armies, lay near the city Baecula. Before his camp he had outposts
of cavalry. On these the light-armed, those who fought before the
standards and those who composed the vanguard, as they came up
from their march, and before they chose the ground for their camp,
commenced an attack in so contemptuous a manner, that it was perfectly
evident what degree of spirit each party possessed. The cavalry were
driven into their camp in disorderly flight, and the Roman standards
were advanced almost within their very gates. Their minds on that day
having only been excited to a contest, the Romans pitched their camp.
At night Hasdrubal withdrew his forces to an eminence, on the summit
of which extended a level plain. There was a river on the rear, in
front and on either side a kind of steep bank completely surrounded
its extremity. Beneath this and lower down was another plain of
gentle declivity, which was also surrounded by a similar ridge equally
difficult of ascent. Into this lower plain Hasdrubal, the next day,
when he saw the troops of the enemy drawn up before their camp, sent
his Numidian cavalry and light-armed Baleares. Scipio riding out to
the companies and battalions, pointed out to them, that "the enemy
having abandoned, beforehand, all hope of being able to withstand
them on level ground, had resorted to hills: where they stood in view,
relying on the strength of their position, and not on their valour and
arms." But the walls of Carthage, which the Roman soldiers had scaled,
were still higher. That neither hills, nor a citadel, nor even the sea
itself, had formed an impediment to their arms. That the heights
which the enemy had occupied would only have the effect of making it
necessary for them to leap down crags and precipices in their flight,
but he would even cut off that kind of retreat. He accordingly gave
orders to two cohorts, that one of them should occupy the entrance of
the valley down which the river ran, and that the other should block
up the road which led from the city into the country, over the side