mans and sent to Scipio
warning him against crossing over. Scipio heard this as a piece of
secret information, and to prevent the knowledge of it from reaching
the soldiers he sent the herald back post-haste before he had had time
to meet anybody else. Then he called together the army and hastened
forward the preparations for crossing; he declared that the
Carthaginians were unprepared and that first Masinissa and now Syphax
was calling for them and upbraiding them for lingering. After this
speech he suffered no further delay but set sail. He brought his ships
to anchor near the cape called Apollonium, and [Sidenote: FRAG.
56^51] PITCHED HIS CAMP, DEVASTATED THE COUNTRY, MADE ASSAULTS UPON
THE CITIES AND CAPTURED A FEW. AS THE ROMANS WERE HARRYING THE
COUNTRY, HANNO THE CAVALRY COMMANDER, WHO WAS A SON OF HASDRUBAL SON
OF GISCO, WAS PERSUADED BY MASINISSA TO ATTACK THEM. SCIPIO
ACCORDINGLY SENT SOME HORSEMEN AND WAS PLUNDERING SOME DISTRICTS THAT
WERE SUITABLE FOR HIM TO OVERRUN, TO THE END THAT HIS MEN BY SIMULATED
FLIGHT MIGHT DRAW UPON THEM THE PURSUERS. SO WHEN THEY TURNED TO FLEE,
ACCORDING TO PREVIOUS ARRANGEMENTS, AND THE CARTHAGINIANS FOLLOWED
THEM UP, MASINISSA WITH HIS FOLLOWERS GOT IN THE REAR OF THE PURSUERS
AND ATTACKED THEM AND SCIPIO MAKING AN ONSET FROM HIS AMBUSH JOINED
BATTLE WITH THEM. AND MANY WERE DESTROYED, MANY ALSO WERE CAPTURED,
AMONG THEM HANNO HIMSELF. THEREFORE HASDRUBAL ARRESTED THE MOTHER OF
MASINISSA, AND AN EXCHANGE OF THE TWO CAPTIVES WAS EFFECTED. SYPHAX
NOW RENOUNCED EVEN THE APPEARANCE OF FRIENDSHIP FOR THE ROMANS AND
OPENLY ATTACHED HIMSELF TO THE CARTHAGINIANS. AND THE ROMANS BOTH
PLUNDERED THE COUNTRY AND RECOVERED MANY PRISONERS FROM ITALY WHO HAD
BEEN SENT TO LIBYA BY HANNIBAL AND THEY WENT INTO WINTER QUARTERS
WHERE THEY WERE.

[Sidenote: B.C. 203 (_a.u._ 551)] After this Gnaeus Scipio[37] and
Gaius Servilius became consuls, and during their year of office the
Carthaginians, having got the worst of it in the struggle, felt a
desire to arrange terms of peace and furthermore both Hannibal and
Mago were driven out of Italy. It was the consuls who made a stand
against Hannibal and Mago, while Scipio was inflicting damage upon
Libya and assailing the cities. Meantime [Sidenote: FRAG. 56^52] HE
HAD CAPTURED A CARTHAGINIAN VESSEL, BUT RELEASED IT WHEN THEY FEIGNED
TO HAVE BEEN COMING ON AN EMBASSY TO HIM. HE KNEW, TO BE SURE, THAT IT
WAS ONLY A PRETEXT, BUT PREFERRED TO AVOID THE POSS