During the year a commission went from Rome to arbitrate between the Carthaginian government and King Masinissa on a claim to certain territory. [2] Masinissa's father, Gala, had taken it from the Carthaginians, Syphax had expelled Gala from it, and out of complaisance to his father-in-law Hasdrubal had made a present of it to the Carthaginians, and this year Masinissa had expelled the Carthaginians. [3] The matter was contested as hotly in argument as it had been with the sword, and came before the Romans for decision, who investigated it on the spot. [4] Masinissa said that he had recovered the territory as part of his ancestral dominions and held it by the universally acknowledged right of inheritance. [5] His case was the stronger of the two, both by title and by actual possession. The only thing he feared was that he might be at a disadvantage should the Romans shrink from appearing to favour a monarch who was their friend and ally at the cost of a people who were enemies to him and them alike. [6] The commissioners decided nothing as to the right of possession and referred the whole question to the senate. Nothing further took place in Liguria. The Gauls retreated into the pathless forests and then dispersed to their villages and forts. [7] The consuls also wanted to disband their army, and consulted the senate about doing so. The senate ordered one of them to disband his army and proceed to Rome to elect the magistrates for the next year; the other was to winter with his legions at Pisae. [8] There were rumours that the transalpine Gauls were arming and it was uncertain into what part of Italy they might descend, so the consuls arranged that Cn. Baebius should go to hold the elections, as his brother Marcus was a candidate.
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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