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ssins of their country. They soon found that they could accomplish nothing and had to face the repeated command either to execute the order or to cast the die of war. Many of the people then remained there on the Roman side, tacitly admitting their success: the remainder withdrew, and after killing some of their rulers for not having chosen war in the first place and after murdering such Romans as were discovered within the fortification they turned their attention to war. Under these circumstances they liberated all the slaves, restored the exiles, chose Hasdrubal once more as leader, and made ready arms, engines, and triremes. With war at their doors and the danger of slavery confronting them they prepared in the briefest possible time everything that they needed. They spared nothing, but melted down the statues for the sake of the bronze in them and used the hair of their women for ropes. The consuls at first, thinking them unarmed, expected to overcome them speedily and merely prepared ladders, with which they expected to scale the wall at once. As the assault showed their enemies to be armed and they saw that they possessed means for a siege, the Romans, before approaching close to the city again, devoted themselves to the manufacture of engines. The construction of these machines was fraught with danger, since Hasdrubal set ambuscades for those who were gathering the wood and annoyed them considerably, but in time they were able to assail the town. Now Manilius in his assault from the land side could not injure the Carthaginians at all, but Marcius, while delivering an attack from marshy ground on the side where the sea was, managed to shake down a part of the wall, though he could not get inside. The Carthaginians repulsed those who attempted to force their way in, and at night issued through the ruins to slay numerous men and burn up a very large number of engines. Hasdrubal and the cavalry, however, did not allow them to scatter over any considerable territory and Masinissa lent them no aid. He had not been invited at the opening of the war, and, though he had promised Hasdrubal that he would fight now, they gave him no opportunity of doing so. IX, 27.--The consuls in view of the outcome of their attempts and because their fleet had been damaged by its stay in the lake raised the siege. Marcius endeavored to achieve some advantage by sea or at least to injure the coast districts, but not accomplishing anythin
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