§ 1  After completing a series of full day's marches without pausing for a single day, Caesar arrived at Lilybaeum on December 17, and shewed himself desirous of embarking forthwith, although he had no more than a single legion of recruits and barely six hundred cavalry. He had his tent pitched alongside the actual beach so that the waves all but beat upon it: his purpose in so doing was to prevent anyone from hoping he would enjoy any respite, and to ensure that everyone was in a state of daily and hourly readiness. During this time he was unlucky with the weather, which was unsuitable for sailing; but for all that he still kept his rowers and troops aboard the ships and let slip no opportunity for setting forth, despite, above all, the reports which were coming in from the local provincials about the forces of the enemy — innumerable cavalry, four royal legions, a great quantity of light-armed troops, ten legions under command of Scipio, 120 elephants and several fleets: yet even so he was not deterred, but remained resolute and optimistic. Meanwhile every day saw an increase in the number of his warships, and numerous transports also assembled there: four legions of recruits, the veteran Fifth legion, and some two thousand cavalry also joined the muster.

§ 2  Six legions and two thousand cavalry had now been mustered. Each legion, as soon as it arrived, was embarked on the warships, while the cavalry were shipped aboard the transports. Accordingly, he ordered the greater part of the fleet to sail on ahead and make for the island of Aponiana, which is ten miles distant from Lilybaeum: he himself stayed behind there for a few days and sold up the property of a few persons for the profit of the state, and then gave full instructions to the praetor Alienus, who was governor of Sicily, in particular about the prompt embarkation of the rest of the army. Having given these instructions, he himself embarked on December 25 and immediately caught up with the remainder of his fleet. And so, sailing in a fast ship with a steady wind, three days later with a few warships he came into sight of Africa; for his transports, which comprised the rest of his fleet, had, with a few exceptions, been scattered by the wind and, losing their course, made for various points along the coast. He sailed on past Clupea with his fleet, and then past Neapolis; and besides these places he passed by quite a number of strongholds and towns not far from the sea.

§ 3  When Caesar reached Hadrumetum, where his opponents had a garrison commanded by C. Considius, Cn. Piso made his appearance there with approximately three thousand Moorish troops, approaching Hadrumetum with his cavalry along the sea coast from Clupea; whereupon Caesar paused for a little while in front of the port, waiting for the rest of his ships to assemble, and then landed his army, which numbered at present three thousand infantry and 150 cavalry. He then pitched camp in front of the town and established himself without molesting anyone, looting being universally forbidden. Meanwhile the occupants of the town manned their battlements with armed troops, and massed in front of the gate to defend themselves: their numbers amounted to the equivalent of two legions. Caesar rode round the town carefully observing the lie of the land, and then returned to camp. Some blamed him for lack of foresight because he had not originally briefed his pilots and captains about what points on the coast they were to make for, and had not, as had been his own habitual practice on previous occasions, issued sealed instructions to be read at a specified time, so that they could all make for a given rendezvous together. But this was by no means an oversight on Caesar's part; in fact, he surmised that there was no port on African soil where his fleet could run ashore and which he could count on as immune from the enemy's protection; and failing that, he was on the watch for luck to present him with an opportunity to land.

§ 4  Meanwhile one of his lieutenants, L. Plancus, asked Caesar to give him authority to treat with Considius, if by any means he could be brought to see reason. Permission being granted, he accordingly wrote a letter, which he gave to a prisoner to take to Considius in the town. As soon as the prisoner had arrived there, and when he was in the very act of handing Considius the letter in accordance with his instructions, 'Where did you get this?' Whereupon the prisoner replied, 'From the commander-in-chief, Caesar.' Then Considius retorted: 'There is but one commander-in-chief of the Roman people at the moment, namely Scipio.' He then ordered the prisoner to be executed forthwith in his presence, and gave the letter — still unread and with its seals intact — to a reliable messenger to take to Scipio.

§ 5  A night and a day were spent under the walls of the town without any reply being given by Considius: moreover, the rest of Caesar's forces failed to arrive to reinforce him; he had no abundance of cavalry and insufficient forces to assault the town, and those he had were mere recruits; he was loath to let his army suffer heavy casualties immediately on its arrival; the defences of the town were remarkably strong, its lofty position rendering it difficult to attack; and reports were coming in that large reinforcements of cavalry were on their way to aid the occupants of the town. For these reasons there seemed no point in staying for the purpose of attacking the town, lest, while engaged in that task, Caesar might be surrounded in the rear by the enemy cavalry and so find himself in difficulties.

§ 6  Caesar therefore was minded to strike camp; and while he was doing so a large body of men suddenly sallied forth from the town, and were reinforced simultaneously, as it chanced, by some cavalry sent by Juba to collect their pay: they seized Caesar's camp, which he had just quitted to begin his march, and began to pursue his rearguard. On seeing this the legionary troops came to an abrupt halt, while the cavalry, few as they were, nevertheless displayed the utmost gallantry in charging against such vast numbers. An incredible thing took place: less than thirty Gallic cavalry dislodged two thousand Moorish cavalry and drove them to take refuge in the town. After they had been repulsed and hurled back within their fortifications, Caesar made haste to proceed with his projected march. But as the enemy repeated these tactics all too frequently — now following in pursuit, now once again driven back into the town by the cavalry — Caesar posted in the rear of his column a few cohorts of the veteran troops which he had with him, as well as part of his cavalry, and so proceeded to march at a slow pace with the remainder of his force. In this way the further they withdrew from the town, the slower were the Numidians to pursue them. Meanwhile in the course of his march deputations arrived from towns and strongholds with promises of corn and assurances of their readiness to carry out any orders he might give them. And so on that day he pitched camp near the town of Ruspina.

§ 7  From there he moved camp on January 1st and arrived at the town of Leptis, a free community, immune from taxes. Envoys came from the town to meet him and promised they would readily do whatever he wished. Accordingly, he posted centurions and picquets at the town gates, to prevent any soldier from entering it or molesting any inhabitant, and then made his camp adjoining the shore, not far from the town. And it so chanced that some of his transports and warships arrived at this same place: as for the rest of them, it appeared from the reports which reached him that owing to their uncertain knowledge of the district they were making towards Utica. For the time being Caesar would not leave the sea or strike inland on account of these wayward vessels, and kept all his cavalry aboard ship, his purpose being, I imagine, to prevent their pillaging the countryside; as for water, he ordered it to be carried aboard. Meanwhile Caesar's troops were taken by surprise when some rowers who had disembarked to fetch water were suddenly set upon by Moorish cavalry, who wounded many with their lances and killed some of them. These Moors in fact lurk in ambush with their horses in the wadis, so as to start up suddenly and not to fight it out hand to hand in the plain.

§ 8  Meanwhile Caesar sent messengers to Sardinia and the other neighbouring provinces with despatches instructing them to take steps, immediately on reading the despatch, to send him reinforcements, supplies and corn. He also uploaded some of his warships and sent Rabirius Postumus to Sicily to fetch a second convoy. He ordered Vatinius to set out with ten warships to search for the remaining transports which had gone astray, and at the same time to keep the sea safe from enemy raiders. He likewise ordered the praetor C. Sallustius Crispus to proceed with a detachment of ships to the island of Cercina, which was under enemy occupation, as he heard that there was a great quantity of corn there. These orders and instructions he issued to each individual in such terms as to rule out any excuses as to whether or not they could be carried out, and to prevent any shuffling involving delay. Meanwhile he himself learned from deserters and the local inhabitants of the terms entered into by Scipio and his supporters who were engaged in hostilities against him — Scipio was in point of fact maintaining a royal cavalry force at the expense of the province of Africa; and he felt sorry that men could be so mad as to prefer to be the hirelings of a king to being in their own country, in the company of their own citizens, secure in the possession of their own fortunes.

§ 9  On January 2nd Caesar moved his camp. Leaving behind at Leptis a garrison of six cohorts with Saserna, he himself returned with his remaining forces back to Ruspina, whence he had come the previous day. There the army's baggage was left, and he himself set out with a force in light order to forage round the farms, issuing instructions to the townsfolk that all their carts and draught animals must go with him; and so, after finding a large quantity of corn, he returned to Ruspina. His object in returning to this town was, I imagine, to avoid leaving the coastal towns behind him unoccupied, but rather, by securing them with garrisons, to fortify them as strongholds for the reception of his fleet.

§ 10  And so, leaving behind a legion under command of P. Saserna — brother of the man he had left in the nearby town of Leptis — with instructions that as much wood as possible should be conveyed into the town, he left the town of Ruspina and made for its harbour, which is two miles distant. With him he took seven cohorts which were drawn from veteran legions and had seen service aboard the fleet with Sulpicius and Vatinius; and having reached the harbour he went aboard his fleet with this force as evening was approaching. There was not a man in the army who knew the plans of the commander-in-chief, not a man but sought eagerly to know them; and in their ignorance they were all filled with anxiety, grave alarm and depression. For they saw themselves landed in Africa with a tiny force — and that too of recruits, and not all of it disembarked — pitted against large forces including the limitless cavalry of a treacherous race; nor could they discern anything to console them in their present plight, no help in the counsels of their comrades — no help at all, save in the expression of their commander himself, and his energy and remarkable cheerfulness; for he displayed a high and buoyant spirit. It was in him that his men found peace of mind: his skill and resolution would, they all hoped, make everything run smoothly for them.

§ 11  After spending one night aboard his fleet Caesar was proceeding to set out at the first pale light of dawn, when suddenly the squadron about which he was apprehensive sought haven there from its wanderings. On learning of this, Caesar promptly ordered everyone to disembark and, drawn up under arms on the beach, to await the arrival of the rest of his troops. And so when these ships had been brought without delay into port, with their cargo of infantry and cavalry, Caesar once again returned to the town of Ruspina, drew up his camp there, and then set out himself with thirty cohorts in light order to forage. As a result of this Caesar's plan now became known: it had been his intention to go with his fleet to the assistance of those transports which had gone astray, but to do so without the enemy's knowing of it, lest by chance his own ships might run unawares against his opponents' fleet; nor had he wanted his own troops left behind on guard to know of this plan, lest, on account of their own small numbers and the multitude of the enemy, fear should make them fail in their duty.

§ 12  Meanwhile, when Caesar had now advanced about three miles from his camp, information obtained by his scouts and mounted patrols reached him that the enemy's forces had been sighted by them at no great distance. And indeed simultaneously with that information they began to see a great cloud of dust. On learning this, Caesar promptly gave orders for his entire cavalry force — of which arm he had no great abundance available at the moment — and his small contingent of archers to be summoned from the camp, and for the standards to follow him slowly in their regular order: he himself went on ahead with a small armed party. Now that the enemy could be seen in the distance, he ordered the troops to don their helmets and prepare for battle in the open plain: their total number comprised thirty cohorts, together with four hundred cavalry and one hundred-and-fifty archers.

§ 13  Meanwhile the enemy, led by Labienus and the two Pacidei, deployed a straight line of remarkable length and closely packed, not with infantry, but with cavalry, interspersed with light-armed Numidians and unmounted archers in such close formation that at a distance Caesar's men supposed them to be infantry: the two wings — to right and left — were reinforced with strong detachments of cavalry. Meanwhile Caesar deployed a single straight line — the most his small numbers allowed; he drew up his archers in front of the line and posted cavalry to cover his right and left wings, with instructions to take care they were not enveloped by the mass of the enemy's cavalry; for he supposed that he would be engaging infantry troops in the set battle line.

§ 14  There was now on either side a growing feeling of expectancy; but Caesar made no move and saw that the smallness of his own forces called for the use of strategy rather than a trial of strength against the vast numbers of the enemy; when suddenly his opponents' cavalry began to deploy, extending towards the flanks and enveloping the high ground, causing Caesar's cavalry to lengthen and weaken their formation, and preparing simultaneously for an encircling movement. Caesar's cavalry found it difficult to bear up against their vast numbers. Meanwhile as the two centres were proceeding to charge one another, suddenly from out of the closely packed squadrons the light-armed Numidian infantry doubled forward alongside the cavalry and hurled their javelins among the infantry of the legions. Hereupon Caesar's men launched an attack upon them and their cavalry took to flight; but the infantry stood their ground meantime, until the cavalry should renew their charge and return to succour their own infantry.

