WAR IN THE INTKRIOR. 427 tage of their rene .ved ardor to attack forthwith the Carthagini- ans ; who, expecting nothing less, were defeated with considera- ble loss.^ In spite of this check, the Carthaginians presently sent a con- siderable force into the interior, for the purpose of reconquering or regaining the disaffected Numidian tribes. They met with good success in this enterprise ; but the Numidians were in the main faithless and indifferent to both the beligerents, seeking only to turn the war to their own profit. Agathokles, leaving his son in command at Tunes, followed the Carthaginians into the inte- rior with a large portion of his army. The Carthaginian generals were cautious, and kept themselves in strong position. Never- theless Agathokles felt confident enough to assail them in their camp ; and after great effort, with severe loss on his own side, he gained an indecisive victory. This advantage however was countervailed by the fact, that during the action the Numidians assailed his camp, slew all the defenders, and carried off nearly all the slaves and baggage. The loss on the Carthaginian side fell most severely upon the Greek soldiers in their pay ; most of them exiles under Klinon, and some Syracusan exiles. These men behaved with signal gallantry, and were nearly all slain, either during the battle or after the battle, by Agathokles.^ It had now become manifest, however, to this daring invader, that the force of resistance possessed by Carthage was more than he could overcome — that though humbling and impovex-ishing her for the moment, he could not bring the war to a triumphant close ; since the city itself, occupying the isthmus of a peninsula from sea to sea, and surrounded with the strongest fortifications, could not be besieged except by means far superior to his.^ We servili vestc, apud decurionem equitum tcgebatur/' (Pcscntly tlic feeling elianges. by the adroit management of Alpheniis Varus, prefect of the camp) — then, •' silentio, patientia, postremo prcclbus et lacyrmis, vcniam quaere- bant. Ut vcro deformis et flcns, et praiter spem incolumis Valens processit, f^audium, miscratio, favor: versi in laetitiam (ut est vulgus utroque inimodi- cum) laudantcs gratantesquc circumdatum aquilis signisqne, in tribunal ferunt." 1 Diodor. XX. 34. ^ Diodor. xx. 39.
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