§30.10.1inde, cum maxime vallum Romani iacerent, conspecta classis hostium est Uticam a Carthagine petens.
From there, while the Romans were in the very act of throwing up a rampart, the enemy's fleet was sighted making its way from Carthage towards Utica.
§30.10.2igitur omisso opere pronuntiatum iter, signaque raptim ferri sunt coepta, ne naves in terram et obsidionem versae ac minime navali proelio aptae opprimerentur.
Therefore, work being suspended, the march was announced, and the standards began to be hastily advanced, lest the ships, which had been turned toward the land and the siege and were by no means fitted for a naval battle, should be overwhelmed.
§30.10.3qui enim restitissent agili et nautico instrumento aptae et armatae classi naves tormenta machinasque portantes et aut in onerariarum usum versae aut ita adpulsae muris, ut pro aggere ac pontibus praebere ascensus possent?
For how could ships carrying artillery and siege engines, and either employed for the purpose of transport vessels or so moored to the walls as to afford ascents in place of mounds and bridges, have resisted a fleet that was agile, equipped with nautical gear, and armed?
§30.10.4itaque Scipio, postquam eo ventum est, contra quam in navali certamine solet, rostratis, quae praesidio aliis esse poterant, in postremam aciem receptis prope terram, §30.10.5onerariarum quadruplicem ordinem pro muro adversus hostem opposuit, easque ipsas, ne in tumultu pugnae turbari ordines possent, malis antemnisque de nave in navem traiectis ac validis funibus velut uno inter se uinculo inligatis conprendit tabulasque superinstravit, §30.10.6ut pervium in totum navium ordinem esset, et sub ipsis pontibus intervalla fecit, qua procurrere speculatoriae naves in hostem ac tuto recipi possent.
Therefore Scipio, after they had arrived there, contrary to what is customary in a naval battle, having withdrawn the beaked ships, which might have been a protection to the others, to the rear line close to the land, opposed a fourfold line of transport ships like a wall against the enemy; and, lest the ranks should be thrown into confusion in the tumult of the battle, he bound those very ships together by throwing masts and yards from ship to ship, and tying them to one another with strong ropes as if with a single bond, and laid planks over them, so that there might be a passage across the entire line of ships, and under those very bridges he left intervals through which scout-ships might run out against the enemy and be safely received back.
§30.10.7his raptim pro tempore instructis mille ferme delecti propugnatores onerariis imponuntur, telorum maxime missilium, ut quamvis longo certamini sufficerent, vis ingens congeritur.
When these arrangements had been hastily made as time permitted, about a thousand chosen defenders were placed upon the transport ships, and a vast quantity of weapons, especially missiles, was piled up, so that they might suffice for a battle however long.
§30.10.8ita parati atque intenti hostium adventum opperiebantur.
Thus prepared and alert, they awaited the arrival of the enemy.
Carthaginienses, qui, §30.10.9si maturassent, omnia permixta turba trepidantium primo impetu oppressissent, perculsi terrestribus cladibus atque inde ne mari quidem, ubi ipsi plus poterant, satis fidentes, die segni navigatione absumpto sub occasum solis in portum — Rusucmona Afri vocant — classem adpulere;
The Carthaginians, who, if they had hastened, would have overwhelmed everything in the first onset amid the confused crowd of those in panic, but being demoralized by the disasters on land and consequently not even having sufficient confidence on sea, where they themselves were more powerful, wasted the day in sluggish sailing, and towards sunset brought their fleet into a harbor—which the Africans call Rusucmona.
§30.10.10postero die sub ortum solis instruxere ab alto naves velut ad iustum proelium navale et tamquam exituris contra Romanis.
On the following day, about sunrise, they drew up their ships from the open sea as if for a regular naval battle, and as though the Romans would come out against them.
§30.10.11cum diu stetissent, postquam nihil moveri ab hostibus viderunt, tum demum onerarias adgrediuntur.
When they had stood there for a long time, after they saw that no movement was made by the enemy, then at last they attacked the transports.
§30.10.12erat res minime certamini navali similis, proxime speciem muros oppugnantium navium.
The affair was by no means like a naval battle, but came very near to the appearance of ships attacking walls.
§30.10.13altitudine aliquantum onerariae superabant; ex rostratis Poeni vana pleraque, utpote supino iactu, tela in locum superiorem mittebant; gravior ac pondere ipso libratior superne ex onerariis ictus erat.
The transports had a considerable advantage in height; the Carthaginians from their beaked ships discharged weapons for the most part in vain towards the higher position, because of their upward throw; while the blow from above from the transports was heavier and more steady from its very weight.
§30.10.14speculatoriae naves ac levia alia navigia, quae sub constratis pontium per intervalla excurrebant, primo ipsae tantum impetu ac magnitudine rostratarum obruebantur; §30.10.15deinde propugnatoribus quoque incommodae erant, quod permixtae cum hostium navibus inhibere saepe tela cogebant metu, ne ambiguo ictu suis inciderent.
The scout-ships and other light vessels, which ran out at intervals from under the covered bridges, were at first themselves overwhelmed merely by the onset and bulk of the beaked ships; next, they were also a hindrance to the defenders, because, being mingled with the enemy's ships, they often compelled them to hold back their weapons for fear lest they should strike their own men by a doubtful shot.
§30.10.16postremo asseres ferreo unco praefixi — harpagones vocant — ex Punicis navibus inici in Romanas coepti.
Finally, beams tipped with an iron hook—they call them harpagones—began to be thrown from the Carthaginian ships into the Roman ones.
§30.10.17quos cum neque ipsos neque catenas, §30.10.18quibus suspensi iniciebantur, incidere possent, ut quaeque retro inhibita rostrata onerariam haerentem unco traheret, scindi videres vincula, quibus alis innexa erat, seriem etiam simul plurium navium trahi.
Since they could cut neither the hooks themselves nor the chains by which they were suspended when thrown, whenever any beaked ship backed water and dragged a transport caught by the hook, one might see the bonds by which it was fastened to the others torn asunder, and even a series of several ships dragged along together.
§30.10.19hoc maxime modo lacerati primi quidem ordinis pontes, et vix transiliendi in secundum ordinem navium spatium propugnatoribus datum est.
By this means especially, the bridges of the first line were torn to pieces, and space was scarcely given to the defenders to leap across into the second line of ships.
§30.10.20sexaginta ferme onerariae puppibus abstractae Carthaginem sunt: maior quam pro re laetitia, sed eo gratior, quod inter adsiduas clades ac lacrimas unum quantumcumque ex insperato gaudium adfulserat cum eo, §30.10.21ut appareret haud procul exitio fuisse Romanam classem, ni cessatum a praefectis suarum navium foret et Scipio in tempore subvenisset.
About sixty transport ships were dragged off by their sterns to Carthage; the joy was greater than the occasion warranted, but all the more welcome because, amidst continuous disasters and tears, a single unexpected joy, however small, had shone upon them, together with the fact that it was apparent that the Roman fleet had been not far from destruction, had there not been slackness on the part of the commanders of their own ships, and had Scipio not brought help in time.