walls afford a view of the sea which surrout,. =t 012叫“妙city. _.A·w nest the Romans were pushy engagea in intrencaing they saw the hostile meet sailmg from Carthage to Utica. They at once ceased work, orders were given to march, and the army made a rapid advance, fearing, lest the ships should be- caughtwith their prows turned shorewards for siege operations, inutter unreadiness for a naval battle. " How," they asked themselves,“can a，mobile and fully armed fleet in perfect sailing order be successfully resisted by ships loaded with artilleryand war machines, or converted into transports, or brought upso close to the walls as to allow of scaling parties using them instead of an agger and gangways?”. Under the circumstances Scipio abandoned the usual tactics. Bringing the warships which could have protected the others into the rearmost position close inshore, he lined up the transports in front of them four deep to serve as a wall against the enemy's attack二To prevent the line s from being broken by violent charges he laid masts and yard-arms from ship to ship and secured them by stout ropes which bound.them together like one continuous chain. He then fastened planks upon the top of these, so making a free passage along the whole line, and under these bridges’the run out against the enemy and retire· into safety. After making these hurried arrangements as complete as time would allow, he placed about zooo picked men on board、the transports and an immense quantity of missile weapons; so that however long the fighting went on tl be enough.Thus ready and eager, they waited for the enemy。 If the Carthaginians had moved more rapidly they would have found hurry and confusion everywhere, and they might have destroyed the fleet in the first onset. Thev were. however. disheartened by the defeat of their land forces.and now thev did not feel confidence even on the sea, the element where they were sti ongest. After sailing slowly all through the day they brought up towards sunset at a harbour called by the natives Rusocnion. The following day, they put out to sea in line of battle, expecting the Romans to come out and attack them. After they had been stationary for a long time and no movement on the part of the enemy was visible, they at last commenced an attack on the transports. There was m the yeast resembling a naval action, it looked almost exactly as if ships were attacking walls. The transports were consider- higher than their opponents, and consequently the missiles the C}-trthaginian vessels，which had to be hurled front below, were mostly ineffective;those from the transports thrown from above fell with more for :e, their weight adding to the blow. The despatch-boats and light vessels which ran out through the intervals under the plank gangways were many of them run down by the momentum and bulk of the warships，，and in time they became a. hindrance to those fighting on the transports.who were often oblived to desist for fear of J‘， W昌写 hardly any place left where the defenders could spring back 加切比e second line. Six transports were towed off to Carthage, Here the rejoicing was greater than the circumstances of the case warranted，but what made it all the more welcome was the fact that the Roman fleet had narrowly escaped destruction, an escape due to the ian com- and the timely arrival of Scipio .Amid such continual disasters and mourning this’was an unhoped-for cause of congratulation.