to call any land in Africa their own:  foreigners and strangers, to whom had been granted precariously, for the purpose of building a city, as much ground as they could encompass with the cuttings of a bull’s hide?  Whatever acquisitions they had made beyond Byrsa, their original settlement, they held by fraud and violence; for, in relation to the land in question, so far were they from being able to prove uninterrupted possession, from the time when it was first acquired, that they cannot even prove that they ever possessed it for any considerable time.  As occasions offered, sometimes they, sometimes the kings of Numidia, had held the dominion of it; and the possession of it had always been held by the party which had the greatest armed force.  They requested the senate to suffer the matter to remain on the same footing on which it stood before the Carthaginians became enemies to the Romans, or the king of Numidia their friend and ally; and not to interfere, so as to hinder whichever party was able, from keeping possession.”—­The senate resolved to tell the ambassadors of both parties, that they would send persons into Africa to determine the present controversy between the people of Carthage and the king.  They accordingly sent Publius Scipio Africanus, Caius Cornelius Cethegus, and Marcus Minucius Rufus; who, after viewing the ground, and hearing what could be said on both sides, left every thing in suspense, their opinions inclining neither to one side nor the other.  Whether they acted in this manner from their own judgment, or because they had been so instructed, is by no means so certain as it is, that as affairs were circumstanced, it was highly expedient to leave the dispute undecided:  for, had the case been otherwise, Scipio alone, either from his own knowledge of the business, or the influence which he possessed, and to which he had a just claim on both parties, could, with a nod, have ended the controversy.

BOOK XXXV.

Publius Scipio Africanus sent as ambassador to Antiochus; has a conversation with Hannibal at Ephesus.  Preparations of the Romans for war with Antiochus.  Nabis, the tyrant of Lacedaemon, instigated by the Aetolians, makes war on the Achaeans; is put to death by a party of the Aetolians.  The Aetolians, violating the treaty of friendship with the Romans, invite Antiochus, who comes, with a small force, into Greece, and, in conjunction with them, takes several towns, and the whole island of Euboea.  The Achaeans declare war against Antiochus and the Aetolians.

1.  In the beginning of the same year, Sextus Digitius, praetor in the Hither Spain, fought with those states which, after the departure of Marcus Cato, had, in great numbers, recommenced hostilities, numerous battles, but none deserving of particular mention; and all so unfavourable to him, that he scarcely delivered to his successor half the number of men that he had received.  In consequence of this,