precipitate haste, that on the very day on which he saw the
captive enemy he united himself with her in matrimony, and performed
the nuptial rite in the presence of the household gods of his enemy.
This conduct appeared the more heinous to Scipio, because when a very
young man in Spain he had not allowed himself to be influenced by
the beauty of any captive. While ruminating on these circumstances,
Laelius and Masinissa came up. Without making any distinction between
them he received them both with a cheerful countenance, and having
bestowed upon them the highest commendations before a full assembly
of his officers, he took Masinissa aside and thus addressed him:
"I suppose, Masinissa, that it was because you saw in me some good
qualities that you at first came to me when in Spain, for the purpose
of forming a friendship with me, and that afterwards in Africa you
committed yourself and all your hopes to my protection. But of all
those virtues, on account of which I seemed to you worthy of your
regard, there is not one in which I gloried so much as temperance and
the control of my passions. I could wish that you also, Masinissa,
had added this to your other distinguished qualities. There is not,
believe me, there is not so much danger to be apprehended by persons
at our time of life from armed foes, as from the pleasures which
surround us on all sides. The man who by temperance has curbed and
subdued his appetite for them, has acquired for himself much greater
honour and a much more important victory than we now enjoy in the
conquest of Syphax. I have mentioned with delight, and I remember with
pleasure, the instances of fortitude and courage which you displayed
in my absence. As to other matters, I would rather that you should
reflect upon them in private, than that you should be put to the
blush by my reciting them. Syphax was subdued and captured under
the auspices of the Roman people; therefore he himself, his wife his
kingdom, his territories, his towns and their inhabitants, in short,
every thing which belonged to him, is the booty of the Roman people,
and it was proper that the king himself and his consort, even though
she had not been a citizen of Carthage, even though we did not see her
father commanding the armies of our enemies, should be sent to Rome,
and that the senate and people of Rome should judge and determine
respecting her who is said to have alienated from us a king in
alliance with us, and to have precipitated him into war with us.
Subdue your passions. Beware how you deform many good qualities by one
vice, and mar the credit of so many meritorious deeds by a degree of
guilt more than proportioned to the value of its object."

15. While Masinissa heard these observations, he not only became
suffused with blushes, but burst into tears; and after declaring that
he would submit to the discretion of the general, and imploring him
that, as far as circumstances would permit, he would consider the
obligation he had rashly imposed upon himself, for he had promised
that he would not deliver her into the power of any one, he retired in
confusion from the pavilion into his own tent. There, dismissing
his attendants, he spent a considerable time amid frequent sighs and
groans, which could be distinctly heard by those who stood around the
tent. At last, heaving a deep groan, he called one of his servants in
whom he confided, in whose custody poison was kept, according to the
custom of kings, as a remedy against the unforeseen events of fortune,
and ordered him to mix some in a cup and carry it to Sophonisba; at
the same time informing her that Masinissa would gladly have fulfilled
the first obligation which as a husband he owed to her his wife; but
since those who had the power of doing so had deprived him of the
exercise of that right, he now performed his second promise, that she
should not come alive into the power of the Romans. That, mindful of
her father the general, of her country, and of the two kings to whom
she had been married, she would take such measures as she herself
thought proper. When the servant came to Sophonisba bearing this
message and the poison, she said, "I accept this nuptial present; nor
is it an unwelcome one, if my husband can render me no better service.
Tell him, however, that I should have died with greater satisfaction
had I not married so near upon my death." The spirit with which she
spoke was equalled by the firmness with which she took and drained the
chalice, without exhibiting any symptom of perturbation. When Scipio
was informed of this event, fearful lest the high-spirited young
man should in the distempered state of his mind adopt some desperate
resolution, he immediately sent for him, and at one time endeavoured
to solace him, at another gently rebuked him for expiating one act of
temerity with another, and rendering the affair more tragical than was
necessary. The next day, in order to divert his mind from his present
affliction, he ascended his tribunal and ordered an assembly to be
summoned, in which having first saluted Masinissa with the title of
king, and distinguished him with the highest encomiums, he presented
him with a golden goblet, a curule chair, an ivory sceptre, an
embroidered gown, and a triumphal vest. He increased the honour by
observing, that among the Romans there was nothing more magnificent
than a triumph; and that those who triumphed were not arrayed with
more splendid ornaments than those with which the Roman people
considered Masinissa alone, of all foreigners, worthy. He then
bestowed the highest commendations upon Laelius also, and presented
him with a golden crown, and gave presents to the other military
characters proportioned to their respective merits. By these honours
the king's mind was soothed, and encouraged to hope that he would
speedily become master of all Numidia, now that Syphax was removed.

