On the very day on which this action was fought, it happened that the ships which had carried the plunder to Sicily returned with supplies, as though they had divined that they would have to carry back a second cargo of spoils of war. [2] Not all the authorities state that two Carthaginian generals of the same name were killed in two separate actions, they were afraid, I think, of being misled into repeating the same incident twice over. Coelius at all events, and Valerius tell us that Hanno was taken prisoner. [3] Scipio distributed amongst the cavalry and their officers rewards proportioned to the service each had rendered; Masinissa was distinguished above the rest by some splendid presents. [4] After placing a strong garrison in Salaeca he continued his advance with the rest of his army, and not only stripped the fields along his line of march, but captured various towns and villages as well, spreading terror far and wide. [5] After a week's marching he returned to camp with a long train of men and cattle and all sorts of booty, and the ships were sent off for the second time heavily loaded with the spoils of war. [6] He now abandoned his plundering expeditions and devoted all his strength to an attack on Utica, intending if he took it to make that the base of his future operations. [7] His naval contingent was employed against the side of the city which faced the sea, while his land army operated from some rising ground which commanded the walls. [8] Some artillery and siege engines he had brought with him, and some had been sent with the supplies from Sicily, new ones were also being constructed in an arsenal where a large number of artisans trained in this work were assembled. Under the pressure of such a vigorous investment all the hopes of the people of Utica rested on Carthage, and all the hopes of the Carthaginians rested on Hasdrubal and on whatever assistance he could obtain from Syphax. [9] In their anxiety for relief everything seemed to be moving too slowly. [10] Hasdrubal had been doing his utmost to obtain troops, and had actually assembled a force of 30,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry, but he did not venture to move nearer the enemy till Syphax joined him. [11] He came with 50,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, and with their united forces they at once advanced from Carthage and took up a position not far from Utica and the Roman lines. [12] Their approach led to one important result at least: after prosecuting the siege of Utica with all the resources at his command Scipio abandoned any further attempts on the place, and as winter [13??] was coming on he constructed an intrenched camp on a tongue of land which projected into the sea and was connected by a narrow isthmus with the mainland. [14] He enclosed the military and naval camps within the same lines. The legions were stationed in the middle of the headland; the ships, which had been beached, and their crews occupied the northern side; the low ground on the south side was allotted to the cavalry. [15] Such were the incidents in the African campaign down to the end of the autumn.
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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