ABSTRACT
With their only ally Syphax fallen, Hasdrubal’s generalship discredited, the countryside open to the invader-and already inclined to rebellion, Polybius claims, because of heavy war-taxation-and Scipio preparing to blockade their city, the Carthaginians had only two real alternatives: seek terms from the enemy, or carry on the fight and recall Hannibal and Mago from their useless footholds in Italy. Dispirited yet still pugnacious, the Punic senate promptly did both.
