est he might expose himself to the combined attacks of the two other
Carthaginian generals, Mago, and Hasdrubal, son of Gisco. Hasdrubal
Barcas, the defeated general, however, had carried considerable wealth
with him in his flight, and with these means he raised an army in
Spain, to lead into Italy to the assistance of his brother Hannibal,
hoping thus to bring the war to an end in Italy. During these
preparations of Hasdrubal, Scipio was engaged against the two other
Carthaginian generals, one of whom (Mago) was defeated, in B.C. 208,
by the propraetor Silanus, in the country of the Celtiberians, and
Hanno, who came with an auxiliary army from Africa, was taken
prisoner. After this success of the propraetor, Scipio united his
forces with those of Silanus to attack Hasdrubal, son of Gisco. But as
this general had retired to the south of Spain, and had distributed
his army in the fortified places on the Baetis as far as Gades, Scipio
(through his brother Lucius) only took the important town of Oringis,
and then gradually returned across the Iberus. The power of the
Carthaginians in Spain was, however, already broken, and in the year
following (B.C. 207) Scipio gained possession of nearly all Spain by a
victory, the place of which is not clearly ascertained, some calling
it Silpia or Baecula, some Ilipa, and others Carmo.

Scipio, now in the almost undisputed possession of Spain, began to
turn his eyes to Africa, and, accompanied by his friend Laelius, he
ventured to pay a visit to King Syphax, with whom Laelius had already
commenced negotiations. Here Scipio is said to have met Hasdrubal, son
of Gisco, and to have made a very favorable impression on Syphax as
well as on Hasdrubal. After a short stay in Africa, Scipio returned to
Spain, where he first punished several towns for their faithlessness,
and subdued some of the Spanish chiefs who ventured to claim their
former independence. During these occupations Scipio was attacked by a
severe illness, from which, however, he recovered in time to quell an
insurrection of 8,000 Roman soldiers, who were discontented from not
having derived from their conquests those advantages which they had
expected, and who are said also to have been bribed by the
Carthaginians. Mago had in the meantime withdrawn to the Balearic
Islands, and thence to Liguria. Gades, the last place which the
Carthaginians possessed in Spain, was now taken from them, and thus
the war in Spain was at an end.