16. Scipio, having sent Caius Laelius with Syphax and the rest of the
prisoners to Rome, with whom went also ambassadors from Masinissa, led
his troops back again to Tunes, and completed the fortifications which
he had before begun. The Carthaginians, who had experienced not only
a short-lived but almost groundless joy, from their attack upon the
fleet, which, under existing circumstances, was tolerably successful,
were so dismayed at the account of the capture of Syphax, in whom they
reposed almost greater confidence than in Hasdrubal and his army, that
now listening no longer to any who advocated war, they sent thirty
of their principal elders as deputies to solicit peace. With them the
council of elders is held in the highest reverence, and has supreme
power even to control the senate itself. When they came into the Roman
camp and entered the pavilion, they prostrated themselves after the
manner of those who pay profound adoration to kings, adopting the
custom, I suppose, from the country from which they derived their
origin. Their language corresponded with such abject humiliation, for
they did not endeavour to deny their guilt, but charged Hannibal and
the favourers of his violent measures with being the originators of
it. They implored pardon for their state, which had been now twice
brought to the brink of ruin by the temerity of its citizens, and
would again owe its safety to the indulgence of its enemies. They
said, the object the Roman people aimed at in the subjugation of their
enemies was dominion, and not their destruction; that he might enjoin
what he pleased upon them, as being prepared submissively to obey.
Scipio replied, "that he had come into Africa with the hope, and
that hope had been increased by the success he had experienced in his
operations, that he should carry home victory and not terms of peace.
Still, though he had victory in a manner within his grasp, he would
not refuse all accommodation, that all the nations of the world may
know that the Roman people both undertake and conclude wars with
justice." The terms of peace which he prescribed were these: "That
they should restore the prisoners, deserters, and fugitives; withdraw
their armies from Italy and Gaul; give up all claim to Spain; retire
from all the islands between Italy and Africa; deliver up all their
ships of war except twenty, and furnish five hundred thousand pecks of
wheat, and three hundred thousand of barley." Authors are not agreed
as to the sum of money he demanded. In some I find five thousand
talents; in others five thousand pounds' weight of silver; in others,
that double pay for the troops was required. "Three days," he said,
"shall be allowed to deliberate whether you accept of peace on these
terms. If you do accept it, make a truce within me, and send deputies
to Rome to the senate." The Carthaginians being thus dismissed, as
they thought it proper to accept of any conditions of peace, for their
only object was to gain time for Hannibal to cross over into Africa,
sent some ambassadors to Scipio to conclude a truce, and others to
Rome to solicit peace; the latter taking with them a few prisoners,
deserters, and fugitives, in order to facilitate the attainment of
peace.