§ 15  Caesar was now confronted with novel tactics and observed that his men's formation was becoming disorganised as they ran forward to attack — the infantry in fact, exposing their flank as they advanced in pursuit of the cavalry too far from the standards, were suffering casualties from the javelins of the nearest Numidians; whereas the enemy cavalry easily eluded by their speed the heavy infantry javelin. Accordingly, he had the order passed down the ranks that no soldier should advance more than four feet from the standards. Meanwhile, the cavalry of Labienus, relying on the large numbers on their own side, endeavoured to surround Caesar's scanty force; and the mere handful of Julian cavalry, worn out by the enemy hordes, their horses wounded, gave ground little by little, while the enemy pressed on them more and more. Thus in a moment all the legionaries were surrounded by the enemy cavalry; and Caesar's forces were compressed into a circle; and so they were all compelled to fight penned behind bars as it were.

§ 16  Labienus rode bare-headed up and down the front line, encouraging his own men the while and occasionally accosting Caesar's legionaries in such terms as these: 'What are you up to, recruit? Quite the dashing little fellow, aren't you? Have all of you too been made fools of by that fellow's words? So help me, it's a very dangerous situation he has driven you into. I feel sorry for you.' 'I'm not a recruit, Labienus,' replied one soldier, 'but a veteran of the Tenth legion.' To this Labienus retorted: 'I don't recognise the standards of the Tenth.' Then said the soldier: 'You'll soon see what I'm made of.' As he spoke the words he flung the helmet from his head so that the other could recognise him and, thus uncovered, brandished his heavy javelin with all his force, as he aimed it at Labienus: then plunging it violently full in the horse's chest he said: 'That will teach you, Labienus, that it's a soldier of the Tenth who is attacking you.' All the troops, however, were demoralised, particularly the recruits, for they kept looking round for Caesar and contented themselves with dodging the enemy javelins.

§ 17  Meanwhile Caesar, aware of the enemy's tactics, gave orders for the line to be extended to its maximum length, and for every other cohort to turn about, so that one was facing to the rear of the standards, while the next one faced to their front. By this means with his right and left wing he split in half the encircling enemy force; and having isolated one half from the other with his cavalry, proceeded to attack it from inside with his infantry, turning it to flight with volleys of missiles: then, after advancing no great distance for fear of ambush, he retired to his own lines. The other half of Caesar's cavalry and infantry carried out the same tactics. This task accomplished and the enemy being driven far back with heavy casualties, Caesar began to retire to his own defence positions, maintaining battle formation.

§ 18  Meanwhile M. Petreius and Cn. Piso arrived with Numidian troops — sixteen hundred picked cavalry and a fairly considerable force of infantry — and immediately on arrival hastened straight to the aid of their comrades. And so the enemy, putting their fears aside and taking fresh heart and courage, wheeled their cavalry round and began to attack the rear of the retreating legionaries and to hinder their withdrawal to camp. Observing this, Caesar ordered to turn about and renew the battle in the middle of the plain. As the enemy repeated the same manoeuvre, but without any return to hand-to-hand fighting, and as Caesar's cavalry found that their horses, worn out with the effects of recent sea-sickness, thirst and the fatigue and wounds sustained in their unequal contest, were now more reluctant to keep doggedly on the move in pursuit of the enemy, and as there was now but a little daylight left, Caesar urged his encircled cohorts and cavalry to make one vigorous thrust and not give up until they had driven the enemy back beyond the furthest high ground and gained possession of the latter. And so, waiting to give the signal until the enemy's volleys of missiles were half-hearted and inaccurate, he suddenly let loose some cohorts and squadrons of his own troops upon them. In a moment the enemy were driven without trouble off the plain and thrown back behind the high ground, and Caesar's men had gained the position; then, after a brief pause there, they retired slowly in battle formation to their own fortifications. Their opponents likewise, after this warm reception, then at length withdrew to their own positions.

§ 19  Meanwhile after this engagement had taken place and when the action had been broken off, quite a number of all ranks of the opposing side deserted to Caesar, and in addition not a few of the enemy cavalry and infantry were taken prisoner. From them the enemy's plan became known. He had come with the intention of trying out new and unfamiliar battle tactics upon Caesar's legionaries, in order that — raw recruits and few in numbers as they were — they should be demoralised thereby, and be enveloped and crushed by the cavalry, as Curio had been; and Labienus had spoken to this effect to his troops on parade, that he would furnish Caesar's opponents with so vast a number of auxiliaries that Caesar's men would be quite exhausted even with killing them, and so would be vanquished in the very hour of victory, and mastered by his forces. In fact, quite apart from the aid of those auxiliaries, he had reason for self-confidence: first because he had heard that at Rome the veteran legions were mutinous and refusing to cross into Africa; next because he had kept his own troops in Africa for three years: they were acclimatised and he had now secured their loyalty to himself; he had, moreover, very large auxiliary forces composed of Numidian cavalry and light-armed troops and, besides these, the German and Gallic cavalry which, after the defeat and rout of Pompeius, he, Labienus, had brought across with him from Buthrotum, as well as those which he had levied later on in Africa from half-castes, freedmen and slaves, and had armed and taught to handle a bridled horse: he had in addition royal auxiliary forces, as well as a hundred and twenty elephants and innumerable cavalry; and finally, legions raised from more than twelve thousand men of every type. On such considerations was based the reckless confidence that fired Labienus, with his sixteen hundred Gallic and German cavalry, his eight thousand Numidians who rode without bridles, reinforced in addition by the cavalry contingent of Petreius, sixteen hundred strong, and with his infantry and light-armed force, four times as big, and with his numerous archers, slingers and mounted arches. These were the forces which on January 4th, five days after Caesar reached Africa, on a perfectly flat and unimpeded plain, were engaged in a contest from the fifth hour of the day continuously till sundown. In that battle Petreius was gravely wounded and retired from the field.

§ 20  Meanwhile Caesar fortified his camp with greater care, strengthened its defences by manning them with larger forces, and carried an entrenchment from the town of Ruspina right to the sea, and a second from his camp likewise to the sea: his purpose was to ensure safer communication in both directions and to enable his reinforcements to come up to his support without danger. He brought missiles and artillery from the ships into his camp, and armed some of the Gallic and Rhodian rowers and marines from the fleet and summoned them to camp, in order that, if possible, on the same principle which his opponents had employed, light-armed troops should be interspersed at intervals among his cavalry. From all his ships he brought archers into camp — Ityreans, Syrians and men of diverse races — and thronged his forces with numerous drafts of them; for he heard that on the second day after the battle was fought Scipio was approaching and uniting his forces — reported to comprise eight legions and three thousand cavalry — with those of Labienus and Petreius. He also established smithies, took steps to ensure a plentiful supply of arrows and missile-weapons, cast leaden bullets, collected stakes, and sent couriers with despatches to Sicily bidding them build up for his use stocks of hurdles and timber for battering-rams — timber was scarce in Africa — and in addition send him iron and lead. He realised, moreover, that no corn could be available for his use in Africa unless it was imported; for there had been no harvest the previous year on account of the levies held by his opponents and the fact that the farmers, being tributary subjects of Rome, had been called up for military service: moreover, his opponents had collected corn from the whole of Africa and conveyed it into a few well-fortified towns, and every corner of Africa was thus ransacked of corn; and apart from those few towns which his opponents were able to defend themselves with their own garrisons, the rest were being destroyed and abandoned: their inhabitants had been compelled to migrate to the shelter of the enemy garrisons, and their lands were now abandoned and laid waste.

§ 21  Under stress of this emergency Caesar had, by soliciting private individuals with touching appeals, amassed a certain amount of corn in his garrisons, and this he was using sparingly. Meanwhile every day he went round the field-works in person, and doubled the number of cohorts on guard duty in view of the large numbers of the enemy. Labienus gave orders that his wounded, who were very numerous, should have their wounds dressed and then be carried off in carts to Hadrumetum. Meanwhile some of Caesar's transports were cruising aimlessly about, badly off their course in their uncertain knowledge of the area and the position of his camp; and one by one they were set upon by a number of enemy pinnaces and set on fire or boarded. When this was reported to Caesar he posted squadrons round the islands and harbours to enable his supplies to be convoyed with greater safety.

§ 22  Meanwhile M. Cato, who was in command at Utica, never left off assailing Cn. Pompeius, the son, with long and constant speeches of reproof. 'When your father was your age,' he said, 'he perceived that the state was oppressed by wicked and vicious citizens, and that loyal men had either been put to death or else, punished by exile, were deprived of their country and civic rights. Whereupon, carried away by his ambition and the nobility of his nature, though a mere private citizen and a callow youth, he mustered the remnants of his father's army and emancipated Italy and the city of Rome when they were all but utterly overwhelmed and destroyed; and likewise he recovered Sicily, Africa, Numidia and Mauretania by force of arms with astonishing speed. By these achievements he won himself that prestige of his which in lustre and in fame is unequalled throughout the world, and, albeit a mere youth and a Roman knight, celebrated a triumph. And in his case his father had not the same imposing record as your father has, nor had he inherited from his ancestors the same position of eminent distinction, nor was he endowed with such influential ties of clientship or with a famous name, when he entered public life. Whereas in your case not only are you endowed with the fame and prestige of your father, but you yourself are also adequately endowed on your own account with nobility of nature and with earnestness. Will you not therefore make an effort and set out in quest of your father's clients to demand their assistance for yourself, for the state and for every loyal citizen?'

§ 23  These words, coming from a man of the greatest authority, spurred on the youth. Taking with him thirty small ships of every type, including a few equipped with beaks, he set out from Utica and invaded Mauretania and the kingdom of Bogud. With an army in light order comprising two thousand slaves and freedmen, some with arms, some without, he proceeded to approach the town of Ascurum, where there was a royal garrison. As Pompeius drew near, the townsfolk allowed him to come closer and closer until he was actually approaching the very gates and the town wall: then suddenly they made a sally and drove the crushed and panic-stricken Pompeians back wholesale to the sea and their ships. After this reverse Cn. Pompeius, the son, withdrew his fleet from there and without touching land again set course with his fleet towards the Balearic Islands.

§ 24  Meanwhile Scipio set out with the forces we enumerated a little earlier, leaving a considerable garrison behind at Utica, and pitched camp first at Hadrumetum. Then, after staying there a few days, he made a night march and joined up with the forces of Labienus and Petreius; whereupon they established themselves in a single camp three miles distant from Caesar. Meanwhile their cavalry went roving round Caesar's entrenchments, intercepting all such troops as had advanced beyond the rampart to forage or fetch water; and this had the effect of keeping all their opponents confined within their defences. By these tactics Caesar's men were afflicted with a severe scarcity of corn, for this reason that supplies had not so far been conveyed to him either from Sicily or Sardinia, and, on account of the season of the year, fleets could not move freely about the seas without risk; moreover, they occupied no more than six miles of African soil in any direction, and were hard put to it for lack of fodder. The urgency of this situation drove the veteran troops — infantry and cavalry — men who had gone through many campaigns by land and sea and had often been afflicted by hazards and similar privation, to collect seaweed from the beach, cleanse it in fresh water, and give it in this state to their famished beasts, thereby prolonging their lives.

§ 25  While these events were taking place, king Juba, who was aware of Caesar's difficulties and the small numbers of his forces, thought it advisable not to give him any respite for recruiting his strength or increasing his resources. And so, having got together large forces of cavalry and infantry, he departed from his kingdom and made haste to go to the assistance of his friends. Meanwhile P. Sittius and king Bochus had united their forces and, learning of king Juba's departure, moved them closer to his kingdom. Sittius then attacked Cirta, the richest town of that kingdom, and after a few days' fighting captured it, as well as two Gaetulian towns. When he offered them terms, proposing that they should evacuate the town and surrender it unoccupied to him, they refused the terms and were subsequently captured by Sittius and all put to death. Thereupon he advanced, ravaging both countryside and towns without ceasing. Juba got to know of this when he was now not far away from Scipio and his lieutenants, and came to the conclusion that it was better to go to the aid of himself and his own kingdom, rather than that, in the course of setting out to help others, he should himself be driven out of his own kingdom, and perhaps be thwarted in both fields. Accordingly, he marched back again, withdrawing his auxiliary forces too from Scipio, in his alarm on account of himself and his own interests; and leaving thirty elephants behind with Scipio, he set forth to the relief of his own territory and towns.

