29.35
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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 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. 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. Such were the incidents
in the African campaign down to the end of the autumn.
