§30.7.1Hasdrubal ex fuga cum paucis Afrorum urbem proximam petierat, eoque omnes, qui supererant, vestigia ducis sequentes se contulerant; metu deinde, ne dederetur Scipioni, urbe excessit.
Hasdrubal had from his flight sought the nearest city with a few of the Africans, and thither all who survived, following the footsteps of their leader, had betaken themselves; then, from fear lest he should be surrendered to Scipio, he departed from the city.
§30.7.2mox eodem patentibus portis Romani accepti; nec quicquam hostile, quia voluntate concesserant in dicionem, factum.
Soon after, the Romans were received there through open gates; nor was any hostile act committed, because they had voluntarily yielded to their authority.
duae subinde urbes captae direptaeque; ea praeda et quae castris incensis ex igne rapta erat militi concessa est.
Immediately afterwards two cities were captured and plundered; that booty, along with what had been snatched from the fire when the camps were burned, was granted to the soldiers.
§30.7.3Syphax octo milium ferme inde spatio loco munito consedit; Hasdrubal Carthaginem contendit, ne quid per metum ex recenti clade mollius consuleretur.
Syphax halted in a fortified place about eight miles’ distance from there; Hasdrubal hastened to Carthage, lest any too weak counsel should be taken through fear arising from the recent disaster.
§30.7.4quo tantus primo terror est adlatus, ut omissa Utica Carthaginem crederent extemplo Scipionem obsessurum.
Whither such great terror was at first brought, that, neglecting Utica, they believed Scipio would immediately besiege Carthage.
§30.7.5senatum itaque sufetes quod velut consulare imperium apud eos erat, vocaverunt.
Therefore the sufetes, an office which had among them a power like that of the consuls, convened the senate.
§30.7.6ibi tribus sententiis certatum; est; una de pace legatos ad Scipionem decernebat, altera Hannibalem ad tuendam ab exitiabili bello patriam revocabat, tertia Romanae in adversis rebus constantiae erat:
There the debate was contested between three opinions: one proposed sending envoys to Scipio for peace; another recalled Hannibal to protect his fatherland from a destructive war; the third was characteristic of Roman constancy in adversity: it proposed that the army should be rebuilt and Syphax exhorted not to withdraw from the war.
§30.7.7reparandum exercitum Syphacemque hortandum, ne bello absisteret, censebat. haec sententia, quia Hasdrubal praesens Barcinaeque omnes factionis bellum malebant, vicit.
This opinion prevailed, because Hasdrubal was present and everyone of the Barcine faction preferred war.
§30.7.8inde dilectus in urbe agrisque haberi coeptus, et ad Syphacem legati missi, summa ope et ipsum reparantem bellum, cum uxor non iam ut ante blanditiis, satis potentibus ad animum amantis, sed precibus et misericordia valuisset, plena lacrimarum obtestans, §30.7.9ne patrem suum patriamque proderet isdemque flammis Carthaginem, quibus castra conflagrassent, absumi sineret.
From that point, a levy began to be held in the city and the countryside, and envoys were sent to Syphax, who was himself also rebuilding the war with all his might, since his wife had prevailed—no longer, as before, with blandishments, which were powerful enough on the mind of a lover, but with prayers and appeals to pity, beseeching him with tears, not to betray her father and her country, nor to permit Carthage to be consumed by the same flames by which the camps had burned.
§30.7.10spem quoque opportune oblatam adferebant legati: quattuor milia Celtiberorum circa urbem nomine Obbam, ab conquisitoribus suis conducta in Hispania, egregiae iuventutis, sibi occurrisse, et Hasdrubalem prope diem adfore cum manu haudquaquam contemnenda.
The envoys also brought a timely offered hope: that four thousand Celtiberians, of excellent youth, hired in Spain by their recruiting agents, had met them near a city named Obba, and that Hasdrubal would shortly be present with a force by no means to be despised.
§30.7.11igitur non benigne modo legatis respondit, sed ostendit etiam multitudinem agrestium Numidarum, quibus per eosdem dies arma equosque dedisset, et omnem iuventutem adfirmat ex regno exciturum; §30.7.12scire incendio, non proelio cladem acceptam; eum bello inferiorem esse, qui armis vincatur.
Therefore, he not only replied kindly to the envoys, but also showed them a multitude of rustic Numidians to whom he had given arms and horses during those same days, and asserted that he would rouse all the youth from his kingdom; he said he knew that the defeat had been received through fire, not in battle; and that he who is conquered by arms is the one inferior in war.
§30.7.13haec legatis responsa; et post dies paucos rursus Hasdrubal et Syphax copias iunxerunt.
These were the responses given to the envoys; and after a few days, Hasdrubal and Syphax joined forces again.
is omnis exercitus fuit triginta ferme milium armatorum.
That entire army consisted of about thirty thousand armed men.