§ 26  Meanwhile as there was some doubt in the province as to Caesar's arrival, and nobody believed it was Caesar in person that had come to Africa with the forces, but rather some one of his lieutenants, he sent written despatches round the province informing all the communities of his personal arrival. Meanwhile persons of note fled from their towns and sought refuge in Caesar's camp and proceeded to quote instances of the cruelty and harshness of his opponents. Their tears and complainings had no little effect on Caesar; and though he had previously decided to wait for the beginning of summer to muster all his forces and auxiliaries from their permanent quarters and wage war on his opponents, he now resolved on a winter campaign, promptly drafting a despatch to Alienus and Rabirius Postumus in Sicily, which he sent by a reconnaissance vessel, to the effect that an army must be shipped across to him as quickly as possible: there must be no delay and no excuses on the ground of wintry weather or adverse winds. The province of Africa, he wrote, was in its death throes, in the process of utter destruction at the hands of his foes; and unless aid were promptly rendered to their allies, nothing save the very soil of Africa — not even a roof to give them shelter — would be left as the result of their enemies' treacherous crimes. Caesar himself was in such a ferment of impatient expectancy that on the day after he sent the messenger to Sicily with the despatch he kept saying that the fleet and army were dallying; and day and night he kept his eyes and attention bent and riveted upon the sea. And no wonder; for he perceived that farms were being burned to the ground, fields stripped, herds plundered or butchered, towns and strongholds destroyed and abandoned, and the principal citizens either murdered or held in chains, and their children haled off to slavery on the pretext of being hostages: yet to these folk, who in their misery implored his protection, he could give no assistance because his forces were so few. Meanwhile he kept his troops continuously at work on their training, proceeded with the fortification of his camp, and went on without interruption constructing towers and redoubts and driving moles out into the sea.

§ 27  Scipio meanwhile undertook the training of the elephants in the following manner. He drew up two lines of battle: one line of slingers, facing the elephants, to take the place of the enemy and to discharge small stones against the opposing front formed by the elephants; next he arranged the elephants in line, and behind them drew up his own line so that, when the enemy proceeded to sling their stones and the elephants in their consequent panic wheeled round upon their own side, his men should receive them with a volley of stones, and so make them wheel round again away from his own line in the direction of the enemy. This method worked, though it was a difficult and slow process; for elephants are uncouth creatures, and it is difficult to get them fully trained even with many years' training and long practice; and if they are led forth to battle, they are, for all their training, equally dangerous to both sides.

§ 28  While these dispositions were being made at Ruspina by the leaders on either side, the ex-praetor C. Vergilius, who was in charge of the coastal town of Thapsus, observed that ships carrying Caesar's troops were sailing singly on no set course, due to their uncertain knowledge of the locality and of the position of his camp. He therefore seized the opportunity and manned with soldiers and archers a fast boat which he had there, to which he added some ship's pinnaces, and with these he set about the pursuit of Caesar's ships one by one. He had attacked several, only to be beaten off, put to flight and forced to quit the area, but even so was still persisting in his hazardous tactics, when chance led him to fall in with a ship which had on board two young Spaniards of the name of Titius — tribunes of the Fifth legion, whose father Caesar had caused to be elected to the Senate — as well as T. Salienus, a centurion of the same legion, who had laid siege to the house of M. Messalla, Caesar's lieutenant, at Messana, employing in his presence the language of downright mutiny. This man had also been responsible for withholding under guard some money and trappings belonging to Caesar's triumph, and for these reasons viewed his own prospects with misgiving. His own guilty conscience led him to persuade the young men to put up no resistance, but to surrender to Vergilius. Accordingly they were escorted by Vergilius, put under guard, and two days later put to death. As they were being led to execution, the elder Titius, it is said, besought the centurions to put him to death before his brother, and was readily granted that request, and they were put to death in that order.

§ 29  Meanwhile the squadrons of cavalry whose regular duty it was to be on guard in front of the rampart were engaging daily in incessant skirmishes with one another; and there were also times when Labienus' Germans and Gauls and Caesar's cavalry exchanged pledges of good faith and conversed with one another. Meantime Labienus with part of his cavalry was endeavouring to assault and force his way into the town of Leptis, which was under command of Saserna with six cohorts; but its defenders, thanks to the excellent fortifications of the town and the large number of their engines of war, defended it easily and without danger. But Labienus' cavalry repeated these tactics fairly frequently and gave them no respite; and when it so chanced that a squadron had halted in massed formation in front of the gate, its captain was struck and pinned to his horse by a bolt discharged from a scorpion with unusually accurate aim. This so unnerved the rest that they withdrew in flight to their camp, too much daunted by it to resume their attempt upon the town thereafter.

§ 30  Meanwhile practically every day Scipio arrayed his line of battle at no great distance — three hundred paces — from his own camp, and then, when the greater part of the day was now spent, returned back again to camp. As this manoeuvre was carried out quite frequently without anyone's issuing forth from Caesar's camp or approaching closer to Scipio's forces, the latter, holding scorn of the forbearance shewn by Caesar and his army, led forth his entire force, with thirty elephants equipped with towers drawn up in front of his line: then, advancing and simultaneously deploying to the widest possible extent his vast numbers of cavalry and infantry, he halted in the plain not so very far from Caesar's camp.

§ 31  When he learned of this Caesar gave orders that those troops who had gone forward outside the fortifications, whether to forage or fetch wood or even to work on the fortifications, as well as those who had been collecting stakes and what was needed for that work, should all retire within the fortifications — gradually and in a disciplined manner, without any fuss or alarm — and take their stand in the field-works. His instructions to the cavalry on guard were to go on holding the positions in which they had been posted a little earlier, until they should come within range of the enemy's missiles; if the enemy advanced yet closer, they must then make as honourable a withdrawal as possible within the fortifications. As for the rest of the cavalry, they too had their orders — to be ready at hand, equipped and armed, each man in his proper place. These orders, however, he did not issue personally on the spot, surveying the situation for himself from the rampart; but so remarkable was his skill and knowledge of warfare that, making use of look-outs and orderlies, he issued the instructions necessary for his purpose as he sat in his head-quarters. For he observed that, although his opponents were relying on the great size of their forces, yet they were the very men whom he himself had often routed, beaten back and utterly demoralised, only to spare their lives and forgive their misdemeanours; in which circumstances, considering their own lack of initiative and their guilty conscience, they would never muster sufficient confidence in victory as to venture to attack his camp. Moreover, his own name and prestige had, to a great extent, a sobering effect upon the reckless spirit of their army. Then again the exceptional defences of the camp — the height of the rampart, the depth of the ditches, and the concealed stakes outside the rampart, marvellously well planted — all these, even without defenders, served to deter the enemy's approach; while as for scorpions, catapults and all the other normal weapons of defence, he had a plentiful supply of these. These he had prepared in advance in view of the small size and lack of experience of his own as it then was, and it was not because he was taken aback or dismayed at the enemy's might that he showed himself — to the enemy's thinking — long-suffering and timid. The reason why he would not lead his forces on to the field, few and inexperienced though they were, was not that he lacked confidence in his victory, but he considered the important question was — what manner of victory it would prove; for he thought it a personal slur if after all his achievements, after all the many brilliant victories he had won over such massive armies, men should look upon this victory as one gained only with much bloodshed over such remnants as his opponents had mustered from their routed forces. And so he had resolved to endure their boastful triumph until his second convoy should join him, including some portion of his veteran legions.

§ 32  Meanwhile Scipio lingered for a little while, as I mentioned earlier, in that position, to create the impression that he had held Caesar virtually in contempt, and then gradually withdrew his forces to camp. There he paraded his troops and spoke to them of the dread which their own side inspired and the desperate attitude of Caesar's army; and with such words of encouragement to his men he promised them that he would shortly give them a lasting victory. Caesar ordered his troops to return once more to their duties and, on the pretext of the fortifications, kept his recruits constantly employed to the point of exhaustion. Meanwhile Numidians and Gaetulians were daily deserting from Scipio's camp: the former betook themselves to Juba's kingdom, while the latter, because they themselves and their ancestors had been kindly treated by C. Marius and heard that Caesar was a relation of his, swarmed constantly for refuge into Caesar's camp. From among their number Caesar chose certain more distinguished members, gave them letters for their fellow citizens, and so dismissed them, exhorting them to raise a force for the defence of themselves and their people, and not to submit passively to the dictates of their foes and opponents.

§ 33  While these events were taking place at Ruspina, there came to Caesar envoys from Acylla, an independent state immune from taxes. They assured him that they would readily and gladly do whatever he might bid: they merely prayed and besought him to give them a garrison to enable them to do his bidding with the greater safety and without peril: they would supply its members with corn and with all other adequate supplies for the sake of their common welfare. This request Caesar gladly granted and gave them a garrison, ordering C. Messius, who had once held the office of aedile, to set out for Acylla. On learning this, Considius Longus, who was in command at Hadrumetum with two legions and seven hundred cavalry, left part of his garrison force behind and, taking eight cohorts with him, promptly hastened off to Acylla. Messius completed his march more rapidly and was the first to arrive at Acylla with his cohorts. Whereupon Considius approached the city with his forces and venturing to jeopardise his troops, retired back again to Hadrumetum without having achieved anything to warrant so large a force. Subsequently, when a few days later he had procured a contingent of cavalry from Labienus, he returned, pitched his camp and proceeded to lay siege to Acylla.

§ 34  It was during this time that C. Sallustius Crispus, who, as we have explained, had been despatched by Caesar with a fleet a few days earlier, arrived at Cercina. On his arrival the ex-quaestor C. Decimius, who was controller of supplies there and was attended by a large escort composed of his own household slaves, went aboard a small boat he had got hold of and took to flight. Meanwhile Sallustius, the praetor, was welcomed by the inhabitants of Cercina; and finding a large quantity of corn he loaded some merchant vessels — there was quite a large number of them there — and sent them to Caesar in his camp. Meanwhile at Lilybaeum the pro-consul Alienus embarked in transports the Thirteenth and Fourteenth legions, eight hundred Gallic cavalry and one thousand slingers and archers, and sent to Caesar in Africa his second convoy. With the wind behind them these ships arrived safely three days later at the harbour of Ruspina, the town where Caesar had his camp. This heartened Caesar, who experienced twofold pressure and delight at thus simultaneously receiving both corn and reinforcements; and now that at last his troops were made cheerful and the corn problem was eased, he laid aside his cares, ordered his legions and cavalry to disembark and get over the effects of their lassitude and seasickness, and drafted them to the various forts and defended positions.

§ 35  All this filled Scipio and his colleagues with wonder and curiosity; and they had a suspicion that some deep purpose must underlie this sudden transformation in the C. Caesar who had habitually taken the offensive hitherto and was always spoiling for a fight. And so, thrown into no little panic as a result of his forbearance, they chose from the Gaetulians two men whom they considered to be the staunchest supporters of their cause; and after offering them large rewards and making them generous promises, sent them in the guise of deserters on a spying mission into Caesar's camp. No sooner had these men been escorted to Caesar than they sought leave to speak out frankly without danger. That leave being granted, they said: 'Many of us Gaetulians, Commander-in-Chief, who are clients of C. Marius, and practically all the Roman citizens who are in the Fourth and Sixth legions have very often wanted to take refuge with you and resort to your protection; but we were prevented from doing so without hazard by the patrols of Numidian cavalry. But now that the chance has been given us we have come to you most eagerly. We were in fact sent by Scipio as spies to observe closely whether any trenches or traps had been made for the elephants in front of the camp and the gates of the rampart; and at the same time to ascertain your tactics against these same beasts and your dispositions for battle, and then report back to them.' Caesar highly commended them, furnished them with pay, and had them taken to join the other deserters. Their statement was speedily verified by actual events; for on the next day quite a number of legionary troops from the legions mentioned by the Gaetulians deserted from Scipio to Caesar's camp.

§ 36  While this was going on at Ruspina, M. Cato, the commander of Utica, was holding a constant succession of daily levies of freedmen, Africans, slaves even — any man, in fact, no matter of what class, so long as he was of an age to carry arms — and drafting them to Scipio's camp to be at his disposal. Meanwhile there came to Caesar envoys from the town of Thysdra, in which town three hundred thousand measures of wheat had been collected by Italian merchants and farmers. These envoys now informed Caesar of the large quantity of corn they had and prayed him to send them a garrison whereby both their corn and all their stocks might the more readily be kept safe. For the present Caesar expressed his thanks to them, saying that, as for a garrison, he would send one shortly; he then dismissed them with words of encouragement, bidding them go back to their own countrymen. Meanwhile P. Sittius invaded the territory of Numidia with his forces and forcibly took by storm a stronghold, situated on a well-defended mountain height, in which Juba had collected both corn and all other regular munitions of war, for the sake of prosecuting his campaign.

