§2.1At ille ut Karthaginem venit, multo aliter ac sperarat rem publicam se habentem cognovit.
But when he arrived at Carthage, he found the republic to be in a far different condition than he had hoped.
namque diuturnitate externi mali tantum exarsit intestinum bellum, ut numquam in pari periculo fuerit Karthago nisi cum deleta est.
For, owing to the long duration of the foreign trouble, a domestic war flared up to such an extent that Carthage was never in equal danger except when it was destroyed.
§2.2primo mercennarii milites, quibus adversus Romanos usi erant, desciverunt, quorum numerus erat viginti milium.
First, the mercenary soldiers whom they had used against the Romans revolted, and their number was twenty thousand.
ii totam abalienarunt Africam, ipsam Karthaginem oppugnarunt.
These alienated the whole of Africa and besieged Carthage itself.
§2.3quibus malis adeo sunt Poeni perterriti, ut etiam auxilia ab Romanis petierint; eaque impetrarunt.
The Carthaginians were so terrified by these evils that they even asked for aid from the Romans, and they obtained it.
sed extremo, cum prope iam ad desperationem pervenissent, Hamilcarem imperatorem fecerunt.
But at last, when they had now come almost to despair, they made Hamilcar commander.
§2.4is non solum hostes a muris Karthaginis removit, cum amplius centum milia facta essent armatorum, sed etiam eo compulit, ut locorum angustiis clausi plures fame quam ferro interirent.
He not only removed the enemy from the walls of Carthage, although the number of armed men had become more than a hundred thousand, but also drove them to such a point that, shut up in narrow defiles, more of them perished by famine than by the sword.
omnia oppida abalienata, in eis Uticam atque Hipponem, valentissima totius Africae, restituit patriae.
All the alienated towns, among them Utica and Hippo, the strongest in all Africa, he restored to his country.
§2.5neque eo fuit contentus, sed etiam fines imperii propagavit, tota Africa tantum otium reddidit, ut nullum in ea bellum videretur multis annis fuisse.
Nor was he content with this, but he also extended the boundaries of the empire, and restored such great peace to all Africa that no war seemed to have existed in it for many years.