Chapter 91

Meanwhile king Juba had fled from the battle and, accompanied by Petreius, by lying up in farms by day and travelling by night, arrived at length in his kingdom and came to the town of Zama. In this town he had his own residence and his wives and children; and it was here he had collected all his money and most precious possessions from all over his kingdom, having fortified the town at the outset of hostilities with very strong defences. But the townsfolk, who had already heard the much-desired tidings of Caesar’s victory, refused him admittance on the following grounds: when he entered upon hostilities with the Roman people he had collected a mass of wooden billets and built a vast pyre in the town of Zama in the middle of the market-place, so that, should it so chance he was beaten in the war, he might pile all his possessions on it, then massacre all his citizens and fling them also on to it, set it alight, and then finally slay himself on top of it, and thus be consumed by fire along with his children, wives, citizens and the entire royal treasure. For a long time Juba earnestly treated with the men of Zama before the gates of the town, employing threats in the first place, as his authority warranted; secondly, realising that he was making but little headway, he besought them with entreaties to let him have access to his own hearth and home; and thirdly, when he observed that they persisted in their determination, and that neither threats nor entreaties on his part had any effect upon them or disposed them the more to admit him, he begged them to hand over to him his wives and children, so that he could carry them away with him. On observing that the townsfolk vouchsafed him no answer at all he left Zama without gaining any satisfaction from them, and then betook himself to a country residence of his, attended by M. Petreius and a few horsemen.