After this he ordered the hostages from the various Spanish states to be summoned into his presence. It is difficult to give their number, for I find in one place 300 mentioned and in another 3724. There is a similar discrepancy amongst the authorities on other points. [2] One author asserts that the Carthaginian garrison amounted to 10,000 men, another puts it at 7000, whilst a third estimates it as not more than 2000. In one place you will find that there were 10,000 prisoners, in another the number is said to have exceeded 25,000. If I followed the Greek author Silenus [3??] I should give the number of scorpions large and small as 60; according to Valerius Antias there were 6000 large ones and 13,000 small ones; so wildly do men invent. It is even a matter of dispute who were in command. [4] Most authorities agree that Laelius was in command of the fleet, but there are some who say that it was M. Junius Silanus. Antias tells us that Arines was the Carthaginian commandant when the garrison surrendered, other writers say it was Mago. [5] Nor are authors agreed as to the number of ships that were captured, or the weight of gold and silver, or the amount of money that was brought into the treasury. [6] If we are to make a choice, the numbers midway between these extremes are probably nearest the truth. When the hostages appeared Scipio began by reassuring them and dispelling their fears. [7] They had, he told them, passed under the power of Rome, and the Romans preferred to hold men by the bonds of kindness rather than by those of fear. [8] They would rather have foreign nations united to them on terms of alliance and mutual good faith than kept down in hard and hopeless servitude. [9] He then ascertained the names of the States from which they came and made an inventory of the number belonging to each State. [10] Messengers were then despatched to their homes, bidding their friends to come and take charge of those who belonged to them-where envoys from any of these States happened to be present he restored their own relations to them on the spot; the care of the rest he entrusted to C. Flaminius the quaestor, with injunctions to show them all kindness and protection. [11] Whilst he was thus engaged a high-born lady, wife of Mandonius the brother of Indibilis, chief of the Ilergetes, came forward from the crowd of hostages and flinging herself in tears at the general's feet implored him to impress more strongly on their guards the duty of treating the women with tenderness and consideration. [12] Scipio assured her that nothing would be wanting in this respect. Then she continued: "We do not set great store on those things, for what is there that is not good enough for the condition that we are in? [13] I am too old to fear the injury to which our sex is exposed, but it is for others that I am anxious as I look at these young girls." Round her stood the daughters of Indibilis and other maidens of equal rank in the flower of their youthful beauty, and they all looked up to her as a mother. [14] Scipio replied: "For the sake of the discipline which I in common with all Romans uphold, I should take care that nothing which is anywhere held sacred be violated amongst us; [15] your virtue and nobility of soul, which even in misfortune is not forgetful of matronly decorum, make me now still more careful in this matter." [16] He then delivered them into the charge of a man of tried integrity, with strict injunctions to protect their innocence and modesty as carefully as though they were the wives and mothers of his own guests.
Livy. History of Rome. English Translation by. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 1. Livy. History of Rome. English Translation. Rev. Canon Roberts. New York, New York. E. P. Dutton and Co. 1912. 2.
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