30.15
On
hearing this Masinissa blushed furiously and even shed tears. He said that he
would comply with the general's wishes, and begged him to take into
consideration, as far as he could, the pledge he had rashly given, for he had
promised that he would not let her pass into any one's power. Then he left
the headquarters tent and retired to his own in a state of distraction.
Dismissing all his attendants he remained there some time, giving vent to
continual sighs and groans which were quite audible to those outside. At last
with a deep groan he called one of his slaves in whom he placed complete
confidence and who had in his keeping the poison which kings usually have
in reserve against the vicissitudes of Fortune. After mixing it in a cup he told
him to take it to Sophonisba, and at the same time tell her that Masinissa
would have gladly fulfilled the first promise that he made to his wife, but as
those who have the power were depriving him of the right to do so, he was
fulfilling the second -that she should not fall into the hands of the Romans
alive. The thought of her father, her country, and the two kings who had
wedded her would decide her how to act. When the servant came with the
poison and the message to Sophonisba, she said, "I accept this wedding gift,
no unwelcome one if my husband can do nothing more for his wife. But tell
him that I should have died more happily had not my marriage bed stood so
near my grave." The high spirit of these words was sustained by the fearless
way in which, without the slightest sign of trepidation, she drank the potion.
When the news reached Scipio he was afraid that the young man, wild with
grief, would take some still more desperate step, so he at once sent for him,
and tried to console him. at the same time gently censuring him for having
atoned for one act of madness by committing another and making the affair
more tragic than it need have been. The next day, with the view of diverting
his thoughts, Scipio mounted the tribunal and ordered the assembly to be
sounded. Addressing Masinissa as king and eulogising him in the highest
possible terms, he presented him with a golden crown, curule chair, an ivory
sceptre and also with a purple-bordered toga and a tunic embroidered with
palms. He enhanced the value of these gifts by informing him that the
Romans considered no honour more splendid than that of a triumph, and that
no more magnificent insignia were borne by triumphing generals than those
which the Roman people deemed Masinissa, alone of all foreigners, worthy
to possess. Laelius was the next to be commended, he was presented with a
golden crown. Other soldiers received rewards according to their services.
The honours which had had been conferred on the king went far to assuage
his grief, and he was encouraged to hope for the speedy possession of the
whole of Numidia now that Syphax was out of the way.
