o thousand fell. Hannibal, slipping off during the
confusion, with a few horsemen came to Adrumetum, not quitting the
field till he had tried every expedient both in the battle and before
the engagement; having, according to the admission of Scipio, and
every one skilled in military science, acquired the fame of having
marshalled his troops on that day with singular judgment. He placed
his elephants in the front, in order that their desultory attack, and
insupportable violence, might prevent the Romans from following their
standards, and preserving their ranks, on which they placed their
principal dependence. Then he posted his auxiliaries before the line
of Carthaginians, in order that men who were made up of the refuse of
all nations and who were not bound by honour but by gain, might not
have any retreat open to them in case they fled; at the same time that
the first ardour and impetuosity might be exhausted upon them, and,
if they could render no other service, that the weapons of the enemy
might be blunted in wounding them. Next he placed the Carthaginian
and African soldiers, on whom he placed all his hopes, in order that,
being equal to the enemy in every other respect, they might have the
advantage of them, inasmuch as, being fresh and unimpaired in strength
themselves, they would fight with those who were fatigued and wounded.
The Italians he removed into the rear, separating them also by an
intervening space, as he knew not, with certainty, whether they were
friends or enemies. Hannibal, after performing this as it were his
last work of valour, fled to Adrumetum, whence, having been summoned
to Carthage, he returned thither in the six and thirtieth year after
he had left it when a boy; and confessed in the senate-house that he
was defeated, not only in the battle, but in the war, and that there
was no hope of safety in any thing but in obtaining peace.

36. Immediately after the battle, Scipio, having taken and plundered
the enemy's camp, returned to the sea and his ships, with an immense
booty, news having reached him that Publius Lentulus had arrived at
Utica with fifty men of war, and a hundred transports laden with every
kind of stores. Concluding that he ought to bring before Carthage
every thing which could increase the consternation already existing
there, after sending Laelius to Rome to report his victory, he ordered
Cneius Octavius to conduct the legions thither by land; and, setting
out himself from