When the disembarkation was completed, the Romans measured out a site for their camp on some rising ground close by. [2] The sight of a hostile fleet, followed by the bustle and excitement of the landing, created consternation and alarm, not only in the fields and farms on the coast, but in the cities as well. [3] Not only were the roads filled everywhere by crowds of men and troops of women and children, but the peasantry were driving their live stock inland, so that you would say that Africa was being suddenly depopulated. [4] The terror which these fugitives created in the cities was greater even than what they themselves felt, especially in Carthage, where the confusion was almost as great as if it had been actually captured. [5] Since the days of the consuls M. Atilius Regulus and L. Manlius, almost fifty years ago, they had never seen a Roman army other than those employed on raiding expeditions, who picked up what they [6??] could in the fields and always got back to their ships before the countrymen could assemble together to meet them. This made the excitement and alarm in the city all the greater. [7] And no wonder, for there was neither an effective army nor a general whom they could oppose to Scipio. Hasdrubal, the son of Gisgo, was by far the most prominent man in the State, distinguished alike by his birth, his military reputation and his wealth, and now by his connection with royalty. [8] But the Carthaginians had not forgotten that he had been defeated and routed in several battles by this very Scipio, and that as a general he was no more a match for him than the irregular levies which made up his force were a match for the army of Rome. [9] There was a general call to arms, as though they were anticipating an immediate assault; the gates were hastily closed, troops stationed on the walls, outposts and sentinels posted, and the night was passed under arms. [10] The next day, a body of cavalry, 1000 strong, who had been sent down to the sea to reconnoitre and harass the Romans during the disembarkation, came upon the Roman outposts. [11] Scipio, meanwhile, after sending the fleet to Utica, had advanced a short distance from the shore and seized the nearest heights, where he stationed some of his cavalry as outposts; the rest he sent to plunder the fields.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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