Livy

“ Even now the wrath of the goddess is not slow to visit your officers and soldiers. Frequently have they already engaged in pitched battles; Pleminius leading the one side, the military tribunes the other. They have fought quite as furiously with one another as they ever fought with the Carthaginians, and in their frenzy would have given Hannibal an opportunity of recapturing Locri if we had not sent for Scipio. Do not suppose that whilst the guilt of sacrilege drove the soldiers mad, the goddess did not manifest her wrath by punishing the leaders. ”

“ The prospect of a campaign far from home with its many toils and great dangers both by land and sea appalled the young fellows as well as their parents and relations. When the appointed day arrived they all appeared fully armed and accounted. Scipio then told them that it had come to his knowledge that some of the Sicilian cavalry were looking forward with dread to their expedition as one full of difficulties and hardships. If any of them felt like that he would rather that they owned it at once than that the republic should have reluctant and inefficient soldiers who were always grumbling. ”

“ 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. 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. ”

“ The Carthaginians had not yet all emerged from the city, and their general had more than enough to do in forcing some who were heavy with wine and sleep to seize their weapons and bridle their horses and preventing others from rushing out of the gates in scattered disorder, with no attempt at formation and even without their standards. The first who incautiously galloped out fell into Masinissa's hands, but they soon poured out in a compact body and in greater numbers, and the fighting became more equal. ”

“ His masses of men, which had been formed into two divisions, one pressing the enemy in front, the other surrounding his rear, gave Syphax a decisive victory. Flight was impossible as they were hemmed in on both sides, and almost the whole force of infantry and cavalry were killed or made prisoners. Some two hundred horsemen had gathered as a bodyguard round Masinissa, and he divided them into three troops with orders to cut their way through at different points and after they had got clear away to rejoin him at a spot he named. ”

“ We implore you therefore, senators, by all you hold sacred, not to employ these men in any military service till you have expiated their crime, lest their sacrilege should be atoned for, not by their blood alone but also by disaster to the commonwealth. ”

“ We have seen with what pious care you not only worship your own gods, but even recognise those of other nations. Now there is in our city a shrine sacred to Proserpine, and I believe some rumours of the sanctity of that temple reached your ears during your war with Pyrrhus. On his return voyage from Sicily he touched at Locri and added to the atrocities which he had committed against us for our loyalty to you by plundering the treasury of Proserpine, which up to that day had never been disturbed. He placed the money on board his fleet, and continued his journey overland. ”

“ Scipio was far from despising these men, he was quite aware that the defeat at Cannae was not brought about by any cowardice on their part, and he knew, too, that there were no soldiers in the Roman army who had had such a long experience in every kind of fighting, and in the conduct of sieges. They formed the fifth and sixth legions. After announcing to them that he would take them with him to Africa, he inspected them man by man, and those whom he did not consider suitable he left behind, replacing them from the men whom he had brought from Italy. ”

“ Every one felt that to gain this distinction would be for him a real victory, far outweighing any official position or honourable distinction which either patricians or plebeians could confer. Of all the great and good men in the State they adjudged the best and noblest to be P. Scipio, the son of the Cnaeus Scipio who had fallen in Spain; a young man not yet old enough to be quaestor. ”

“ I will give you a general description. There is not a single house in Locri, I venture to assert, not a single individual who has escaped ill-treatment; there is no form of villainy or lust or rapacity which has not been practiced upon everyone who was a suitable victim. It is difficult to decide which is the worst misfortune for a city, to be captured by an enemy in war, or to be crushed by force and violence by a sanguinary tyrant. All the horrors which attend the capture of a city we have suffered and are suffering to the utmost ”

“ A good many thousands of men must be armed if they were to offer an effectual resistance to two Roman generals and two armies. The Gauls assured him that they were perfectly willing to do their part, but as one Roman camp was on their territory and the other just within the frontier of Etruria, almost within sight of them, any attempt to assist the Carthaginians openly would subject their country to an invasion from both sides. Mago must ask from the Gauls only such assistance as they could furnish secretly. ”

“ If you, senators, do not show any regard for our misery, there is nothing left which we can pray for, even to the immortal gods themselves."
Q. Pleminius was sent with a body of troops to recover Locri from the Carthaginians and was left with his troops in the city. In this officer of yours - the extremity of misery gives me courage to speak freely - there is nothing human except his face and appearance, there is no trace of the Roman save in his garb and speech; he is a wild beast, a monster such as were fabled to haunt the waters which divide us from Sicily, to the destruction of navigators. ”

“ Scipio at the time was encamped about a mile from Utica, having moved up from the coast where for a few days he had occupied an intrenched position close to his fleet. The mounted troops which had been supplied to Hanno were by no means strong enough to harass the enemy or even to protect the country from his depredations, and his first and most pressing task was to increase its strength. Though he did not reject recruits from other tribes, his levy consisted mainly of Numidians, by far the finest cavalry in Africa. ”