§ 37  Now that Caesar had reinforced his troops with two veteran legions, cavalry and light-armed forces from his second convoy, he gave orders that the ships, now uploaded, should set sail forthwith for Lilybaeum to bring across the rest of his army. On January 25, at approximately the first watch, he personally issued orders that all his scouts and aides-de-camp should hold themselves at his disposal. Accordingly, without anyone's knowing or suspecting his plan, at the third watch he ordered all his legions to be led outside the camp and follow him in the direction of the town of Ruspina, where he had a garrison; it was also the first place to have joined his side. He then descended a gentle slope and, keeping to the left side of the plain, led his legions along close to the sea. This plain is remarkably level and extends for twelve miles; and the chain of not so very lofty downs which encircles it right from the very sea gives it the appearance of a kind of amphitheatre. This chain includes a few high hills, on each of which were situated some very ancient turrets and watch-towers; and in the last of these Scipio had a defence-post and picket.

§ 38  After Caesar had climbed up to the ridge I have described and visited each individual hill and tower, he proceeded to construct redoubts and these he completed in less than half an hour; and when he was now not so very far away from the last hill and turret, which was nearest the enemy camp and where, as I have explained, there was a defence post and picket of Numidians, he paused for a little while; then, after studying the lie of the land, he posted his cavalry on guard and assigned to his legions their tasks, ordering them to carry a line of fortifications straight along the middle of the chain, from the point he had now reached right up to the point from where he had started. When Scipio and Labienus observed this, they led their entire cavalry force out of camp and, deploying it in battle line, advanced about a mile from their fortified positions and drew up their infantry forces in a second battle line less than four hundred paces from their camp.

§ 39  Caesar kept encouraging the troops as they worked, quite unmoved by his opponents' forces. When he perceived that no more than a mile and a half now separated the enemy ranks from his own fortifications, and realised that the enemy were approaching closer for the purpose of obstructing his troops and forcing them to abandon their task, and as he considered that he must now perforce withdraw his legions from their work of building fortifications, he ordered a squadron of Spaniards to launch a speedy attack upon the adjacent hill, dislodge its enemy defenders, and capture the position; and he also instructed a small detachment of light-armed troops to follow them in support to the same objective. Thus despatched they speedily attacked the Numidians, capturing some of them alive and seriously wounding others of their troopers as they sought to escape, and so won the position. As soon as Labienus observed this, he detached practically the entire right wing of the line of cavalry he had deployed, so as the more speedily to render them assistance; and with this force he made haste to proceed to the relief of his retreating troops. But when Caesar saw that Labienus had now withdrawn some distance from his forces, he launched the left wing of his own cavalry, so as to cut the enemy off.

§ 40  Now in the area where this action was going on there was a very large farm building, constructed with four lofty towers; and this impeded Labienus' field of view and prevented his observing that he was being cut off by Caesar's cavalry. Consequently it was only when he realised that his men were being cut down from the rear that he actually saw the Julian squadrons. As a result, triumph suddenly gave place to panic among the Numidian cavalry, and Labienus made haste to flee straight back to camp. As for the Gauls and Germans, they stood their ground; but hemmed in between the enemy on the higher ground and those in their rear, despite a gallant resistance they were slaughtered to a man. On observing this, Scipio's legions, which were drawn up in front of his camp, were seized with a blind panic and began to flee by every gate into their camp. Now that Scipio and his forces had been swept in disorder from plain and hills and driven wholesale into their camp, Caesar ordered the retreat to be sounded and withdrew all his cavalry inside his own fortifications; and it was then, when the field had been cleared, that his attention was caught by the amazing bodies of the Gauls and Germans: some of whom had followed Labienus from Gaul in deference to his authority; others had been induced to join him by rewards and promises; and there were yet others who, having been made prisoners after Curio's defeat and their lives being spared, had been anxious to give proof of their unswerving gratitude by maintaining a correspondingly unswerving loyalty. These were the men whose bodies, amazing in their beauty and stature, were lying mutilated and prostrate here and there all over the battle-field.

§ 41  On the day following this action Caesar withdrew his cohorts from all his defence posts and drew up all his forces in the plain: whereas Scipio, after the disastrous reception his troops had met with and their resulting heavy casualties in dead and wounded, proceeded to sit tight within his own fortifications. Caesar deployed his battle line along the lowest spurs of the chain of hills, and then slowly approached closer to Scipio's fortifications. And now the Julian legions which were less than a mile away from the town of Uzitta, which Scipio held, when the latter, fearing that he would lose the town, on which his army had been accustomed to rely for its water supply and all other means of support, led out all his forces. These forces were drawn up, according to his custom, in four lines, the first consisting of cavalry deployed in line of squadrons, interspersed with elephants equipped with towers and armour. Thus deployed, Scipio marched to the relief of the town, while Caesar, observing this move and supposing that Scipio was advancing towards him prepared and fully resolved to fight, accordingly halted before the town in the position I described a little earlier. With his own centre covered by the town, Scipio drew up his right and left wings, where his elephants were, in full view of his opponents.

§ 42  Caesar had now waited till nearly sunset without observing any signs of Scipio's leaving the position in which he had halted and advancing towards him; and his impression was that Scipio would rather remain on the defensive, utilising his position, if the circumstances demanded it, than venture to come to close grips on the plain. Accordingly, there seemed no sense in approaching closer to the town that day. For he was aware that it contained a large garrison force of Numidians, and he realised that the enemy had used the town to screen his centre, and that he himself was faced with a difficult task in simultaneously attacking the town and at the same time engaging in battle on his right and left wing from a disadvantageous position, the more especially so since his troops had been standing to since early morning without a bite of food, and were quite exhausted. Accordingly, he led his forces back to camp, deciding to wait till the following day and then extend his fortifications nearer the enemy's line.

§ 43  In the meantime Considius with eight cohorts and some Numidian and Gaetulian mercenaries was besieging Acylla, where C. Messius was in command with three cohorts. He had made prolonged and manifold attempts, and had repeatedly approached the walls with siege-works on a large scale; but these the townsfolk had set on fire, and he was making no progress. So when the unexpected report of the cavalry engagement arrived, he was much disconcerted and set fire to the large stock of corn in his camp, rendered unusable his wine, oil and all the other victuals with which an army is normally provided, and raised the siege of Acylla. Then he marched through Juba's kingdom, gave part of his forces to Scipio, and retired to Hadrumetum.

§ 44  Meanwhile from the second convoy, which Alienus had despatched from Sicily, one ship having aboard Q. Cominius and a Roman knight named L. Ticida had got astray from the rest of the fleet and had been carried by the wind toward Thapsus; and being intercepted by the pinnaces and light craft of Vergilius was escorted to that port. A second trireme from the same fleet likewise went astray, was carried by a gale towards Aegimurus, and captured by the fleet of Varus and M. Octavius. On board this vessel were some veteran soldiers, with one centurion and a few recruits; and these Varus kept under guard, though without any maltreatment, and had them escorted to Scipio. When they came before him and stood in front of his tribunal, he said: 'It is not of your own free will — of that I am quite sure — but under the compulsion and at the behest of that villainous commander of yours, that you are iniquitously persecuting your own citizens and all truth patriots. But now that fortune has delivered you into our hands, if you mean to do your duty and range yourselves on the side of all true patriots in the defence of the state, then I am resolved to grant you your lives and reward you with money. Now therefore declare your mind.'

§ 45  After addressing them to this effect Scipio had little doubt that they would express their gratitude to him for his kindness, and accordingly gave them permission to speak. One of their number, a centurion of the Fourteenth legion, then spoke as follows: 'For your great kindness, Scipio — I refrain from calling you commander-in-chief — I thank you, inasmuch as you promise me, by rights a prisoner of war, my life and safety; and maybe I should now avail myself of that kind offer, but for the utterly iniquitous condition attached to it. Am I to range myself in armed opposition against Caesar, my commander-in-chief, under whom I have held my command, and against his army, to sustain the victorious reputation whereof I have been fighting for upwards of thirty-six years? No, I am not likely to do that, and I strongly advise you to give up the attempt. For you now have the chance of appreciating — if you have not previously found it out sufficiently by experience — whose troops they are you are fighting. Choose from your men one cohort, the one you regard as your most reliable, and array it here over against me: I for my part will take no more than ten men from my comrades whom you now hold in your power. Then from our prowess you shall realise what you ought to expect from your own forces.'

§ 46  This forthright and quite unlooked for retort on the part of the centurion infuriated Scipio. Smarting with resentment he signified his wishes to his own centurions by a nod, causing the centurion to be executed in his presence, and issuing instructions for the remaining veterans to be segregated from the recruits. 'Away with these fellows,' said he, 'tainted as they are with unspeakable iniquities and gorged with the blood of their own citizens.' Accordingly, they were led outside the rampart and tortured to death. As for the recruits, he ordered them to be drafted among the legions, and would not allow Cominius and Ticida to be brought into his presence. This incident disquieted Caesar, who took steps to punish those whom he had instructed to be stationed with warships anchored out at sea on guard off Thapsus, so as to give protection to his transports and men-of-war: in view of their negligence he had them dismissed from the service with ignominy, and had a general order published reprimanding them most severely.

§ 47  It was round about this time that an incredible and unheard-of experience befell Caesar's army. Although the constellation of the Pleiades had set, at about the second watch of the night a heavy rainstorm suddenly broke, accompanied by a shower of hail stones. Moreover, to make matters worse, Caesar at the time was not, as was his custom on previous occasions, keeping his army billeted in winter quarters; but every other, or every third day, he would be advancing, moving up closer to the enemy and fortifying a camp, and in the course of doing this work his troops had no chance to look after themselves. Apart from this, his arrangements for transporting his army from Sicily were such as to allow only the troops themselves and their arms to be embarked, but no baggage, no slaves, none of the soldier's normal comforts. In Africa, moreover, not only had they neither bought nor provided themselves with anything, but in addition the high price of corn had run away with all their savings. In these straitened circumstances very few men indeed were sleeping under proper tents: the rest bivouacked under tents of a sort improvised from clothing or woven with reeds and twigs. And so when the rain came down suddenly and the hail followed it, their tents sagged under the weight, and were undermined and swept away by the violence of the floods: in the dead of night the storm put out their fires: all their victuals were ruined; and they wandered aimlessly hither and thither about the camp, covering their heads with their shields. That same night the spear-points of the men of the Fifth legion spontaneously caught fire.

§ 48  Meanwhile king Juba had been informed of Scipio's cavalry battle; and in response to a written summons from the latter he left behind his general, Saburra, with part of his army, to keep Sittius in check, and quitting his kingdom set off to join Scipio. With him he took three legions, eight hundred bridled cavalry, a numerous contingent of Numidians who rode without bridles, and of light-armed infantry troops, and thirty elephants. His purpose in so doing was to add a certain prestige to Scipio's army by his personal appearance, and the more to intimidate Caesar's. On reaching Scipio he pitched a separate royal camp with the forces I have mentioned, and took up a position not so far distant from Scipio. Now hitherto there had been considerable apprehension in Caesar's camp: before Juba's arrival the feeling of suspense was greater, and it was this which unsettled Caesar's army as it was waiting for the royal forces; but as soon as the king pitched his camp close to theirs, they held his forces in contempt and all their fears were laid aside. And so all the prestige with which his previous absence had endowed the king he forfeited now that he was on the spot. That the king's arrival in this manner gave Scipio additional courage and confidence was a fact that anyone could readily appreciate; for on the following day he led out his own and the king's entire forces, including sixty elephants, and set them in battle array with as much pomp and circumstance as possible, and then, after advancing somewhat farther than usual from his fortified positions and pausing their a little while, withdrew to camp.

§ 49  When Caesar observed that practically all the reinforcements that Scipio had been awaiting had now forgathered and that there was nothing to delay an engagement, he began to advance with his troops along the crest of the ridge, carrying forward his lines of fortification and building strong points. He also made strenuous efforts to seize the high ground closer to Scipio and, by capturing it, to forestall his opponents, lest, relying on their superiority in numbers, they should seize the nearby hill and so deprive him of the opportunity of advancing farther. But Labienus too had made up his mind to seize this hill; and his closer proximity to it had enabled him to achieve the objective more rapidly.

