Titus Livius (Livy), The History of Rome, Book 30
Frank Gardener Moore, Professor Emeritus in Columbia University, Ed.

43. When all were now disposed to make peace the consul Gnaeus Lentulus, to whom the fleet had been assigned,¹ vetoed a decree of the senate. [2] Thereupon Manius Acilius and Quintus Minucius, tribunes of the plebs,² brought before the people the question whether it was their will and command that the senate should decree that peace be made with the Carthaginians; and whom they should command to grant that peace, and whom to bring the army back from Africa. [3] In regard to the peace all the tribes voted affirmatively: that Publius Scipio should grant the peace, that he also should bring back the army. [4] In accordance with this enactment the senate decreed that Publius Scipio on the advice of ten envoys should make peace with the Carthaginian [p. 531]people upon such terms as he saw fit. [5] The³ Carthaginians thereupon thanked the senators and begged permission to enter the city and to converse with fellow-citizens who as captives were in prison, saying that among them some were their own relatives and friends, [6??] men of rank, and others men for whom they had messages from their relatives. [7] When this was arranged and they made a further request that they might have the opportunity of ransoming such of them as they desired, they were bidden to furnish the names. [8] And when they furnished some two hundred names a decree of the senate was passed that the Roman envoys should carry to Publius Cornelius in Africa two hundred selected by the Carthaginians from the number of the captives, and should report to him that, if the peace should be agreed to, he was to deliver the captives to the Carthaginians without ransom. [9] When orders were being given to the fetial priests⁴ to go to Africa in order to make the treaty, at their own request a decree of the senate was passed in these terms: that they should each take one flint knife and one tuft of foliage with them, in order that when the Roman general⁵ ordered them to make the treaty they should demand of the general the sacred tufts. [10] It is customary to gather foliage of this kind from the Citadel and give it to the fetials.

Under these circumstances the Carthaginians were sent away from Rome, and having presented themselves to Scipio in Africa, they made peace upon the [p. 533]terms above mentioned.⁶ [11] They surrendered⁷ warships, elephants, deserters, runaway slaves, and four thousand captives, among whom was Quintus Terentius Culleo,⁸ a senator. [12] The ships Scipio ordered to be put to sea and to be burned. Some historians⁹ relate that there were five hundred of them —every type of vessel propelled by oars;¹⁰ and that when the Carthaginians suddenly caught sight of the fire it was as doleful for them as if Carthage itself were in flames. [13] The deserters were more severely treated than the runaway slaves, Latin citizens being beheaded, Romans crucified.