§29.32.1Bucar ex praefectis regiis, vir acer et inpiger, ad id delectus.
Bucar, one of the royal officers, a keen and active man, was chosen for this task.
ei data quattuor milia peditum, duo equitum; praemiorumque ingentium spe oneratus, si caput Masinissae rettulisset aut vivum — id vero inaestimabile gaudium fore cepisset.
To him were given four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry; and he was loaded with the hope of immense rewards, if he should bring back the head of Masinissa or capture him alive—which indeed would be an inestimable joy.
§29.32.2palatos incurioseque agentes inproviso adortus, pecorum hominumque ingenti multitudine a praesidio armatorum exclusa, Masinissam ipsum cum paucis in verticem montis compellit.
Attacking them by surprise as they were scattered and acting carelessly, and cutting off a huge multitude of cattle and men from the protection of the armed guards, he drove Masinissa himself with a few men to the summit of the mountain.
§29.32.3inde prope ut iam debellato, nec praeda modo pecorum hominumque captorum missa ad regem, sed copiis etiam, ut aliquanto maioribus quam pro reliquiis belli, remissis, §29.32.4cum quingentis haud amplius peditibus ducentisque equitibus degressum iugis Masinissam persecutus in valle arta faucibus utrimque obsessis inclusit, ubi ingens caedes Maesuliorum facta.
From there, as if the war were now almost finished, having not only sent the booty of captured cattle and men to the king, but also sent back forces that were somewhat too large for the remains of the war, and pursuing Masinissa as he descended from the ridges with no more than five hundred infantry and two hundred cavalry, he shut him up in a narrow valley, the passes of which were blockaded on both sides, where a huge slaughter of the Maesulians took place.
§29.32.5Masinissa cum quinquaginta haud amplius equitibus per anfractus montis ignotos sequentibus se eripuit; §29.32.6tenuit tamen vestigia Bucar adeptusque eum patentibus prope Clupeam urbem campis ita circumvenit, ut praeter quattuor equites omnes ad unum interfecerit.
Masinissa escaped with no more than fifty horsemen through unknown windings of the mountain, with the enemy pursuing him; Nevertheless, Bucar kept on his track, and having overtaken him in the open plains near the city of Clupea, he surrounded him in such a way that he killed everyone to a man, except four horsemen.
cum iis ipsum quoque Masinissam saucium prope e manibus inter tumultum amisit.
Along with these, he lost Masinissa himself, who was wounded, almost from his hands during the confusion.
§29.32.7in conspectu erant fugientes; ala equitum dispersa lato campo, quibusdam, ut occurrerent, per obliqua tendentibus, quinque hostes sequebatur.
The fugitives were in sight; a squadron of cavalry, dispersed over the wide plain, was pursuing the five enemies, while some, in order to intercept them, were heading obliquely.
§29.32.8amnis ingens fugientes accepit — neque enim cunctanter, ut quos maior metus urgeret, immiserant equos — raptique gurgite in obliquum praelati.
A huge river received the fugitives—for they had plunged their horses in without hesitation, as men urged by a greater fear—and they were swept away by the current and carried obliquely downstream.
§29.32.9duobus in conspectu hostium in praerapidum gurgitem haustis ipse, perisse creditus, ac duo reliqui equites cum eo inter virgulta ulterioris ripae emerserunt.
While two of them were swallowed up by the extremely rapid current in the sight of the enemy, he himself, believed to have perished, and the two remaining horsemen emerged with him among the brushwood on the opposite bank.
is finis Bucari sequendi fuit nec ingredi flumen auso nec habere credenti se iam, quem sequeretur.
That was the end of Bucar's pursuit, as he neither dared to enter the river nor believed that he now had anyone to pursue.
§29.32.10inde vanus auctor absumpti Masinissae ad regem rediit, missique, qui Carthaginem gaudium ingens nuntiarent; totaque Africa fama mortis Masinissae repens allata varie animos adfecit.
Thence he returned to the king, a false author of Masinissa's destruction, and messengers were sent to announce the immense joy to Carthage; and the sudden rumor of Masinissa's death, spread throughout all Africa, affected minds in various ways.
§29.32.11Masinissa in spelunca occulta cum herbis curaret vulnus, duorum equitum latrocinio per dies aliquot vixit.
While Masinissa was curing his wound with herbs in a hidden cave, he lived for several days on the robbery of his two horsemen.
§29.32.12ubi primum ducta cicatrix, patique posse visus iactationem, audacia ingenti pergit ire ad regnum repetendum; atque in ipso itinere haud plus quadraginta equitibus conlectis cum in Maesulios palam iam, quis esset, §29.32.13ferens venisset, tantum motum cum favore pristino tum gaudio insperato, quod, quem perisse crediderant, §29.32.14incolumem cernebant, fecit, ut intra paucos dies sex milia peditum armatorum, quattuor equitum ad eum convenirent, iamque non in possessione modo paterni regni esset, sed etiam socios Carthaginiensium populos Masaesuliorumque fines — id Syphacis regnum erat — vastaret.
As soon as the scar was formed, and he seemed able to bear the exertion, he proceeded with immense daring to recover his kingdom; and having collected no more than forty horsemen on the very journey, when he had come openly among the Maesulians, now declaring who he was, he caused so great a movement, both from former favor and from unexpected joy, because they saw him safe and sound, whom they had believed to have perished, that within a few days six thousand armed infantry and four thousand cavalry assembled to him, and he was now not only in possession of his paternal kingdom, but was also devastating the allied peoples of the Carthaginians and the territories of the Masaesulians—which was the kingdom of Syphax.
inde inritato ad bellum Syphace, inter Cirtam Hipponemque in iugis opportunorum ad omnia montium consedit.
Thence Syphax, provoked to war, encamped on the ridges of mountains favorable for all operations, between Cirta and Hippo.