§ 50  There was a ravine, of a fair width and with high, precipitous sides, and honeycombed at many points with cave-like hollows; and Caesar had to cross it before he could reach the hill he wished to take. On the far side of this ravine there was an ancient olive grove, dense and thickly planted with trees. It was here that Labienus, perceiving that Caesar must first cross the ravine and olive grove if he wanted to seize that position, and availing himself of his local knowledge, took his stand in ambush with a detachment of cavalry and some light-armed troops. In addition he had posted some cavalry out of sight behind the range of hills, in order that, when he himself unexpectedly launched his attack upon the legionaries, this cavalry might make its appearance from behind the hill; thereby Caesar and his army were to be thrown into utter confusion by this double attack and, denied the opportunity either of retiring or advancing, were to be surrounded and cut to pieces. When Caesar, in ignorance of the ambush, but with a screen of cavalry thrown out in front, came up to this position, the troops of Labienus either misinterpreted or forgot his instructions, or maybe they were afraid of being caught in the trap by Caesar's cavalry; anyway, they came out from behind the rocks in small groups or singly, and made for the crest of the hill. Caesar's cavalry pursued them, killing some and capturing others alive, and then forthwith made all haste towards the hill, which they speedily seized after dislodging Labienus' holding force. Labienus and part of his cavalry barely managed to escape with their lives.

§ 51  After this action fought by the cavalry Caesar fortified a camp on the hill of which he had gained possession, assigning each legion its share of the work. He then began to carry two fortified lines from his own principal camp across the centre of the plain in the direction of the town of Uzitta — which town was situated on flat ground between his camp and Scipio's and was occupied by the latter — their direction being such as to make them converge upon the right and left corners of the town. His purpose in constructing this field-work was as follows: when he advanced his forces closer to the town and proceeded to attack it, he should have his flanks covered by these fortifications of his and not be enveloped by the swarms of enemy cavalry and so be deterred from attacking; moreover, it should make it easier to hold conversations with the enemy, and if any of the latter wanted to desert — this had often occurred in the past, but at great risk to the deserters — it should now prove easy and devoid of risk. He was also anxious to discover, when he approached closer to the enemy, were they intended to fight. Over and above these reasons was the additional fact that this was a low-lying tract, and quite a few wells could be sunk in it: water in fact was in short supply and had to be carried a long distance. While the legionaries were engaged in this work of fortification which I have mentioned above, a detachment of them took post in front of the work in battle formation close to the enemy; for the latter's foreign cavalry and part of his light-armed force kept skirmishing at close quarters.

§ 52  It was now nearly dusk, and Caesar was withdrawing his troops from this work to camp, when Juba, Scipio and Labienus launched a violent attack upon his legionaries, employing all their cavalry and light-armed forces. Caesar's cavalry reeled and gave ground momentarily under the sudden and violent impact of the massed swarms of the enemy. But the latter found that this manoeuvre did not go according to plan; for Caesar halted in his tracks and led his forces back to the assistance of his cavalry. The arrival of the legions put fresh heart into the cavalry, who wheeled round, charged the Numidians in the middle of their eager, but scattered pursuit, and drove them right back into the royal camp, with heavy casualties and many of their number killed. And had not nightfall speedily overtaken this action, and a cloud of dust raised up by the wind hampered everyone's vision, Juba and Labienus would have been captured and have fallen into Caesar's hands, and their cavalry and light-armed troops would have been utterly and entirely annihilated. Whereupon an incredible number of Scipio's troops deserted from the Fourth and Sixth legion — some to Caesar's camp, others to various places wherever each individual managed to find refuge. The cavalry who were once under Curio's command likewise lost confidence in Scipio and his forces, and many of them took refuge with the others.

§ 53  While the leaders on either side were engaged in these operations in the neighbourhood of Uzitta, two legions, the Tenth and the Ninth, which had sailed from Sicily in transports, were now not far from the port of Ruspina. Here they sighted those ships of Caesar's which were stationed on patrol off Thapsus; and fearing they might be falling unawares upon an enemy flotilla loitering there presumably with treacherous designs, they made off out to sea. Many days later, exhausted by thirst and privation after a long and very storm-tossed voyage, they at length reached Caesar.

§ 54  These legions were then disembarked. Now Caesar had in mind the lack of discipline of old among the troops in Italy and the plundering exploits of certain individuals; and he had now some ground for complaint, though only a trifling one, in the fact that C. Avienus, a military tribune of the Tenth legion, had commandeered a vessel from the convoy and filled it with his own household slaves and beasts of burden, without transporting a single soldier from Sicily. Accordingly, on the following day Caesar paraded the tribunes and centurions of all his legions and thus addressed them from the platform. 'I could have wished above all things that people would at some time or other have set bounds to their wanton and highly irresponsible behaviour, and had regard for my own leniency, moderation and forbearance. However, since they set themselves no limit or boundary, I myself will set them a precedent in accordance with military custom, so that the remainder may behave somewhat differently. Inasmuch as you, C. Avienus, in Italy have stirred up soldiers of the Roman people against the state and have committed acts of plunder in various municipal towns; inasmuch as you have proved useless to me and to the state and have embarked, instead of troops, your own household slaves and beasts of burden, so that thanks to you the state is short of troops at a critical time; for these reasons I hereby discharge you with ignominy from my army and direct that you leave as soon as possible and be quit of Africa this day. You also, A. Fonteius, I dismiss from my army, for having proved a mutinous military tribune and a disloyal citizen. T. Salienus, M. Tiro and C. Clusinas, you have attained your ranks in my army, not by merit, but by favour; your conduct has been such as to prove you neither brave in war, nor loyal nor competent in peace, and more eager to stir up mutiny among the troops against your commander-in-chief than to preserve respect and discipline; on these counts I deem you to be unworthy to hold rank in my army, and I hereby discharge you and direct that you be quit of Africa as soon as possible.' Accordingly he handed them over to the centurions, assigned them each no more than a single slave, and had them embarked separately in a ship.

§ 55  Meanwhile the Gaetulian deserters who, as we have described above, were sent by Caesar with despatches and instructions, arrived back among their own citizens. The authority they held readily induced their countrymen, who were also influenced by Caesar's reputation, to revolt from king Juba; and so they one and all promptly took up arms and did not hesitate to oppose the king. On learning of this situation king Juba, compelled as he now was by necessity to divide his energies between three fronts, detached six cohorts from the force which he had led against Caesar and sent them to his own royal domain to defend it against the Gaetulians.

§ 56  Caesar had now completed his lines of fortification and extended them right up to a point so as to be just out of range of spear-cast from the town. He then fortified a camp, ranging catapults and scorpions at close intervals in front of it and training them upon the town, and harrying without respite the defenders of its walls; he also detached five legions from his former camp and brought them down to the new one. Making use of the opportunity thus offered, certain more distinguished persons and those of the widest acquaintance kept demanding to see their friends and relations, and conversation ensued between them. Caesar was not blind to the expediency of this turn of events; and in fact some of the nobler Gaetulians among the royal cavalry, including captains of horse, whose fathers had previously served with Marius and had, by his good offices, been presented with farms and lands, but later on after Sulla's victory had been handed over as subjects to king Hiempsal, seized their chance and deserted, when it was night and the lamps were now lit, and came with their horses and grooms — roughly a thousand of them — to Caesar's camp which was situated in the plain close to Uzitta.

§ 57  It was just about this time, after Scipio and his colleagues had come to learn of this disconcerting setback, that they saw M. Aquinus holding a conversation with C. Saserna. Scipio sent word to Aquinus saying that he had no business to be holding a conversation with the enemy. When none the less the messenger brought back to Scipio the other's answer, namely that on the contrary it remained for him to complete the rest of his business, Juba also sent him a courier, in the hearing of Saserna: 'The king forbids you to hold this conversation.' Alarmed by this message, Aquinus withdrew in deference to the king's injunction. To think that it had come to this, that a Roman citizen, one, moreover, who had received office at the hands of the Roman people, at a time when his country and all his fortunes stood secure, should rather have obeyed Juba, a foreigner, than deferred to Scipio's instructions or else, if he preferred, let his own partisans be massacred, while he himself returned home safe and sound! Still more arrogant even was Juba's behaviour, not towards M. Aquinus, a mere upstart and junior member of the Senate, but towards Scipio, whose family, rank and magistracies were such as to make him an outstanding man. For Scipio had been in the habit of wearing a purple cloak before the king arrived; and Juba — so it is said — took the matter up with him, saying that Scipio ought not to wear the same dress as he himself wore. And so it came about that Scipio changed to white dress in deference to Juba — that by-word of arrogance and indolence.

§ 58  On the next day the enemy led out their entire combined forces from all their camps and, gaining possession of a certain prominent knoll, arrayed their battle line not far from Caesar's camp, and took up their position there. Caesar likewise led forth his forces, speedily arrayed them and took up a position in front of his fortifications which were in the plain; for he thought, no doubt, that his opponents, seeing they were equipped with such substantial forces and the reinforcements supplied by the king, and had previously been quite prompt to sally forth, would now take the initiative, advance towards him and join battle. After riding round encouraging his legions he gave the signal and awaited the enemy's advance. For he himself had good reason not to advance too far from his fortifications, since the town of Uzitta, held by Scipio, contained enemy cohorts under arms; moreover, his right-hand wing lay opposite the said town, and he was afraid that, if he advanced beyond it, the enemy might make a sally from the town, attack him in flank, and maul him severely. Apart from this there was another reason too to make him pause, namely that in front of Scipio's line there was a patch of very broken ground, which he believed would prevent his troops from going over to the offensive.

§ 59  I do not think I ought to pass over without mention the manner in which the armies of either side were deployed in battle formation. Scipio's order of battle was as follows. In front he placed his own and Juba's legions: behind these, in a support line, the Numidians, drawn out in so thin and long a formation as to give the impression at a distance that the centre was a single line composed of legionary troops. His elephants he had placed at regular intervals on his right and left wings, and behind the elephants his light-armed troops and Numidian auxiliaries were stationed in support. On his right wing he had posted his entire force of bridled cavalry; for his left wing was covered by the town of Uzitta, and there was no room to deploy cavalry. In addition he had posted some Numidians and a vast multitude of light-armed troops to cover the right flank of his line at a distance of at least a mile or so, pushing them more towards the foothills and so withdrawing them farther away both from the enemy and his own forces. His purpose in doing this was that when the two battle lines charged one another, his cavalry would only have to continue their outflanking movement a little farther in the early stages of the action, and then by sheer weight of numbers they could surprise and envelop Caesar's army, throw it into disorder, and riddle it with lances. Such was Scipio's plan of battle that day.

§ 60  Caesar's battle line, on the other hand, was disposed as follows, my description beginning with his left wing and working round to his right. On his left wing he had the Tenth and Ninth legions: in the centre the Twenty-Fifth, Twenty-Ninth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Sixth. As for the actual right wing, he had posted there some of the cohorts of his veteran legions as well as a few cohorts from the legions of recruits besides. His third line he had concentrated on his left wing, extending it right up to the central legion of his line, and had arranged it in such a formation that his left wing was composed of three lines. His motive for doing this was the fact that, whereas his right flank was supported by his fortifications, he was hard put to it to know how his left flank could bear up under the hordes of enemy cavalry; and it was on this same left flank that he had concentrated the whole of his own cavalry and, not feeling too confident in it, had detached the Fifth legion to support this cavalry, and drafted light-armed troops at intervals among the horse. As for his archers, he had posted them in various formations at definite points throughout the line, but chiefly on the wings.

§ 61  Such was the manner in which the armies on either side were drawn up, with a distance of no more than three hundred paces separating them — a situation which had never, perhaps, arisen before without leading to an engagement; and there they remained continuously from early morning right until the tenth hour. And now, while Caesar was beginning to lead his army back within his fortifications, suddenly the entire force of cavalry — the more distant one, comprising Numidians and Gaetulians riding without bridles — began a movement on the right and to advance closer to Caesar's camp on the high ground, while Labienus' bridled cavalry maintained their positions and distracted the attention of the legions. Whereupon part of Caesar's cavalry together with the light-armed troops, acting without orders and without discretion, suddenly advanced too far, crossed a marshy tract and found themselves too far outnumbered to be able to contain the enemy. Abandoning the light-armed troops, the cavalry were driven back and fled to their own lines not without casualties — one horseman missing, many horses wounded and twenty-seven light-armed soldiers killed. It was now night when Scipio, delighted with this successful cavalry engagement, withdrew his forces into camp. But in vouchsafing him this triumph the fortunes of war saw fit to make it but short-lived. On the following day, in fact, a detachment of Caesar's cavalry which he had sent to Leptis on a foraging mission surprised in the course of their march and attacked about a hundred marauding Numidian and Gaetulian horse, killing some of them and taking the rest alive. Meanwhile Caesar made it his constant and daily practice to lead his legions down into the plain, proceed with his field-works, carry his rampart and trench across the middle of the present, and thereby hinder his opponents' sallies. Scipio likewise built counter-defences, pushing them forward in haste to prevent Caesar from barring him access to the ridge. Thus the generals on both sides were occupied with field-works, but none the less engaged one another daily in cavalry actions.

