§30.5.1his praeparatis advocatoque consilio et dicere exploratoribus iussis, quae conperta adferrent, Masinissaque, cui omnia hostium nota erant, postremo ipse, quid pararet in proximam noctem, proponit; tribunis edicit, §30.5.2ut, ubi praetorio dimisso signa concinuissent, extemplo educerent castris legiones.
When these things had been prepared, the council summoned, and the scouts ordered to report what they had discovered, Masinissa, to whom everything about the enemy was known, and finally Scipio himself, set forth what he was preparing for the coming night; and he ordered the military tribunes, that, as soon as the council was dismissed from the general's tent and the signals sounded together, they should immediately lead the legions out of the camp.
§30.5.3ita ut imperaverat signa sub occasum solis efferri sunt coepta.
Just as he had ordered, the standards began to be carried out towards sunset.
ad primam ferme vigiliam agmen explicaverunt; media nocte — septem enim milia itineris erant — modico gradu ad castra hostium perventum est.
At about the first watch they deployed the column; at midnight—for it was a march of seven miles—they reached the enemy's camp at a moderate pace.
§30.5.4ibi Scipio partem copiarum Laelio Masinissamque ac Numidas adtribuit et castra Syphacis invadere ignesque conicere iubet.
There Scipio assigned a part of the forces to Laelius, and also attached Masinissa and the Numidians to him, and ordered them to invade the camp of Syphax and throw fire into it.
§30.5.5singulos deinde separatim Laelium ac Masinissam deductos obtestatur, ut, quantum nox providentiae adimat, tantum diligentia expleant curaque; se Hasdrubalem Punicaque castra adgressurum; ceterum non ante coepturum, §30.5.6quam ignem in regiis castris conspexisset.
Then, taking Laelius and Masinissa aside individually, he implored them to make up for with diligence and care whatever foresight the night took away; adding that he himself would attack Hasdrubal and the Carthaginian camp, but would not begin, until he had seen fire in the royal camp.
§30.5.7neque ea res morata diu est; nam ut proximis casis iniectus ignis haesit, extemplo proxima quaeque et deinceps continua amplexus totis se passim dissipavit castris.
And this was not long delayed; for as soon as the fire thrown onto the nearest huts caught hold, it immediately gripped each adjacent one and then those continuous to them, and spread itself everywhere throughout the entire camp.
§30.5.8et trepidatio quidem, quantam necesse erat in nocturno effuso tam late incendio, orta est; ceterum fortuitum, non hostilem ac bellicum ignem rati esse, sine armis ad restinguendum incendium effusi in armatos incidere hostes, §30.5.9maxime Numidas ab Masinissa notitia regiorum castrorum ad exitus itinerum idoneis locis dispositos.
And indeed, such confusion arose as was inevitable in a night fire spread so widely; but, thinking it a fortuitous fire, not an enemy or warlike one, they rushed out without arms to extinguish the fire and fell upon the armed enemy, especially the Numidians, who had been stationed by Masinissa at suitable places near the exits of the pathways, thanks to his knowledge of the royal camp.
multos in ipsis cubilibus semisomnos hausit flamma; §30.5.10multi in praecipiti fuga ruentes super alios alii in angustiis portarum obtriti sunt.
The flame consumed many while half-asleep in their very beds; many, rushing over one another in their headlong flight, were crushed in the narrow passages of the gates.