17. Laelius with Syphax and the principal Numidian prisoners arrived
at Rome several days before, and laying before the senate all the
transactions which had occurred in Africa in order, the greatest joy
was felt for the present, and the most sanguine anticipations formed
of the future. The sense of the senate being then taken upon the
subject, they resolved that the king should be sent to Alba to be kept
in custody, and that Laelius should be detained until the arrival
of the Carthaginian ambassadors. A supplication for four days was
decreed. The senate breaking up and an assembly of the people being
then called, Publius Aelius the praetor accompanied by Caius Laelius,
mounted the rostrum. There, on hearing that the armies of the
Carthaginians had been routed, that a king of the greatest renown had
been vanquished and made prisoner, that all Numidia had been overrun
with brilliant success, the people were unable to refrain from
expressing their delight, but manifested their transports by shouts
and all the other means usually resorted to by the multitude. The
praetor, therefore, immediately issued orders that the keepers should
open all the temples throughout the city, and that the people should
be allowed during the whole day to go round and make their adoration
to the gods, and return their thanks. The next day he brought the
ambassadors of Masinissa before the senate. They in the first place
congratulated the senate on the successes of Scipio in Africa, and
then thanked them, not only for having saluted him with the title of
king, but for having made him one, by reinstating him in his paternal
dominions, where, now that Syphax was removed, he would reign, if it
was the pleasure of the senate, without fear or opposition. Next, for
having bestowed upon him the highest commendations in the assembly,
and decorated him with the most magnificent presents, of which
Masinissa had endeavoured, and would in future endeavour, to render
himself worthy. They requested that the senate would by a decree
confirm the title of king with the other favours and benefits
conferred by Scipio, and, if it were not troublesome, they said, that
Masinissa further Requested that they would send home the Numidian
captives who were detained at Rome; for that this boon would procure
him the esteem and honour of his countrymen. On these points the
senate replied to the ambassadors, "that they reciprocated the
congratulations of the king on the successes in Africa. That Scipio
was considered to have acted properly and regularly in saluting him
with the title of king, and that the senate applauded and approved of
every thing else he had done which was gratifying to Masinissa." They
appointed by a decree what presents the ambassadors should carry to
the king; they were, two purple cloaks, each having a golden clasp,
and each accompanied with vests and broad purple borders, two horses
arrayed with trappings, two suits of equestrian armour with coats of
mail, together with tents and other military apparatus such as those
usually provided for a consul. These the praetor was directed to send
for the king. The ambassadors were severally presented with not less
than five thousand _asses_, their attendants with one thousand. Two
suits of apparel were presented to each of the ambassadors, and one
to each of their attendants and to the Numidians, who were discharged
from custody and given back to the king. In addition to these,
dwellings, reserved by the state for such purposes, grounds, and
entertainment, were assigned to the ambassadors.

18. The same summer during which these decrees were passed at Rome,
and these transactions took place in Africa, Publius Quinctilius
Varus, the praetor, and Marcus Cornelius, the proconsul, fought a
pitched battle with Mago the Carthaginian in the territories of the
Insubrian Gauls. The legions of the praetor were in the first line;
Cornelius kept his in reserve, riding forward into the front himself,
and the praetor and proconsul, leading on the two wings, exhorted
the soldiers to attack the enemy with the utmost vigour. Finding they
produced no impression upon the enemy, Quinctilius said to Cornelius:
"The battle, as you perceive, does not proceed with spirit, the enemy,
having succeeded in their resistance beyond expectation, have become
callous to fear, and there is danger lest it should be converted into
boldness. We must stir up a tempest of cavalry if we wish to disorder
and drive them from their ground; therefore, either do you sustain the
fight in front, and I will lead the cavalry into the action; or else,
I will act in the front line and you send out the cavalry of the four
legions against the enemy." The proconsul offering to take whichever
part of the service the praetor pleased, Quinctilius the praetor, with
his son, surnamed Marcus, a spirited youth, went off to the cavalry,
and desiring them to mount, instantly led them to the charge. The
confusion on occasioned by these was increased by a shout raised by
the legions; nor would the line of the enemy have stood unbroken, had
not Mago, as soon as he saw the cavalry in motion, immediately brought
into the action his elephants, which he kept in readiness. The horses
were so terrified at the snorting, the smell, and appearance of these
animals, that the aid of the cavalry was rendered ineffectual. As the
