It happened that Hasdrubal was with Syphax at the time these things were taking place. He told the Numidian, who considered that it could make very little difference to him whether the government of the Massylians was in the hands of Lacumaces or Masinissa, that "he was very much mistaken if he supposed that Masinissa would be content with the same power which his father Gala or his uncle Oesalces enjoyed. That he possessed a much greater degree of spirit, and a more enterprising turn of mind, than had ever existed in any one of that race. That he had frequently, when in Spain, exhibited proofs to his allies, as well as to his enemies, of such valour as was rarely found among men. That both Syphax and the Carthaginians, unless they smothered that rising flame, would soon find themselves enveloped in a vast conflagration, when they could not help themselves. That as yet his strength was feeble, and such as might easily be broken, while he was trying to keep together a kingdom, which was not yet firmly cemented." By continually urging and goading him on, he succeeded in inducing him to lead an army to the frontiers of the Massylians, and to pitch his camp in a country for which he had not only disputed verbally, but had fought battles with Gala, as though it had been his own by uncontested right. He alleged, that "if any one should attempt to dislodge him, which was what he most wanted, he would have an opportunity of fighting; but, if the ground were given up to him through fear, he must march into the heart of the kingdom. That the Massylians would either submit to his authority without a contest, or would be inferior to him in arms." Syphax, impelled by these arguments, made war on Masinissa, and, in the first engagement, routed and put him to flight. Masinissa, with a few horsemen, effected his escape from the field to a mountain called by the natives Balbus. Several families, with their tents and cattle, which form their wealth, followed the king; the rest of the Massylian people submitted to Syphax. The mountain, which the exiles had seized, had plenty of grass and water; and, as it was well adapted for feeding cattle, afforded an abundant supply of food for men who live upon flesh and milk. From this place they infested all the surrounding country; at first with nightly and clandestine incursions, but afterwards with open depredations. The lands of the Carthaginians suffered the severest devastation, because there was not only a greater quantity of booty there than among the Numidians, but their plunder would be safer. And now they did it with so much boldness and defiance, that, carrying their booty down to the sea, they sold it to merchants, who brought their ships to land for that very purpose; while a greater number of Carthaginians were slain and made prisoners, than frequently happens in a regular war. The Carthaginians complained bitterly of these occurrences to Syphax, and urged him strongly to follow up this remnant of the war, though he was himself highly incensed at them. But he considered it hardly suitable to the dignity of a king to pursue a vagabond robber through the mountains.
32
Bocchar, one of the king's generals, an enterprising and active officer, was chosen for this service. Four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry were assigned him; and having been loaded with promises of immense rewards if he brought back the head of Masinissa, or if, which would be a source of incalculable joy, he took him alive; he unexpectedly attacked his party while dispersed and carelessly employed, and after cutting off an immense quantity of cattle and men from the troops which guarded them, drove Masinissa himself with a small body of attendants to the summit of the mountain. On this, considering the business as in a manner settled, he not only sent the booty of cattle and the prisoners he had made to the king, but also sent back a part of his forces, as being considerably more than were necessary to accomplish what remained of the war; and then pursuing Masinissa, who had come down from the top of the mountain with not more than five hundred foot and two hundred horse, shut him up in a narrow valley, both the entrances of which he blocked up. Here great slaughter was made of the Massylians. Masinissa, with not more than fifty horsemen, disengaged himself from the defile by passing through steep descents of the mountains, which were not known to his pursuers. Bocchar, however, followed close upon him, and overtaking him in the open plains near Clupea, so effectually surrounded him, that he slew every one of his attendants except four horsemen. These, together with Masinissa himself, who was wounded, he let slip, in a manner, out of his hands during the confusion. The fugitives were in sight, and a body of horse, dispersed over the whole plain, pursued the five horsemen of the enemy, some of them pushing off in an oblique direction, in order to meet them. The fugitives met with a very broad river, into which they unhesitatingly plunged their horses, as they were pressed by greater danger from behind, and carried away by the current were borne along obliquely. Two of them having sunk in the rapid eddy in the sight of the enemy, Masinissa himself was supposed to have perished; but he with the two remaining had emerged among the bushes on the farther bank. Here Bocchar stopped his pursuit, as he neither had courage to enter the river, nor believed that he now had any one to pursue. Upon this he returned to the king, with the false account of the death of Masinissa. Messengers were despatched to Carthage to convey this most joyful event, and all Africa rang with the news of Masinissa's death; but the minds of men were variously affected by it. Masinissa, while curing his wound by the application of herbs, was supported for several days in a secret cave by what the two horsemen procured by plunder. As soon as it was cicatrized, and he thought himself able to bear the motion, with extraordinary resolution he set out to recover his kingdom; and collecting not more than forty horsemen during his progress, when he arrived among the Massylians, where he now made himself known, he produced such a sensation among them, both by reason of their former regard for him, and also from the unhoped-for joy they experienced at seeing him safe whom they supposed to have perished, that within a few days six thousand armed foot and four thousand horse came and joined him; and now he not only was in possession of his paternal dominions, but was also laying waste the lands of the states in alliance with the Carthaginians, and the frontiers of the Massylians, the dominions of Syphax. Then, having provoked Syphax to war, he took up a position between Cirta and Hippo, on the tops of mountains which were conveniently situated for all his purposes.
33
Syphax, considering this an affair of too great importance to be managed by one of his generals, sent a part of his army with his son Vermina, a youth, with orders to march his troops round and attack the enemy in the rear, while he engaged their attention in front. Vermina set out by night, as he was to fall upon the enemy unawares; but Syphax decamped in the day-time and marched openly, intending to fight a pitched battle. When it was thought that sufficient time had elapsed for those who were sent round to have reached their destination, Syphax himself, relying upon his numbers and on the ambuscade prepared on the enemy's rear, led his troops up the mountain which lay before him, by a gentle acclivity which led towards the enemy. Masinissa, relying chiefly on the great superiority he would have over his opponents in respect of the ground, on his part also formed his troops. The battle was furious, and for a long time doubtful; Masinissa having the advantage in point of situation and the courage of his troops, and Syphax in respect of his numbers, which were much the greater of the two. His numerous troops, which were divided, some of them pressing upon the enemy in front, while others surrounded them on the rear, gave Syphax a decisive victory; and, enclosed as they were in front and rear, the enemy had not even a way to escape. Accordingly, all their troops, both horse and foot, were slain and made prisoners, except about two hundred horsemen, which Masinissa having collected round him in a compact body, and divided into three squadrons, ordered to force their way through, first naming a place where they were to meet after being separated in their flight. Masinissa himself escaped through the midst of the enemy's weapons in the quarter to which he had directed his course; two of the squadrons were unable to extricate themselves; one of them surrendered to the enemy through fear, the other, taking a more obstinate resistance, was overwhelmed with weapons and annihilated. Vermina followed Masinissa, treading almost in his steps; but he eluded him by continually turning out of one road into another, till at length he obliged him, wearied with the hopeless task, to desist from the pursuit, and arrived at the Lesser Syrtis with sixty horsemen. Here, in the country lying between the Carthaginian Emporia and the nation of the Garamantians, he passed all the time till the coming of Caius Laelius and the Roman fleet into Africa, with the proud consciousness of having made every exertion to recover his paternal dominions. These are the circumstances which incline me to the opinion, that afterwards also, when Masinissa came to Scipio, he brought with him a smallish rather than a large body of cavalry to succour him; for the large number would seem to suit only with the condition of a reigning king, while the small number corresponds with the circumstances of an exile.
34