“ The whole world is waiting in feverish expectation to see whether you or the Carthaginians are to be the lords of the earth. If the choice between Roman and Punic supremacy depended upon the way in which the Carthaginians have treated us Locrians as compared with what we are suffering today from your soldiers, there is not one of us who would not prefer their rule to yours. And yet in spite of all this, see what our feeling towards you has been. When we were suffering comparatively slight injuries from the Carthaginians we betook ourselves to your commander ”

“ Some men are so constituted that whilst they would not have crimes committed they lack the resolution to inflict punishment when they have been committed." The praetor and his council were greatly relieved at not having to call Scipio to account; Pleminius and thirty-two others they found guilty and sent them in chains to Rome. The commission then went to Scipio to find out by personal observation whether there was any truth in the common rumours about Scipio's style of dress and love of pleasure, in order to be able to report to Rome. ”

“ They decided to raise a hasty levy from the town and country population alike, to send officers to enlist African mercenaries, to strengthen the defences of the city, to accumulate stores of corn, to prepare a supply of weapons and armour, to fit out ships and despatch them against the Roman fleet at Hippo. In the midst of these preparations news came that it was Laelius, not Scipio, who was in command, that the force he had brought was only sufficient to make a raid and that the main strength of the war was still in Sicily. ”

“ One is that the matter ought to be discussed when P. Scipio is present, as he recaptured Locri and was an eyewitness of all our acts, both good and bad, and another reason is that, however bad we may be, we ought not to have suffered as we have done. We do not deny, senators, that when we had the Carthaginian garrison in our citadel we had to submit to many acts of insolence and cruelty at the hands of Hamilcar and his Numidians and Africans, but what were they compared with what we are going through today? ”

“ His former popularity and the unhoped-for delight of seeing him safe and sound, after they had believed him dead, had such an effect that in a few days 6000 infantry and 4000 cavalry had gathered round his standard. He was now in possession of his kingdom, and began to devastate the tribes who were friendly to Carthage, and the territory of the Maesulii, which formed part of the dominions of Syphax. Having thus provoked Syphax into hostilities, Masinissa took up a position on some mountain heights between Cirto and Hippo, a situation which was every way advantageous. ”

“ He declared that Scipio was born to destroy all military discipline. It was the same in Spain; more men had been lost there in mutiny than in battle. His conduct was that of some foreign tyrant, first indulging the licence of the soldiers and then punishing them. Fabius closed his attack with the following drastic resolution: "I move that Pleminius be brought to Rome to plead his cause in chains, and if the charges which the Locrians have brought against him are substantiated, that he be put to death in prison and his property confiscated. ”

“ There was some talk of a closer connection through the king's marriage with Hasdrubal's daughter, and with a view to realising this project and fixing a day for the nuptials - for the girl was of a marriageable age - Hasdrubal paid Syphax a visit. When he saw that the prince was passionately desirous of the match - the Numidians are of all barbarians the most ardent lovers - he sent for the maiden from Carthage and hastened on the wedding. The gratification felt at the match was heightened by the action of the king in strengthening his domestic tie with Carthage by a political alliance. ”

“ They shall order each colony to supply a contingent of infantry twice as numerous as the largest they have raised since the Carthaginians appeared in Italy, and 120 cavalry in addition. In case any colony cannot make up the required number of mounted men they shall be allowed to substitute three foot-soldiers for each horseman deficient. Both the cavalry and infantry are to be selected from the wealthiest citizens, and sent wherever reinforcements are required outside the limits of Italy. ”

“ 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. In their anxiety for relief everything seemed to be moving too slowly. 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. ”

“ Scipio ravaged the surrounding fields and captured a fairly opulent city in the immediate neighbourhood. In addition to the plunder which was at once put on board the transports and sent to Sicily, he made prisoners of some 8000 men, freemen and slaves. What cheered the whole army most of all at the outset of their campaign was the arrival of Masinissa, who, according to some writers, was accompanied by a mounted force of 200 men ”

“ These, finding themselves unable to act as cavalry, dismounted and fought on foot. When the Roman commanders saw the enemy's ranks in disorder, confusion and panic spreading and the standards swaying to and fro, they appealed to their men to break up the enemy while thus shaken and not let them re-form their line. The barbarians would not have withstood the furious attack which followed had not Indibilis and his dismounted cavalry placed themselves in front to screen the infantry. There was very violent fighting for some time, neither side giving way. ”

“ The Numidian did not consider it a matter of much importance to him whether the Maesulian throne was occupied by Lacumazes or Masinissa, but Hasdrubal warned him that he was making a very great mistake if he supposed that Masinissa would be content with the same frontiers as his father Gala. "That man," he said, "possessed much more ability and much more force of character than any one of that nation had hitherto shown. In Spain he had often exhibited to friends and foes alike proofs of a courage rare amongst men. ”

“ There were present at the conference Amynander, king of the Athamanians, as well as the chief magistrates of the Epirotes and Acarnanians. The Epirote magistrate, Philip, opened the discussion by appealing to the king and the Roman general to put a stop to the war out of consideration for the Epirotes. The conditions of peace as stated by Sempronius were that the Parthini together with the towns of Dimallum, Bargullum and Eugenium should belong to Rome, and Atintania should be annexed by Macedon, if Philip obtained the sanction of the senate to the arrangement. ”