28.18
Syphax regarded it as an exceptional
honour -as indeed it was -for the captains of the two most powerful nations
of their time to come to him seeking his friendship and alliance. He invited
them both to be his guests, and as Fortune had willed that they should be
under the same roof and at the same hearth he tried to induce them to confer
together with the view of removing all causes of quarrel. Scipio declined on
the ground that he had no personal quarrel with the Carthaginian and he was
powerless to discuss affairs of State without the orders of the senate. The
king was anxious that it should not seem as if one of his guests was excluded
from his table, and he did his utmost to persuade Scipio to be present. He
raised no objection, and they both dined with the king, and at his particular
request occupied the same couch. Such was Scipio's charm of manner and
innate tact in dealing with everybody that he completely won over not only
Syphax, who as a barbarian was unaccustomed to Roman manners, but even
his deadly enemy. Hasdrubal openly avowed that "he admired Scipio more
now that he had made his personal acquaintance than after his military
successes, and he had no doubt that Syphax and his kingdom were already at
the disposal of Rome, such skill did the Roman possess in winning men. The
question for the Carthaginians was not how Spain had been lost, but how
Africa was to be retained. It was not from a love of travel or a passion for
sailing along pleasant shores that a great Roman commander had quitted his
newly subjugated province and his armies and crossed over with two vessels
to Africa, the land of his enemies, and trusted himself to the untried honour
of a king. His real motive was the hope of becoming master of Africa; this
project he had long been pondering over; he openly complained that 'Scipio
was not conducting war in Africa as Hannibal was in Italy."' After the treaty
with Syphax was concluded Scipio set sail from Africa and, after a four days'
passage in which he was buffeted by changeable and mostly stormy winds,
reached the harbour of New Carthage.