As a result of all this Hasdrubal straightway retired to Carthage and Syphax to his own country. Scipio set Masinissa and Gaius Laelius to oppose Syphax while he himself marched against the Carthaginians. The Carthaginians for their part sent ships toward the Roman stronghold, which the enemy were using as winter quarters and as a storehouse for all their goods. In this way they might either capture it or draw Scipio away from themselves. Such also was the result. As soon as he heard of the manoeuvre, he withdrew and hurried to the harbor, which he placed under guard. And on the first day the Romans easily repulsed their assailants, but on the next they had decidedly the worst of the encounter. The Carthaginians even went so far as to take away Roman ships by seizing them with grappling irons. They did not venture, however, to disembark but finally sailed homewards, after which they superseded Hasdrubal and chose a certain Hanno in his place. From this time Hanno was the general, but his predecessor privately got hold of some slaves and deserters whom he welded together into a fairly strong force; he then quietly persuaded some of the Spaniards who were serving in Scipio's army to help him and attempted one night to carry out a plot against the Roman's camp. Something would have come of it, had not the soothsayers, dismayed by the actions of birds, and the mother of Masinissa, as a result of divinations, caused an investigation of the Spaniards to be made. So their treachery was anticipated and punished, and Scipio again made a campaign against Carthage; he was engaged in devastating their fields [IX, 13.] while Syphax was waging war upon the followers of Laelius. That prince offered successful resistance for some time, but eventually the Romans prevailed, slaughtered many, took many alive, and captured Syphax. They also acquired possession of Cirta, his palace, without a contest by displaying to the guardians within their king, now a prisoner.