er with cloaks and gowns for the army; and hostages were
taken from about thirty of the states.

The tumult occasioned by the rebellion in Spain having been thus
excited and suppressed within the space of a few days, without any
great disturbance, the whole terror of the war was directed against
Africa. Caius Laelius having arrived at Hippo Regius by night, at
break of day led his soldiers and mariners in regular array to lay
waste the country. As all the inhabitants were living unguardedly, as
in a time of peace, great damage was done; and messengers, flying in
terror, filled Carthage with alarm, by reporting that the Roman fleet
and the general, Scipio, had arrived; for there was a rumour that
Scipio had already crossed over into Sicily. Not knowing accurately
how many ships they had seen, or how large a body of troops was
devastating the country, they, under the influence of fear, which
represented them as greater than they really were, exaggerated every
thing. Accordingly, at first, terror and dismay took possession of
their minds, but afterwards grief, when they reflected that their
circumstances had undergone so great a change; that they, who lately
as conquerors had an army before the walls of Rome, and, after having
laid prostrate so many armies of the enemy, had received the surrender
of all the states of Italy, either by force or choice, now, the
war having taken an unfavourable turn, were destined to behold the
devastation of Africa and the siege of Carthage, without any thing
like the resources to enable them to bear up against those calamities
which the Romans possessed. To the latter the Roman commons and
Latium afforded a supply of young men, which continually grew up more
vigorous and more numerous, in the room of so many armies destroyed,
while their own people, both those in the city and those in the
country, were unfit for military service; their troops consisted of
auxiliaries, procured by hire from the Africans, a faithless nation,
and veering about with every gale of fortune. Now too, with regard to
the kings, Syphax was alienated from them since his conference with
Scipio, and Masinissa, by an open defection, had become their most
determined enemy. Wherever they turned their eyes there was no hope,
no aid. Neither did Mago excite any commotion on the side of Gaul, nor
join his forces with those of Hannibal; while Hannibal himself was now
declining both in reputation and strength.

4. Their minds