Roman horseman had the advantage in point of efficiency in a close
fight, when he could use his javelin and sword hand to hand, so the
Numidians had the advantage when throwing their darts from a distance
upon enemies borne away from them by their terrified horses. At the
same time the twelfth legion, though a great number of them were
slain, maintained their ground through shame rather than a reliance on
their strength; but they would not have continued to do so longer,
had not the thirteenth legion, brought up into the front line from the
reserve, taken up the doubtful conflict. Mago, also, bringing up the
Gauls from his reserve, opposed them to the fresh legion. The Gauls
being routed without any great effort, the spearmen of the eleventh
legion formed themselves into a circular body and charged the
elephants, which were now disordering the line of infantry; and as
scarcely one of the javelins which they threw upon them failed of
taking effect, as they were close together, they turned them all
upon the line of their own party. Four of them fell overpowered with
wounds. It was then that the front line of the enemy gave ground, the
whole body of the Roman infantry at the same time rushing forward to
increase the panic and confusion, on seeing the elephants turn their
backs. As long as Mago stood in front, the troops stepped back slowly,
preserving their ranks and not relaxing their ardour in fighting;
but when they saw him falling, from a wound in his thigh, which was
transfixed, and carried off the field almost lifeless, in an instant
they all betook themselves to flight. As many as five thousand of the
enemy were slain, and twenty-two military standards captured on that
day. Nor did the Romans obtain a bloodless victory. Two thousand three
hundred of the army of the praetor, by far the greater part of whom
belonged to the twelfth legion, were lost. Two military tribunes,
Marcus Cosconius and Marcus Maenius, of the same legion; and of the
thirteenth legion also, which joined in the action at its close,
Cneius Helvius, a military tribune, fell in restoring the fight;
and about twenty-two distinguished horsemen, together with several
centurions, were trampled upon and killed by the elephants. The
contest would have continued longer, had not the enemy conceded the
victory, in consequence of the wound of their general.

19. Mago, setting out during the silence of the succeeding night, and
marching as far at a time as his wounds would allow him, reached
the sea-coast in the territory of the Ingaunian Ligurians. Here
ambassadors from Carthage, who had put into the Gallic bay a few days
before, came to him with directions to cross over into Africa with all
speed; informing him that his brother Hannibal, for to him also they
said ambassadors had gone with similar directions, would do the same,
for the affairs of the Carthaginians were not in a condition to
admit of their occupying Gaul and Italy with armies. Mago, not
only influenced by the command of the senate and the danger which
threatened his country, but fearful also lest the victorious enemy
should be upon him if he delayed, and lest the Ligurians themselves,
seeing that the Carthaginians were leaving Italy, should pass over
to those under whose power they were likely soon to be placed; at the
same time hoping that his wound would be less irritated by the motion
of sailing than marching, and that he would have greater facilities
for the cure of it, put his troops on board and set sail. But he had
scarcely cleared Sardinia when he died of his wound. Several also of
his ships, which had been dispersed in the main sea, were captured by
the Roman fleet which lay near Sardinia. Such were the transactions by
sea and land in that part of Italy which is adjacent to the Alps.
The consul, Caius Servilius, without having performed any memorable
achievement in Etruria, his province, and in Gaul, for he had advanced
thither also, but having rescued from slavery, which they had endured
for now the sixteenth year, his father, Caius Servilius, and his
uncle, Caius Lutatius, who had been taken by the Boians at the village
of Tanetum, returned to Rome with his father on one side of him and
his uncle on the other, distinguished, by family, rather than by
public, honours. It was proposed to the people, that Caius Servilius
should be indemnified for having filled the offices of plebeian
tribune and plebeian aedile contrary to what was established by the
laws, while his father, who had sat in the curule chair, was still
alive, he being ignorant of that circumstance. This proposition
having been carried, he returned to his province. The towns Consentia,
Uffugum, Vergae, Besidiae, Hetriculum, Sypheum, Argentanum, Clampetia,
and many other inconsiderable states, perceiving that the Carthaginian
cause was declining, went over to Cneius Servilius the consul in
Bruttium. The same consul fought a battle with Hannibal, in the
territory of Croto. The accounts of this battle are not clear.
Valerius Antias states that five thousand men were slain. But this
is an event of such magnitude, that either it must be an impudent
fiction, or negligently omitted. It is certain that nothing further
was done by Hannibal in Italy; for ambassadors from Carthage,
recalling him into Africa, came to him, as it happened, at the same
time that they came to Mago.

