eing able to hit upon any
expedient, his passion suggested to him an inconsiderate and barefaced
alternative. He ordered that preparations should be instantly made
for celebrating the nuptials that very day; in order that he might
not leave it at all open to Laelius, or Scipio himself, to adopt
any measure respecting her as a captive who had become the wife of
Masinissa. After the nuptials were concluded, Laelius came up: and so
far was he from dissembling his disapprobation of the proceeding, that
at first he would even have had her dragged from the marriage bed
and sent with Syphax and the rest of the captives to Scipio: but
afterwards, having been prevailed upon by the entreaties of Masinissa,
who begged of him to leave it to Scipio to decide which of the two
kings should have his fortunes graced by the accession of Sophonisba
he sent away Syphax and the prisoners; and, aided by Masinissa,
employed himself in reducing the rest of the cities of Numidia, which
were occupied by the king's garrisons.

13. When it was announced that Syphax was being brought into the camp,
the whole multitude poured out, as if to behold a triumphal pageant.
The king himself walked first in chains, and a number of Numidian
nobles followed. On this occasion every one strove to the utmost to
increase the splendour of their victory, by magnifying the greatness
of Syphax and the renown of his nation. "That was the king," they
said, "to whose dignity the two most powerful nations in the world the
Roman and the Carthaginian, had paid so much deference, that their own
general, Scipio, leaving his province of Spain and his army, sailed
into Africa with only two quinqueremes to solicit his friendship;
while Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian general, not only visited him in his
dominions, but gave him his daughter in marriage. That he had in his
power two commanders, one a Roman and the other a Carthaginian, at the
same time. That as both the contending parties sought the favour
of the immortal gods by the immolation of victims, so had they both
equally solicited his friendship. That he had lately possessed such
great power, that after expelling Masinissa from his kingdom, he
reduced him to such a state, that his life was protected by a report
of his death, and by concealment, while he supported himself in the
woods on prey after the manner of wild beasts." Thus signalized by the
observations of the surrounding multitude, the king was brought into
the pav