§ 62  Meanwhile Varus, who had previously beached his flotilla at Utica for the winter, learned that the Seventh and Eighth legions were on the way from Sicily. Thereupon he promptly launched his flotilla, manned it on the spot with Gaetulian oarsmen and marines and, setting sail from Utica, arrived at Hadrumetum with fifty-five ships with the object of setting a trap for them. Caesar, who was unaware of his arrival, despatched L. Cispius with a squadron of twenty-seven ships to the area of Thapsus to patrol there and give cover to his convoy; and he also sent Q. Aquila with thirteen warships to Hadrumetum for the same purpose. Cispius speedily reached his destination, whereas Aquila, lashed by a storm and unable to double the headland, gained a certain cove which was sheltered from the storm and afforded him and his squadron a fairly inconspicuous retreat. The rest of the fleet stood at anchor out at sea off Leptis; and as the crews had disembarked and were roaming here and there about the beach, some of them having gone off to the town to buy themselves food, the fleet had no one to defend it. Learning of this situation from a deserter, Varus seized his opportunity: at the second watch he came out of the inner harbour of Hadrumetum and arrived off Leptis in the early morning with his entire squadron; and there he set fire to the defenceless transports which were anchored out at sea at some distance from the port, and captured two five-banked warships, which offered no resistance.

§ 63  Meanwhile a message speedily acquainted Caesar with the news as he was touring the defence works in his camp, which was six miles distant from the harbour. Putting everything else on one side and giving his horse its head he speedily reached Leptis, where he insisted that all the ships should follow his lead: he himself then went aboard a small cutter. As he sailed on he came up with Aquila, who was filled with panic and confusion at the large number of the enemy ships, and then set off in pursuit of the enemy squadron. Meanwhile Varus, disconcerted by Caesar's promptitude and boldness, had turned about with his entire squadron and was now beating a hasty retreat to Hadrumetum. In four miles' sail Caesar overhauled him, recovered one of his quinqueremes, complete with all its crew, and capturing in addition the enemy prize-crew aboard her, one hundred-and-thirty strong, and then captured the nearest enemy trireme, which in the course of the action had lagged behind the rest, with its full complement of rowers and marines. The rest of the enemy fleet doubled the headland, and one and all sought refuge in the inner harbour of Hadrumetum. But the wind did not hold for Caesar also to be able to double the headland; so after riding out that night at anchor in deep water he approached Hadrumetum at dawn. There he set fire to the transports which were outside the inner harbour and then, as all the others had either been beached by the enemy or massed inside the inner harbour, he waited a little while to see if by chance the enemy were disposed to fight a naval action and then withdraw back to his camp.

§ 64  Among those made prisoner aboard that trireme was P. Vestrius, a Roman knight, and P. Ligarius, once a supporter of Afranius. Caesar had set the latter free in Spain along with the other Afranians, and he had later on joined Pompeius and then, as a fugitive after the battle (of Pharsalus), had come to Varus in Africa. In view of his falseness and treachery Caesar bade him be executed. P. Vestrius, on the other hand, he pardoned; for his brother had paid the stipulated ransom at Rome, and Vestrius himself had satisfied Caesar as to the honesty of his motives, explaining that he had been taken prisoner by the fleet of Nasidius, his life had been saved through the kindness of Varus just as he was being led off to execution, and after that he had been given no opportunity of going over to Caesar's side.

§ 65  There is in Africa a custom among the natives whereby both in the open fields and in practically all their farm buildings they have a secret underground vault for the storage of corn, the main motive for this provision being wars and the sudden appearance of an enemy. When Caesar got to know of this custom through an informer, at the third watch of the night he sent two legions and some cavalry a distance of ten miles from his camp, and later saw them return to camp laden with a large quantity of corn. When Labienus learned of this, he advanced seven miles from his camp across the hilly plateau across which Caesar had marched the day before, encamped two legions there and, supposing that Caesar would frequently pass along that same route for foraging purposes, established himself daily at suitable points to lie in wait for him with along force of cavalry and light-armed troops.

§ 66  In the meantime information reached Caesar from deserters about Labienus' trap. He waited in camp there a few days for the constant repetition of the same daily routine to lead the enemy into carelessness and then, early one morning, he suddenly gave the order that three veteran legions and a detachment of cavalry should follow him by way of the rear gate. Then, sending on the cavalry ahead, he suddenly surprised the enemy ambush lurking in the ravines, killing some five hundred of their light-armed troops and throwing the rest into a very unseemly rout. Whereupon Labienus dashed up with his entire cavalry force to the relief of his routed troops; and as the odds were now too great for the Caesarian horse to contain their powerful onslaught, Caesar displayed to the enemy forces his legions in battle formation. This action utterly daunted and checked Labienus, and Caesar thereupon withdrew his own cavalry without loss. On the following day Juba crucified those Numidians who had quitted their post and fled back to their camp.

§ 67  Caesar meanwhile was embarrassed by lack of corn; for which reason he mustered all his forces in camp and, leaving troops to garrison Leptis, Ruspina and Acylla, and assigning his fleet to Cispius and Aquila to maintain the naval blockade, the one of Hadrumetum and the other of Thapsus, he himself set fire to his camp and at the fourth watch of the night in battle formation with his baggage concentrated on the left wing evacuated that position and came to the town of Aggar. This town had previously been repeatedly attacked by the Gaetulians only to be very stoutly defended by the inhabitants themselves. Here in the plain he pitched a single camp and then set off in person with part of his army on a foraging mission round the farmsteads; and finding a large quantity of barley, oil, wine and figs, and a little wheat, he returned to camp with his army duly refreshed. Meanwhile Scipio, who had got to know of Caesar's departure, proceeded to follow him across the plateau with his entire forces and established himself six miles away from Caesar's camp, with his forces divided among three separate camps.

§ 68  There was a town called Zeta, which was ten miles distant from Scipio but situated in the general direction of his camp; whereas it was relatively distant and remote — fourteen miles in fact — from Caesar. To this town Scipio sent two legions to forage. When Caesar learned of this from a deserter he moved his camp from the plain to a safer position on the high ground; and leaving a covering force there, he himself set out at the fourth watch, marched on past the enemy's camp, and took possession of the town. He then ascertained that Scipio's legions were foraging farther afield; and he was just proceeding to march in their direction when he observed enemy forces hastening up to support those legions. This circumstance made him loath to attack. And so, taking prisoner C. Minucius Reginus, the commandant of that town, who was a Roman knight and a very intimate friend of Scipio, and P. Atrius, a Roman knight and a member of the corporation of Utica, and leading away twenty-two of the king's camels, he proceeded to retire to camp, leaving his lieutenant, Oppius, with a garrison in the town.

§ 69  When he was now not far away from Scipio's camp, which of necessity he had to pass, Labienus and Afranius with all their cavalry and light-armed troops sprang up and revealed themselves from behind the nearby hills where they had been lurking in ambush, and flung themselves upon his rearguard. Seeing himself thus attacked, Caesar deployed his cavalry to bear the brunt of the enemy onslaught and ordered his legionaries to pile their packs and promptly deliver a counter-attack. As soon as this was under way the enemy cavalry and light-armed troops were without difficulty driven back and dislodged from the hill directly the legions charged. No sooner had Caesar come to the conclusion that the enemy, beaten back and demoralised as they were, would now stop their harrying, and no sooner had he begun to resume his march, than once again they promptly flung themselves from the cover of the nearby hills and attacked Caesar's legionaries, employing the same tactics as I described above — Numidians and light-armed troops they were, possessed of a marvellous turn of speed, fighting in the ranks of the cavalry and used to keeping pace with the horsemen and doubling forward or retreating at their side. As they repeated this manoeuvre quite frequently, chasing the Julians as they marched and taking to flight when their opponents turned to attack them, and as they would not approach at all close, but employed peculiar tactics and were content with wounding the horses with their javelins, Caesar realised that what they were trying to do was no less than force him to pitch camp at a spot where there was not a drop of water, so that his famished army, which had tasted nothing at all from the fourth watch of the night right up till the tenth hour of the day, should die of thirst — both men and beasts.

§ 70  It was now nearly sundown and less than a hundred paces had been covered all told in four hours, when Caesar withdrew his cavalry — in view of the casualties among their horses — from the rearguard, and called on the legions to replace them. By employing the legionary troops in this manner and advancing calmly and at a gentle pace he found it less awkward to contain the enemy's violent onslaught. Meanwhile detachments of the Numidian cavalry kept charging ahead along the high ground to his right and left and availing themselves of their superior numbers to surround Caesar's forces with a kind of continuous circle of troops, while others of them pursued his rear-guard. Meanwhile on Caesar's part it needed no more than three or four of his veterans to wheel round and brandish and hurl amain their heavy javelins at the Numidians who menaced them for more than two thousand of the latter to turn tail to a man; and then, wheeling their horses round on all sides, they would regroup once more for battle and resume their pursuit at a set distance, hurling their javelins at the legionaries. In this manner, now advancing, now pausing to fight back, Caesar completed his march, albeit somewhat slowly; for it was the first hour of the night when he brought all his men back to camp, with not a single man lost and ten wounded. Labienus retired to his lines with roughly three hundred men missing, many wounded, and all his troops exhausted by their continuous offensive. Meanwhile Scipio, who had deployed his legions, with the elephant posted in battle array in front of his camp in full view of Caesar to inspire terror, now led them back to camp.

§ 71  Faced with an enemy of this kind Caesar proceeded to train his forces, not as a commander trains a veteran army with a magnificent record of victorious achievements, but as a gladiatorial instructor trains his recruits. How many feet they were to retreat from the enemy; the manner in which they must wheel round upon their adversary; the restricted space in which they must offer him resistance — now doubling forward, now retiring and making feint attacks; and almost the spot from which, and the manner in which they must discharge their missiles — these were the lessons he taught them. For it was surprising the amount of worry and anxiety the enemy's light-armed troops were causing our army, what with their making the cavalry chary of engaging for fear of losing their mounts, since the light-armed troops kept killing them with their javelins, and with their wearing the legionaries out by their speediness; for no sooner had a heavy-armed soldier, when pursued by them, halted and then made an attack on them than their speed of movement enabled them easily to avoid the danger.

§ 72  As a result of this Caesar was seriously perturbed, since as often as an engagement had occurred he had been quite unable to be a match with his own cavalry, unsupported by legionary troops, for the enemy cavalry and their light-armed units. Moreover, there was this other problem which worried him: as yet he had had no experience of the enemy legions; and how, he wondered, could he cope with their cavalry and amazing light-armed troops if they were backed up by their legions too. He had yet another cause for anxiety — the panic with which the size and number of the elephants gripped the minds of his soldiers. Here, however, was one problem to which he had found an answer; for he had ordered elephants to be brought across from Italy to enable our troops not only to become familiar with them, but also to get to know both the appearance and capabilities of the beast, what part of its body was readily vulnerable to a missile and, when an elephant was accoutred and armoured, what part of its body was still left uncovered and unprotected, so that their missiles should be aimed at that spot. He had also this further object in mind, that his horses would learn by familiarity with these beasts not to be alarmed by their scent, trumpeting or appearance. From this experiment he had profited handsomely: for the troops handled the beasts and came to appreciate their sluggishness; the cavalry hurled dummy javelins at them; and the docility of the beasts had brought the horses to feel at home with them.

§ 73  For the reasons above-mentioned Caesar was worried, and his old habitual dashing tactics had now given place to a more sedate and deliberate policy. And no wonder: for the troops he now commanded had been used to fighting in the flat terrain of Gaul against Gauls — men of forthright character with barely a trace of deceit, whose habit it is to rely on valour, not on guile, in their fighting; whereas now he had to perform the ardour takes of accustoming his troops to recognise the tricks, traps and stratagems of the enemy, and what tactics could fittingly be adopted, and what avoided. Accordingly, to speed up this training of theirs, he took pains not to keep the legions confined to one area, but to keep them constantly on the move, first to one spot, then to another, ostensibly for foraging purposes, for the very reason that he reckoned the enemy forces would not fail to follow in his tracks. And two days later, when he had led forth his forces duly and carefully deployed, he marched past close to the enemy's camp and challenged them to battle on level ground; but when he saw the enemy reluctant to accept, he led his legions back to camp as evening was approaching.

