On his return to camp the consul's joy in his victory was damped by his anxiety about his younger son. This was P. Scipio, who had been adopted as grandson by Scipio Africanus, and himself received the title of Africanus, from the destruction of Carthage in after years. He was only seventeen at the time - a further cause for anxiety - and while he was in full pursuit of the enemy, he was carried away by the press into another part of the field. On his return late in the day to the camp, his father, finding him safe and sound, could at last feel unmixed joy in his great victory. The news of the battle had already been carried to Amphipolis, and the matrons flocked to the temple of Diana - the Tauropolon - to invoke her aid. Diodorus, the governor of the city, was apprehensive lest the Thracian garrison, some 2000 strong, should in the tumult and confusion plunder the city. He therefore hired a man to impersonate a letter-carrier, and received a pretended despatch from him in the middle of the forum. It stated that the Roman fleet had put in at Emathia, and the fields all round were being ravaged. The officers in charge of Emathia implored him to send the garrison to deal with the ravagers. After reading the despatch he urged the Thracians to go and defend the coast of Emathia; they would inflict great slaughter on the Romans while scattered through the fields, and would also secure large booty. At the same time he made light of the report of an unfavourable battle; if, he said, it were true, fugitive after fugitive would have come in fresh from the fight. In this way he got rid of the Thracians, and as soon as he saw that they had crossed the Strymon, he shut the gates.
The Greek stands ready in the workroom; the English is served. Both faces will read together.
siege of Carthage — a candidate entry Africanus — a candidate entry Scipio — a candidate entry
The History of Rome, Livy — translated by Rev. Canon Roberts, 1912
Apparatus shelf + pinned Wikisource — Livy, The History of Rome (Rev. Canon Roberts translation, Everyman's Library) · Rev. Canon Roberts, Everyman's Library (J. M. Dent & Sons / E. P. Dutton), first issue 1912; six volumes
license: public-domain (the Roberts translation's Everyman first issue is 1912, pre-1930; Wikisource dates the translation 1905 — either way decades inside the US public domain; digital-door text carries no additional rights)