up to the highest pitch, both by emulation in toil and danger, and also by the mere sight of each other.  Accordingly the contest was entered upon with such ardour, that the army which had subdued the whole of Spain was frequently driven back from the walls of one town, and exhibited such a want of resolution in the contest as was not very honourable to it.  When Scipio perceived this, he was afraid lest, by the failure of his attempts, the courage of the enemy should be raised and his own troops be dispirited; and thinking it incumbent upon him to exert himself in person and share the danger, reproved his soldiers for their cowardice, and ordered the scaling-ladders to be brought, threatening to mount the wall himself, since the rest hesitated.  He had now advanced near the walls with no small danger, when a shout was raised from all sides by the soldiers, who were alarmed at the danger their general was exposed to, and the scaling-ladders began to be reared in several places at once.  Laelius too, in another quarter, pressed on vigorously.  It was then that the energy of the townsmen was subdued, and those who defended the walls being beaten off, the Romans took possession of them.  The citadel also was captured during the confusion on a side where it was thought impregnable.

20.  Some African deserters, who were at that time among the Roman auxiliaries, while the townsmen were occupied in defending those quarters whence danger was apprehended, and the Romans were making approaches where they could gain access, observed that the most elevated part of the town, which was protected by a very high rock, was neither fortified by any work nor furnished with defenders.  Being men of light make and nimble from being well exercised, they climbed up wherever they could gain access over the irregular projections of the rock, carrying with them iron spikes.  If in any part they met with a cliff too steep and smooth, they fixed spikes at moderate intervals, and having thus formed a sort of steps, and those who were foremost pulling up those who followed, and those who were behind lifting up those before them, they succeeded in gaining the summit, whence they ran down with a shout into the city, which had already been taken by the Romans.  Then it became manifest indeed that it was resentment and hatred which prompted the assault upon the city.  No one thought of taking any alive, nor of booty, though every thing lay exposed to plunder.  They butchered all indiscriminately, armed and unarmed, male and female.  Their cruel resentment extended to the slaughter of infants.  They then set fire to the houses, and pulled down those which could not be consumed by fire, so bent were they upon erasing even every vestige of the city, and blotting out the memory of their enemies.  Scipio marched his army thence to Castulo, which was defended, not only by Spaniards who had assembled there, but also by the remains of the Carthaginian army, which had gone there from the various places to which