§ 74  Meanwhile envoys arrived from the town of Vaga, which was near Zeta, the occupation of which by Caesar we have already described. They prayed and besought Caesar to send them a garrison, saying they would assist him by furnishing various supplies useful in war. At this point, by the good will of the gods and their favour towards Caesar, a deserter informed his compatriots that king Juba had speedily hastened to the town with his forces to forestall the arrival there of Caesar's garrison; that at his coming he had surrounded the town with vast forces, won control of it, slaughtered all the inhabitants to a man, and then given it over to his troops to plunder and destroy.

§ 75  Meanwhile Caesar ceremonially purified his army on March 21st. On the following day he led forth his entire forces, advanced five miles from his own camp, and took his stand in battle array at a distance of some two miles from Scipio's camp. On perceiving that his opponents, despite this adequate and sustained challenge, declined his offer of battle, he led his forces back; and on the following day he struck camp and took the road to the town of Sarsura, where Scipio had posted a garrison of Numidians and laid in a stock of corn. When Labienus perceived this he proceeded to harry Caesar's rear-guard with his cavalry and light-armed troops; and having by this means cut off the baggage trains of the sutlers and merchants who were carrying their wares in carts, he was thereby the more encouraged to grow bolder and come closer to the legions, since he supposed that the soldiers were worn out with carrying their heavy packs and so in no condition to fight. But this contingency had not escaped Caesar's attention: he had in fact given instruction that three hundred men out of each legion should be in light order; and these he accordingly disestablished against Labienus' cavalry to give support to his own squadrons. Whereupon Labienus, dismayed at the sight of the standards, wheeled round his horses and beat a hasty and highly undignified retreat. The legionary troops, having killed many of his men and wounded not a few, retired to their standards and proceeded to resume their march. Labienus still kept up his pursuit at a distance, moving along the crest of the ridge of hills upon the right.

§ 76  When Caesar came to the town of Sarsura he massacred Scipio's garrison while his opponents looked on, not daring to assist their friends. Its commander, however, P. Cornelius, a reservist recalled by Scipio, offered a gallant resistance, but was surrounded by overwhelming numbers and killed. Then Caesar gained control of the town, distributed corn to his army on the spot, and arrived next day at the town of Thysdra. Considius was in the town at this time with a considerable garrison force and his own bodyguard of gladiators. Caesar studied the characteristics of the town, and the lack of water discouraged him from attacking it: he then set out forthwith and pitched a camp some four miles away near water, only to quit it at the fourth watch and return once again to the camp he had occupied near Aggar. Scipio followed suit and led his forces back to his old camp.

§ 77  Meanwhile the inhabitants of Thabena, who dwelt on the coast at the extreme verge of Juba's kingdom and were his traditional lieges and subjects, had none the less massacred the royal garrison, and now sent envoys to Caesar informing him of their action and earnestly soliciting that the Roman people should give them succour in their present plight, as they had deserved well at their hands. Caesar approved their policy and sent Marcius Crispus with three cohorts and numerous archers and pieces of artillery to Thabena as a garrison force. It was at this same time that Caesar was reinforced by the troops from all his legions who, whether prevented by sickness or because they had been granted leave, had previously been unable to cross to Africa with the colours: these comprised about four thousand infantry, four hundred cavalry and a thousand slingers and archers, and all came in one convoy. And so, leading out all his legions, including these forces, he took up a position in battle array in the plain five miles away from his own camp and two miles distant from Scipio's.

§ 78  Below Scipio's camp there was a town called Tegea, where he kept a standing garrison force of cavalry numbering some two thousand men. This cavalry he now deployed in line on the right- and left-hand flanks of the town, while he himself led his legions out of camp and after advancing not much more than about a mile from his defences drew them up arrayed in battle formation on the lower slopes of a ridge. After some little time had elapsed without Scipio's shifting his position, and as the daylight hours were being frittered away in inaction, Caesar ordered some squadrons of his own horse to make a charge against the enemy cavalry which were posted on guard near the town, and despatched some light-armed units, archers and slingers to the same objective in support. When this manoeuvre was under way and the Julians had delivered their attack at full gallop, Pacideius began to deploy his horsemen on a broader front, to enable them to swarm round the flanks of the Julian cavalry and still fight with the utmost gallantry and spirit. When Caesar observed these tactics he instructed the three hundred men in light order — it was his normal practice that this number of men in each of his legions should be in light order — from the legion which was posted in the line nearest the scene of this action to hasten to the assistance of the cavalry. Meanwhile Labienus sent cavalry reinforcements to support his own horsemen, furnishing unscathed troopers and those whose strength was relatively unspent to take the place of their wounded or exhausted comrades. Now that the four hundred Julian cavalry were finding it impossible to contain the violent onslaught of an enemy some four thousand strong, and were suffering casualties at the hands of the light-armed Numidians and giving ground very slightly, Caesar despatched a second wing of cavalry to dash speedily to the help of his hard-pressed men. This action raised the spirits of his troops, who delivered a massed charge against the enemy and turned their opponents to flight; and after killing many and wounding not a few and chasing the enemy for three miles and driving them right up to the high ground they retired to their lines. Caesar waited till the tenth hour and then withdrew to his camp in battle order without any losses. In this engagement Pacideius was seriously wounded in the head by a heavy javelin which pierced his helmet; and several of the enemy leaders and all their bravest men were either killed or wounded.

§ 79  Finding it impossible on any terms to induce his opponents to come down to level ground and risk their legions, and realising that it was equally impossible for him to pitch his own camp closer to the enemy owing to the poor supply of water, and perceiving that his opponents, so far from having any confidence in their own valour, were led to hold him in contempt by their reliance on the dearth of water, Caesar left Aggar on April 4th at the third watch. Then, after advancing sixteen miles by night, he pitched camp near Thapsus, where Vergilius was in command with a considerable garrison. That same day he began to invest the town, seizing and manning several suitable strategic points to prevent the enemy's being able to infiltrate and approach him, or capture any inner positions. Scipio had in the meantime got to know of Caesar's plans; and being now reduced to the necessity of fighting, if he was to avoid the utter humiliation of losing Vergilius and those most staunch supporters of his cause — the men of Thapsus, he forthwith followed Caesar along the high ground and established himself in two camps at a distance of eight miles from Thapsus.

§ 80  There was a lagoon of salt water, separated from the sea by a certain narrow strip of land not more than a mile and a half wide; and this corridor Scipio now attempted to enter to bring help to the men of Thapsus. The likelihood of such a move had not escaped Caesar's attention: in fact, the day before he had built a fort at this spot and left behind a force of three cohorts to hold it, while he himself with the rest of his forces established a crescent-shaped camp and invested Thapsus with a ring of siege works. Meanwhile Scipio, foiled in his undertaking, by-passed the lagoon to the north by a march which he completed in the ensuing day and night, and then, at the first pale light of dawn, took up a position not far from the camp and the defence area I mentioned above, and a mile and a half from the sea coast; and any he began to fortify a camp. When this was reported to Caesar, the latter withdrew his troops from their work of fortification, left behind the pro-consul Asprenas to guard the camp with two legions, and hurriedly marched to that location with a force in light order. As for his fleet, part of it was left behind off Thapsus, while the remaining ships were ordered to advance as close as possible inshore in rear of the enemy and to watch for a signal from Caesar; on the giving of which signal they were suddenly to raise a shout, surprise the enemy from the rear, and thus demoralise them, so that in their utter confusion and panic they would be obliged to look behind them.

§ 81  When Caesar arrived there and observed Scipio's battle line arrayed in front of the rampart, with the elephants posted on the right and left wings, while none the less part of his troops were busily engaged in fortifying the camp, he himself disposed his army in three lines: the Tenth and Seventh legions he posted on the right wing, the Eighth and Ninth on the left, while five cohorts of the Fifth legion were stationed on each of the actual wings, forming a fourth line to contain the elephants; and his archers and slingers were deployed on either wing, and the light-armed units interspersed among the cavalry. Caesar himself hurriedly went the rounds of his troops on foot, reminding the veterans of their gallant bearing in previous combats and raising their morale by flattering appeals. As for the recruits, seeing that they had never so far fought in pitched battle, he urged them to emulate the gallantry of the veterans and to make it their ambition by gaining a victory to enjoy a fame, status and renown equal to theirs.

§ 82  Now in the course of making these rounds of his army he observed that the enemy in neighbourhood of their rampart were excited, rushing hither and thither in alarm, now retiring inside the gates, now trooping out in a spasmodic and undisciplined fashion. Several others were beginning to observe the same symptoms when without more ado his lieutenants and reservists implored Caesar not to hesitate to give the signal, saying that it was decisive victory that the immortal gods were thus foretelling them. Caesar still hesitated, opposing their impetuous eagerness, repeatedly protesting that a precipitate sally was not his approved way of fighting, and again and again holding his battle line in check; when suddenly on the right wing, without orders from Caesar but under coercion of the troops, a trumpeter began to sound the charge. Whereupon every single cohort began to attack the enemy, despite the resistance of the centurions, who planted themselves in the path of the troops and sought to hold them back by force to prevent their attacking without orders from the commander-in-chief, but all in vain.

§ 83  When Caesar realised that it was quite out of the question to hold back his troops in their present state of excitement, he signalled 'Good Luck' and giving his horse its head rode in hot haste against the enemy front ranks. Meanwhile on the right wing the slingers and archers in crowds launched rapid volleys of missiles against the elephants. Whereupon the beasts, terrified by the whizzing sound of the slings and by the stones and leaden bullets launched against them, speedily wheeled round, trampled under foot the massed and serried ranks of their own supporting troops behind them, and rushed towards the half-completed gates of the rampart. The Moorish cavalry, who were posted on the same wing as the elephants, followed suit and, abandoned by their protective screen, started the rout. Having thus speedily got round the elephants, the legions gained possession of the enemy's rampart; and when the few defenders who offered a spirited resistance had been killed, the remainder precipitately sought refuge in the camp from which they had issued the day before.

§ 84  I ought not, I think, to omit to mention the gallantry of a veteran soldier of the Fifth legion. On the left wing an elephant, maddened by the pain of a wound it had received, had attacked an unarmed soldier, pinned him underfoot, and then knelt upon him; and now, with its trunk erect and swaying, and trumpeting loudly, it was crushing him to death with its weight. This was more than the soldier could bear; he could not but confront the beast, fully armed as he was. When it observed him coming towards it with weapon poised to strike, the elephant abandoned the corpse, encircled the soldier with its trunk, and lifted him up in the air. The soldier, perceiving that a dangerous crisis of this sort demand resolute action on his part, hewed with his sword again and again at the encircling trunk with all the strength he could muster. The resulting pain caused the elephant to drop the soldier, wheel round, and with shrill trumpetings make all speed to rejoin its fellows.

§ 85  Meanwhile the members of the garrison of Thapsus made a sortie from the town by way of the seaward gate and, whether their object was to hasten to the aid of their fellows, or to abandon the town and secure their own safety by flight, out they came and accordingly, wading waist-high into the sea, made for the land. They were, however, prevented from reaching land by stones and heavy javelins hurled by the slaves and lackeys in the camp; and so they returned back into the town. Meanwhile Scipio's forces, now thrown into utter confusion, were in wholesale retreat in every sector of the field, and Caesar's legions promptly pursued them without giving them any respite in which to pull themselves together. When the fugitives reached the camp they were making for, with the object of making a recovery there and defending themselves once more, and of trying to find someone to lead them — someone to look up to, under whose authority and command they could carry on the fight; when they got there and perceived that there was nobody guarding it, they forthwith discarded their armour and beat a hasty retreat to the royal camp. This too on their arrival they saw to be in the hands of the Julians. Abandoning all hope of salvation, they now halted on a hill and gave the military salute by lowering their arms. This gesture, unhappily for them, stood them in but little stead. For Caesar's veterans were filled with such burning indignation and resentment that, so far from any possibility of inducing them to spare the enemy, they actually wounded or killed several men of culture and distinction among the ranks of their own side, calling them ringleaders. Among these was Tullius Rufus, an ex-quaestor, who was mortally wounded by a soldier who deliberately ran him through with a heavy javelin; and similarly Pompeius Rufus was stabbed in the arm with a sword and would have been done to death, had he not promptly rushed to Caesar's side. This behaviour caused grave alarm among quite a number of Roman knights and senators, who retired from the battle lest they themselves should also be massacred by the soldiers, who after so resounding a victory had apparently taken it for granted that they were free to perpetrate any excesses, on the assumption that they would go unpunished in view of their magnificent achievements. Accordingly, although all these troops of Scipio implored Caesar's protection, they were massacred to a man, despite the fact that Caesar himself was looking on and entreating his troops to spare them.

