Chapter 93

During the course of these proceedings on either side Considius, who was in command at Thysdra and was accompanied by his household slaves, a bodyguard of gladiators and some Gaetulians, learned of the massacre of his comrades; and being seriously perturbed by the arrival of Domitius and his legions, and despairing of saving his life, he abandoned the town, made a secret withdrawal with a handful of his foreign troops and a large sum of money, and beat a hasty retreat to Juba’s kingdom. But while he was on the road the Gaetulians who bore him company cut him down in their impatience to loot his treasure, and then made off, as best they could, in various directions. Meanwhile C. Vergilius, who was cut off alike by land and sea, perceived that he was making no progress: that his comrades were either killed or put to flight: that M. Cato had taken his own life at Utica: that the king was a wanderer at large, abandoned by his subjects and held in universal contempt: that Saburra and his troops had been destroyed by Sittius: that Caesar had been received without opposition at Utica; and that out of all that vast army there was nothing left whatever. For his own part, therefore, he accepted the safeguard for himself and his children offered him by the pro-consul Caninius, who was blockading him, and surrendered himself to the latter with all his effects and the town.