first Scipio, he had always adhered to that honourable alliance, with an
almost unparalleled zeal and fidelity.(933) Finding his end approaching,
he wrote to the proconsul of Africa, under whose standards the younger
Scipio then fought, to desire that Roman might be sent to him; adding,
that he should die with satisfaction, if he could but expire in his arms,
after having made him executor to his will. But believing that he should
be dead, before it could be possible for him to receive this consolation,
he sent for his wife and children, and spoke to them as follows: "I know
no other nation but the Romans, and, among this nation, no other family
but that of the Scipios. I now, in my expiring moments, empower Scipio
AEmilianus to dispose, in an absolute manner, of all my possessions, and to
divide my kingdom among my children. I require, that whatever Scipio may
decree, shall be executed as punctually as if I myself had appointed it by
my will." After saying these words, he breathed his last, being upwards of
ninety years of age.

This prince, during his youth, had met with strange reverses of fortune,
having been dispossessed of his kingdom, obliged to fly from province to
province, and a thousand times in danger of his life.(934) Being
supported, says the historian, by the divine protection, he was afterwards
favoured, till his death, with a perpetual series of prosperity, unruffled
by any sinister accident: for he not only recovered his own kingdom, but
added to it that of Syphax his enemy; and extending his dominions from
Mauritania, as far as Cyrene, he became the most powerful prince of all
Africa. He was blessed, till he left the world, with the greatest health
and vigour, which doubtless was owing to his extreme temperance, and the
care he had taken to inure himself to fatigue. Though ninety years of age,
he performed all the exercises used by young men,(935) and always rode
without a saddle; and Polybius observes, (a circumstance preserved by
Plutarch,(936)) that the day after a great victory over the Carthaginians,
Masinissa was seen, sitting at the door of his tent, eating a piece of
brown bread.

He left fifty-four sons, of whom three only were legitimate, _viz._
Micipsa, Gulussa, and Mastanabal.(937) Scipio divided the kingdom between
these three, and gave considerable possessions to the rest: but the two
last dying soon after, Micipsa became sole possessor of these extensive
dominions. He had two sons, Adhe