and, at the same time, to complain of the
injuries received from Masinissa.

62. When Masinissa observed that the Carthaginians were looked on with
jealousy by others, and were full of dissensions among themselves; the
nobles being suspected by the senate, on account of their conferences
with Aristo, and the senate by the people, in consequence of the
information given by the same Aristo, he thought that, at such a
conjuncture, he might successfully encroach on their rights; and
accordingly he laid waste their country along the sea-coast, and
compelled several cities, which were tributary to the Carthaginians,
to pay their taxes to him. This tract they call Emporia; it forms the
shore of the lesser Syrtis, and has a fertile soil; one of its cities
is Leptis, which paid a tribute to the Carthaginians of a talent a
day. At this time, Masinissa not only ravaged that whole tract, but,
with respect to a considerable part of it, disputed the right of
possession with the Carthaginians; and when he learned that they were
sending to Rome, both to justify their conduct, and, at the same time,
to make complaints of him, he likewise sent ambassadors to Rome, to
load them with suspicions, and to discuss the right to the taxes.
The Carthaginians were heard first, and their account of the Tyrian
stranger gave the senate no small uneasiness, as they dreaded being
involved in war with Antiochus and the Carthaginians at the same time.
What contributed chiefly to strengthen a suspicion of evil designs,
was, that though they had resolved to seize Aristo, and send him to
Rome, they had not placed a guard either on himself or his ship. Then
began the controversy with the king's ambassadors, on the claims of
the territory in dispute. The Carthaginians supported their cause by
a boundary claim, urging that "It must belong to them, as being within
the limits which Scipio, after conquering the country, had fixed as
the boundaries which should be under Carthaginian rule; and also, by
the acknowledgment of the king, who, when he was going in pursuit of
Aphir, a fugitive from his kingdom, then hovering about Cyrene, with
a party of Numidians, had solicited as a favour a passage through
that very district, as being confessedly a part of the Carthaginian
dominions." The Numidians insisted, "that they were guilty of
misrepresentation with respect to the limits fixed by Scipio; and if a
person chose to recur to the real origin of their property, what t