§ 86  Having made himself master of three camps and killed ten thousand of the enemy and routed a large number, Caesar retired to camp with fifty soldiers missing and a few wounded. Immediately on his arrival he established himself in front of the town of Thapsus. He then took sixty-four elephants, equipped, armed and complete with towers and harness, and these he now drew up in array in front of the town: his object in so doing was to see if Vergilius and the others who were being besieged with him could be induced to abandon their obstinate resistance by the evidence of their comrades' failure. He then addressed a personal appeal to Vergilius inviting him to surrender and reminding him of his own leniency and clemency; but on failing to observe any response he withdrew from the town. On the following day, after offering sacrifice, he held a parade and in full view of the occupants of the town congratulated his troops, rewarding his entire veteran force and bestowing decorations publicly in front of the dais for conspicuous gallantry and meritorious service. Thereupon he immediately withdrew from the town, leaving behind the proconsul Rebilus in front of Thapsus with three legions and Cn. Domitius with two at Thysdra, where Considius was in command, to continue the blockades of these places; and then, sending M. Messalla on ahead to Utica with the cavalry, he himself also proceeded with despatch to the same destination.

§ 87  Meanwhile those horsemen of Scipio's who had escaped from the battle were proceeding in the direction of Utica when they came to the town of Parada. Being refused admittance by the inhabitants — for the tidings of Caesar's victory had preceded them — they gained possession of the town by force; then, making a pile of faggots in the middle of the market-place and heaping on top all the inhabitants' possessions, they set fire to it and then flung into the flames, alive and bound, the inhabitants of the town themselves, irrespective of rank or age, thereby meting out to them the most cruel of all punishments. Whereupon they came straight to Utica. Now early on M. Cato had come to the conclusion that on account of the benefit they had received from the Julian law the men of Utica were but luke-warm supporters of his cause; and so he had expelled the unarmed mob from the town, built a concentration camp in front of the military gate, protected by quite a shallowish trench, and forced them to live there cordoned off by sentries. As for the town's senate, he kept it under restraint. This concentration camp of theirs Scipio's horsemen now attacked and began to storm, for the very reason that they knew that its occupants had been adherents of Caesar's side; and if they massacred them their destruction might serve to avenge their own sense of disappointment. But the people of Utica, emboldened as a result of Caesar's victory, drove back the horsemen with stones and clubs. And so, finding it impossible to gain possession of the camp, the horsemen hurled themselves upon the town of Utica, where they massacred many of the inhabitants and stormed and looted their houses. As Cato could not persuade them by any means to join him in defending the town or cease from their butchery and pillaging, and as he was aware of their intentions, he distributed a hundred sesterces to each of them by way of appeasing their wanton attitude. Faustus Sulla followed suit and bribed them out of his own pocket; he then left Utica with them and proceeded on his way to Juba's kingdom.

§ 88  Meanwhile a considerable number of the fugitives reached Utica. All these, together with the Three Hundred, who had contributed money to Scipio for the prosecution of the war, Scipio now called together and urged them to set their slaves at liberty and defend the town. On perceiving that, while some of them agreed with him, others were thoroughly scared at heart and had set their minds on flight, he refrained from further mention of the subject and assigned ships to the latter to enable them to leave for the destination of their individual choice. As for himself, having made all arrangements with the greatest care and entrusted his children to L. Caesar, who at the time was acting as his quaestor, he retired to bed without arousing any suspicions, there being nothing unusual either about the way he looked or the way he talked; and then, having secretly smuggled a dagger into his bedroom, he accordingly stabbed himself. He had collapsed but was still breathing when his doctor and some members of his household, suspecting something amiss, forced their way into the bedroom and proceeded to staunch and bind up the wound; but with his own hands he tore it open with utter ruthlessness and resolutely made an end of himself. Despite their hatred of him on party grounds, yet, on account of his unique integrity, and because he had proved so very different from the other leaders and had fortified Utica with wonderful defences and extended its battlements, the men of Utica accorded him burial. After Cato's suicide L. Caesar, intending to turn this incident somehow to his personal advantage, delivered a speech to the assembled people in which he urged them all to open their gates, saying that he set great store by C. Caesar's clemency. Accordingly, the gates were thrown open and he came out from Utica and set forth to meet Caesar, the commander-in-chief. Messalla arrived at Utica in accordance with his instructions and posted guards at all the gates.

§ 89  Caesar meanwhile advanced from Thapsus and arrived at Usseta, where Scipio had kept a large quantity of stores including, amongst other things, corn, arms and weapons: there was almost the same small garrison force. Of this arsenal he gained possession on his arrival, and then came to Hadrumetum. Entering this town without opposition, he made an inventory of the arms, corn and money in it, and spared the lives of Q. Ligarius and C. Considius, the son, both of whom were present at that time. Then, quitting Hadrumetum the same day and leaving Livineius Regulus behind there with a legion he hastened on to Utica. On the way he was met by L. Caesar, who incontinently threw himself at his feet and prayed him for one boon, for one alone — to spare him his life. Caesar readily granted him this boon — an act which accorded both with his natural temperament and principles; and in the same way he followed the normal procedure in sparing the lives of Caecina, C. Ateius, P. Atrius, L. Cella (both father and son), M. Eppius, M. Aquinus, as well as Cato's son and the children of Damasippus. He then arrived at Utica when it was just about dusk and spent that night outside the town.

§ 90  Early the following morning he entered the town and summoned an assembly, at which he addressed the citizens of Utica in a stirring speech and thanked them for the zealous support they had given him. As, however, for the Roman citizens who were engaged in trade and those members of the Three Hundred who had contributed sums of money to Varus and Scipio, he brought a very detailed accusation against them and dilated at some length upon their crimes, but finally announced that they could come out into the open without fear: their lives at any rate he would spare: their property indeed he would sell, yet on the following condition, that if any man among them personally brought in his own property, he himself would duly register the sale of the property and enter up the money paid under the heading of a fine, so as to enable the man in question to enjoy full security thereafter. For these men, pale with fear and, considering their deserts, with little hope of saving their lives, here was an unexpected offer of salvation. Gladly and eagerly they accepted the terms and besought Caesar to fix a lump sum of money to be paid by the entire Three Hundred as a whole. Accordingly, he required them to pay to the Roman people the sum of two hundred million sesterces in six instalments spread over three years; and this they accepted gladly and without a single murmur, expressing their gratitude to Caesar and declaring that this day finally marked for them the start of a new life.

§ 91  Meanwhile king Juba had fled from the battle and, accompanied by Petreius, by lying up in farms by day and travelling by night, arrived at length in his kingdom and came to the town of Zama. In this town he had his own residence and his wives and children; and it was here he had collected all his money and most precious possessions from all over his kingdom, having fortified the town at the outset of hostilities with very strong defences. But the townsfolk, who had already heard the much-desired tidings of Caesar's victory, refused him admittance on the following grounds: when he entered upon hostilities with the Roman people he had collected a mass of wooden billets and built a vast pyre in the town of Zama in the middle of the market-place, so that, should it so chance he was beaten in the war, he might pile all his possessions on it, then massacre all his citizens and fling them also on to it, set it alight, and then finally slay himself on top of it, and thus be consumed by fire along with his children, wives, citizens, and the entire royal treasure. For a long time Juba earnestly treated with the men of Zama before the gates of the town, employing threats in the first place, as his authority warranted; secondly, realising that he was making but little headway, he besought them with entreaties to let him have access to his own hearth and home; and thirdly, when he observed that they persisted in their determination, and that neither threats nor entreaties on his part had any effect upon them or disposed them the more to admit him, he begged them to hand over to him his wives and children, so that he could carry them away with him. On observing that the townsfolk vouchsafed him no answer at all he left Zama without gaining any satisfaction from them, and then betook himself to a country residence of his, attended by M. Petreius and a few horsemen.

§ 92  Whereupon the men of Zama sent envoys to Caesar at Utica to discuss this situation, asking him to send them help before the king should collect a force and attack them: at all events, they said, they were prepared to preserve the town and themselves for him so long as the breath of life remained in them. Caesar congratulated the envoys and bade them return home: he would follow them, and they must make known his coming in advance. He himself left Utica the following day with his cavalry and proceeded with despatch into the royal territory. Meanwhile in the course of his march there came to Caesar several leaders of the royal forces, who begged him to forgive them. To these suppliants he granted pardon, and then came to Zama. Meanwhile the tidings of his leniency and clemency had spread abroad, with the result that practically all the horsemen in the kingdom came to Caesar at Zama; and there they were set free by him from their fears and the danger which involved them.

§ 93  During the course of these proceedings on either side Considius, who was in command at Thysdra and was accompanied by his household slaves, a bodyguard of gladiators and some Gaetulians, learned of the massacre of his comrades; and being seriously perturbed by the arrival of Domitius and his legions, and despairing of saving his life, he abandoned the town, made a secret withdrawal with a handful of his foreign troops and a large sum of money, and beat a hasty retreat to Juba's kingdom. But while he was on the road the Gaetulians who bore him company cut him down in their impatience to loot his treasure, and then made off, as best they could, in various directions. Meanwhile C. Vergilius, who was cut off alike by land and sea, perceived that he was making no progress: that M. Cato had taken his own life at Utica: that the king was a wanderer at large, abandoned by his subjects and held in universal contempt: that Saburra and his troops had been destroyed by Sittius: that Caesar had been received without opposition at Utica; and that out of all that vast army there was nothing left whatever. For his own part, therefore, he accepted the safeguard for himself and his children offered him by the pro-consul Caninius, who was blockading him, and surrendered himself to the latter with all his effects and the town.

§ 94  Meanwhile king Juba, outlawed by all his townships, despaired of saving his life. And so finally, after dining with Petreius, he fought a duel with him with swords, so as to create the impression that both had met a gallant death; and the sword of the stronger man, Juba, easily put an end to Petreius, his weaker adversary. Juba then endeavoured to run himself through the chest with his sword; but not being able to do it, he successfully entreated a slave of his to kill him, and so achieved his purpose.

§ 95  Meanwhile P. Sittius had routed the army of Saburra, Juba's lieutenant, killing Saburra himself, and was marching with a small force through Mauretania to join Caesar when he happened to fall in with Faustus and Afranius, who were in command of the party — some thousand strong — with which they had plundered Utica, and were now making tracks for Spain. And so he promptly laid an ambush by night and attacked them at dawn. A few of the cavalry in their vanguard escaped; but all the rest were either killed or else they surrendered, and Sittius captured alive Afranius as well as Faustus with his wife and children. A few days later some disagreement arose in the army and Faustus and Afranius were killed. As for Pompeia and the children of Faustus, Caesar spared their lives and allowed them to retain all their property.

§ 96  Meanwhile Scipio, Damasippus, Torquatus and Plaetorius Rustianus were making for Spain aboard some warships; and after a long and very stormy passage they were carried towards Hippo Regius, where P. Sittius had his fleet at that time. Outnumbered as they were by the latter, Scipio's vessels were surrounded and sunk; and Scipio and those I have just named perished aboard them.

§ 97  Meanwhile at Zama Caesar held an auction of the royal property and sold the goods of those who, albeit Roman citizens, had borne arms against the Roman people. He bestowed rewards upon the inhabitants of Zama, who had adopted the policy of barring their gates to the king, farmed out the collection of the royal taxes, and turned the kingdom into a province. Then, leaving C. Sallustius behind there in military command with the powers of proconsul, he himself left Zama and returned to Utica. There he sold the property of those who had held military commands under Juba and Petreius, and exacted the following payments under the title of fines: from the men of Thapsus — two million sesterces; from their corporation — three million; likewise from the men of Hadrumetum — three million; and from their corporation — five million. But he protected their cities and property from all injury and looting. As for the inhabitants of Leptis, whose property had been plundered in former years by Juba but had been restored to them after the Senate had appointed arbitrators on receiving a deputation of theirs lodging a formal complaint, Caesar now required them to pay by way of fine three million pounds weight of oil annually, because at the beginning of the war in the course of disagreements among their leaders they had entered into an alliance with Juba, and had assisted him with arms, troops and money. The men of Thysdra — not a well-to-do community — were fined a certain quantity of corn.

§ 98  After making these arrangements he went aboard his fleet at Utica on June 13th, and arrived two days later at Caralis in Sardinia. There he fined the men of Sulci one hundred thousand sesterces for having harboured Nasidius and his fleet and assisted him by supplying troops, and directed that they should pay as tax one-eighth of their produce instead of one-tenth. He also sold up the property of a few individuals. Then he embarked on June 27th, and leaving Caralis, sailed along the coast. Twenty-seven days later — for bad weather kept holding him up in the various ports — he arrived at the city of Rome.