his attendants, he spent a considerable time amid frequent sighs and groans, which could be distinctly heard by those who stood around the tent.  At last, heaving a deep groan, he called one of his servants in whom he confided, in whose custody poison was kept, according to the custom of kings, as a remedy against the unforeseen events of fortune, and ordered him to mix some in a cup and carry it to Sophonisba; at the same time informing her that Masinissa would gladly have fulfilled the first obligation which as a husband he owed to her his wife; but since those who had the power of doing so had deprived him of the exercise of that right, he now performed his second promise, that she should not come alive into the power of the Romans.  That, mindful of her father the general, of her country, and of the two kings to whom she had been married, she would take such measures as she herself thought proper.  When the servant came to Sophonisba bearing this message and the poison, she said, “I accept this nuptial present; nor is it an unwelcome one, if my husband can render me no better service.  Tell him, however, that I should have died with greater satisfaction had I not married so near upon my death.”  The spirit with which she spoke was equalled by the firmness with which she took and drained the chalice, without exhibiting any symptom of perturbation.  When Scipio was informed of this event, fearful lest the high-spirited young man should in the distempered state of his mind adopt some desperate resolution, he immediately sent for him, and at one time endeavoured to solace him, at another gently rebuked him for expiating one act of temerity with another, and rendering the affair more tragical than was necessary.  The next day, in order to divert his mind from his present affliction, he ascended his tribunal and ordered an assembly to be summoned, in which having first saluted Masinissa with the title of king, and distinguished him with the highest encomiums, he presented him with a golden goblet, a curule chair, an ivory sceptre, an embroidered gown, and a triumphal vest.  He increased the honour by observing, that among the Romans there was nothing more magnificent than a triumph; and that those who triumphed were not arrayed with more splendid ornaments than those with which the Roman people considered Masinissa alone, of all foreigners, worthy.  He then bestowed the highest commendations upon Laelius also, and presented him with a golden crown, and gave presents to the other military characters proportioned to their respective merits.  By these honours the king’s mind was soothed, and encouraged to hope that he would speedily become master of all Numidia, now that Syphax was removed.