st. He increased the honour by
observing, that among the Romans there was nothing more magnificent
than a triumph; and that those who triumphed were not arrayed with
more splendid ornaments than those with which the Roman people
considered Masinissa alone, of all foreigners, worthy. He then
bestowed the highest commendations upon Laelius also, and presented
him with a golden crown, and gave presents to the other military
characters proportioned to their respective merits. By these honours
the king's mind was soothed, and encouraged to hope that he would
speedily become master of all Numidia, now that Syphax was removed.

16. Scipio, having sent Caius Laelius with Syphax and the rest of the
prisoners to Rome, with whom went also ambassadors from Masinissa, led
his troops back again to Tunes, and completed the fortifications which
he had before begun. The Carthaginians, who had experienced not only
a short-lived but almost groundless joy, from their attack upon the
fleet, which, under existing circumstances, was tolerably successful,
were so dismayed at the account of the capture of Syphax, in whom they
reposed almost greater confidence than in Hasdrubal and his army, that
now listening no longer to any who advocated war, they sent thirty
of their principal elders as deputies to solicit peace. With them the
council of elders is held in the highest reverence, and has supreme
power even to control the senate itself. When they came into the Roman
camp and entered the pavilion, they prostrated themselves after the
manner of those who pay profound adoration to kings, adopting the
custom, I suppose, from the country from which they derived their
origin. Their language corresponded with such abject humiliation, for
they did not endeavour to deny their guilt, but charged Hannibal and
the favourers of his violent measures with being the originators of
it. They implored pardon for their state, which had been now twice
brought to the brink of ruin by the temerity of its citizens, and
would again owe its safety to the indulgence of its enemies. They
said, the object the Roman people aimed at in the subjugation of their
enemies was dominion, and not their destruction; that he might enjoin
what he pleased upon them, as being prepared submissively to obey.
Scipio replied, "that he had come into Africa with the hope, and
that hope had been increased by the success he had experienced in his
operations, that he should carry home victory an