20. It is said that when Hannibal heard the message of the ambassadors
he gnashed with his teeth, groaned, and scarcely refrained from
shedding tears. After they had delivered the commands with which
they were charged, he said: "Those who have for a long time been
endeavouring to drag me home, by forbidding the sending of supplies
and money to me, now recall me, not indirectly, but openly. Hannibal,
therefore, hath been conquered, not by the Roman people, who have been
so often slain and routed, but by the Carthaginian senate, through
envy and detraction; nor will Publius Scipio exult and glory in this
unseemly return so much as Hanno, who has crushed our family, since
he could not effect it by any other means, by the ruins of Carthage."
Already had his mind entertained a presentiment of this event, and he
had accordingly prepared ships beforehand. Having, therefore, sent a
crowd of useless soldiers under pretence of garrisons into the towns
in the Bruttian territory, a few of which continued their adherence to
him, more through fear than attachment, he transported the strength
of his army into Africa. Many natives of Italy who, refusing to follow
him into Africa had retired to the shrine of Juno Lacinia, which had
never been violated up to that day, were barbarously massacred in the
very temple. It is related, that rarely any person leaving his
country to go into exile exhibited deeper sorrow than Hannibal did on
departing from the land of his enemies; that he frequently looked back
upon the shores of Italy, and, arraigning both gods and men, cursed
himself and his own head that he did not lead his troops, while
reeking with blood from the victory at Cannae, to Rome. Scipio, who
since his appointment to the office of consul had not looked at the
Carthaginian enemy in Italy, had dared, he said, to go and attack
Carthage, while he, after slaying a hundred thousand fighting men at
Trasimenus and Cannae, had suffered his strength to wear away around
Casilinum, Cumae, and Nola. Amid these reproaches and complaints he
was borne away from his long occupation of Italy.

21. At the same time intelligence was brought to Rome that both Mago
and Hannibal had taken their departure. But the delight occasioned by
this twofold source of joy was diminished by the reflection that their
commanders had wanted either spirit or strength sufficient to detain
them, for they had been charged by the senate to do so; and also in
consequence of the anxiety they felt for the issue of a contest, in
which the whole weight of the war rested on the efforts of one general
and his army. About the same time ambassadors from Saguntum arrived,
bringing with them some Carthaginians who had crossed over into Spain
for the purpose of hiring auxiliaries, having seized them and the
money they had with them. They laid down in the vestibule of the
senate-house two hundred and fifty pounds' weight of gold, and eight
hundred of silver. After the men had been received and thrown into
prison, and the gold and silver returned, the ambassadors were
thanked, and received, besides, presents and ships to convey them back
into Spain. Some of the older senators then observed, that men were
less powerfully affected by prosperity than adversity. That they
themselves remembered what terror and consternation had been
occasioned by the passage of Hannibal into Italy; what disasters and
what lamentations had followed that event. When the camp of the enemy
was seen from their walls, what vows were poured forth by each and
all! How often, extending their hands to heaven, exclamations were
heard in their assemblies. Oh! will that day ever arrive when we shall
behold Italy cleared of her enemies and enjoying the blessings of
peace! The gods, they said, had at length, in the sixteenth year,
granted that favour and yet there was no one who proposed that thanks
should be returned to them for it. That if men received a present
blessing so ungratefully, they would not be very mindful of it when it
was past. In consequence of this a general shout was raised from every
part of the senate-house, that Publius Aelius the praetor, should
lay the matter before the senate, and a decree was passed, that a
supplication should be performed at all the shrines for the space of
five days, and that a hundred and twenty victims of the larger sort
should be immolated. Laelius and the ambassadors of Masinissa having
been by this time dismissed, and intelligence having arrived that
ambassadors of the Carthaginians, who were coming to the senate to
treat about peace, had been seen at Puteoli, and would proceed thence
by land, it was resolved, that Caius Laelius should be recalled,
that the negotiations respecting the peace might take place in his
presence. Quintus Fulvius Gillo, a lieutenant-general of Scipio,
conducted the Carthaginians to Rome; and as they were forbidden to
enter the city, they were lodged in a country-house belonging to the
state, and admitted to an audience of the senate at the temple of
Bellona.