Munda, whither the
Romans speedily followed them. Here a pitched battle was fought, which
lasted almost four hours; and while the Romans were carrying all
before them in the most glorious manner, the signal for retreat was
sounded, because the thigh of Cneius Scipio had been transfixed with a
javelin. The soldiers round about him were thrown into a state of
great alarm, lest the wound should be mortal. However, there was no
doubt but that if they had not been prevented by the intervention of
this accident, they might have taken the Carthaginian camp that day.
By this time, not only the men, but the elephants, were driven quite
up to the rampart; and even upon the top of it nine and thirty
elephants were pierced with spears. In this battle, too, as many as
twelve thousand are said to have been slain, nearly three thousand
captured, with fifty-seven military standards. The Carthaginians
retired thence to the city Auringis, whither the Romans followed them,
in order to take advantage of their terror. Here Scipio again fought
them, having been carried into the field in a small litter; the
victory was decisive; but not half so many of the enemy were slain as
before, because fewer survived to fight. But this family, which
possessed a natural talent at renewing war and restoring its effects,
in a short time recruited their army, Mago having been sent by his
brother to press soldiers, and assumed courage to try the issue of a
fresh struggle. Though the soldiers were for the most part different,
yet as they fought in a cause which had so often been unsuccessful
within the space of a few days, they carried into the field the same
state of mind as those which had been engaged before, and the issue of
the battle was similar. More than eight thousand were slain, not much
less than a thousand captured, with fifty-eight military standards.
The greater part of the spoils had belonged to the Gauls, consisting
of golden chains and bracelets in great numbers. Also two
distinguished Gallic petty princes, whose names were Moenicaptus and
Civismarus, fell in this battle. Eight elephants were captured and
three slain. When affairs went on so prosperously in Spain, the Romans
began to feel ashamed that Saguntum, on account of which the war had
originated, should continue for now the eighth year in the power of
the enemy. Accordingly, having expelled by force the Carthaginian
garrison, they retook that town, and restored it to such of the
ancie