d
at Utica, the people sent deputies to inquire what were the orders of
the consuls, for it will be recollected they had bound themselves by
the treaty to obey the orders which the consuls were to bring. They
found, when they arrived there, that the bay was covered with the
Roman shipping. There were fifty vessels of war, of three banks of
oars each, and a vast number of transports besides. There was, too, in
the camp upon the shore, a force of eighty thousand foot soldiers and
four thousand horse, all armed and equipped in the most perfect
manner.

The deputies were convinced that this was a force which it was in vain
for their countrymen to think of resisting. They asked, trembling, for
the consuls' orders. The consuls informed them that the orders of the
Roman senate were, first, that the Carthaginians should furnish them
with a supply of corn for the subsistence of their troops. The
deputies went back to Carthage with the demand.

The Carthaginians resolved to comply. They were bound by their treaty
and by the hostages they had given, as well as intimidated by the
presence of the Roman force. They furnished the corn.

The consuls, soon after this, made another demand of the
Carthaginians. It was, that they should surrender to them all their
vessels of war. They were more unwilling to comply with this
requisition than with the other; but they assented at last. They hoped
that the demands of their enemies would stop here, and that,
satisfied with having weakened them thus far, they would go away and
leave them; they could then build new ships again when better times
should return.

But the Romans were not satisfied yet. They sent a third order, that
the Carthaginians should deliver up all their arms, military stores,
and warlike machines of every kind, by sending them into the Roman
camp. The Carthaginians were rendered almost desperate by this
requisition. Many were determined that they would not submit to it,
but would resist at all hazards. Others despaired of all possibility
of resisting now, and gave up all as lost; while the three hundred
families from which the hostages had gone, trembled for the safety of
the captive children, and urged compliance with the demand. The
advocates for submission finally gained the day. The arms were
collected, and carried in an immensely long train of wagons to the
Roman camp. There were two hundred thousand complete suits of armor,
with darts and javelins without number, a