ians were terribly oppressed by the scarcity of food; some of
them deserted, others endured it and died, and still others ate the
dead bodies. Hasdrubal, accordingly, in dejection sent envoys to
Scipio with regard to truce, and would have obtained immunity, had he
not desired to secure both preservation and freedom for all the rest
as well. After he had failed for this reason to accomplish his purpose
he confined his wife in the acropolis because she had made
propositions to Scipio for the safety of herself and her children, and
behaved in other ways more boldly on account of his despair. He,
therefore, and some others, mastered by frenzy, fought both night and
day; and sometimes they would be defeated and sometimes gain
advantage; and they devised machinery to oppose the Roman engines.
Bithias, who held a high-perched fortress and scoured wide stretches
of the mainland, did what he could to help the Carthaginians and
damage the Romans. Hence Scipio also divided his army, assigning one
half of it to invest Carthage while he sent the other half against
Bithias, placing at the head of it his lieutenant Gaius Laelius. He
himself spent his time in passing from one division to the other for
inspection. Then the fortress was taken, and the siege of Carthage was
once more conducted by an undivided force.

[Sidenote: B.C. 146 (_a.u._ 608)] The Carthaginians despairing
consequently of being any longer able to save both walls betook
themselves to the enclosure of the Byrsa, since it was higher up, at
the same time transferring thither all the objects that they could.
By night they burned the dockyard and most of the other structures in
order to deprive the enemy of any benefit from them. When the Romans
became aware of their action, they occupied the harbor and advanced
against Byrsa. Occupying the houses on each side of it some of the
besiegers walked straight along on top of the roofs by successively
stepping to those immediately adjacent, and others by digging through
the walls pushed onward below until they reached the very citadel.
When they had got so far, the Carthaginians offered no further
opposition, but all except Hasdrubal sued for clemency. He together
with the deserters (for Scipio would not grant them a truce) was
crowded into the temple of AEsculapius, as were also his wife and
children, and there he defended himself against assailants until the
deserters set fire to the temple and climbed to the roof to await the