The tumult occasioned by the rebellion in Spain having been thus excited and suppressed within the space of a few days, without any great disturbance, the whole terror of the war was directed against Africa.  Caius Laelius having arrived at Hippo Regius by night, at break of day led his soldiers and mariners in regular array to lay waste the country.  As all the inhabitants were living unguardedly, as in a time of peace, great damage was done; and messengers, flying in terror, filled Carthage with alarm, by reporting that the Roman fleet and the general, Scipio, had arrived; for there was a rumour that Scipio had already crossed over into Sicily.  Not knowing accurately how many ships they had seen, or how large a body of troops was devastating the country, they, under the influence of fear, which represented them as greater than they really were, exaggerated every thing.  Accordingly, at first, terror and dismay took possession of their minds, but afterwards grief, when they reflected that their circumstances had undergone so great a change; that they, who lately as conquerors had an army before the walls of Rome, and, after having laid prostrate so many armies of the enemy, had received the surrender of all the states of Italy, either by force or choice, now, the war having taken an unfavourable turn, were destined to behold the devastation of Africa and the siege of Carthage, without any thing like the resources to enable them to bear up against those calamities which the Romans possessed.  To the latter the Roman commons and Latium afforded a supply of young men, which continually grew up more vigorous and more numerous, in the room of so many armies destroyed, while their own people, both those in the city and those in the country, were unfit for military service; their troops consisted of auxiliaries, procured by hire from the Africans, a faithless nation, and veering about with every gale of fortune.  Now too, with regard to the kings, Syphax was alienated from them since his conference with Scipio, and Masinissa, by an open defection, had become their most determined enemy.  Wherever they turned their eyes there was no hope, no aid.  Neither did Mago excite any commotion on the side of Gaul, nor join his forces with those of Hannibal; while Hannibal himself was now declining both in reputation and strength.

4.  Their minds, which had fallen into these melancholy reflections in consequence of the intelligence they had just received, were brought back by their immediate fears to deliberate how to oppose the instant danger.  They resolved, that troops should be hastily levied both in the city and in the country; that persons should be sent to hire auxiliaries from the Africans; that the city should be fortified, corn collected, weapons and arms prepared, and ships equipped and sent to Hippo against the Roman fleet.  But now, while engaged in these matters, news at length arrived that it was Laelius, and not Scipio; that the forces which