But at Zama, the elephants did not even attack the enemy. Startled by the noise of trumpets and the blowing of horns, they rushed back, instead of forward, upon the Numidian cavalry, which was stationed on Hannibal’s left wing. Masinissa seized the opportunity, and before the cavalry had rallied from the shock of the elephants, he charged and put it to flight. The Carthaginian cavalry on Hannibal’s right was at the same time routed by Lælius. Two bodies of heavily-armed troops still faced the Romans. First came the mercenaries hired by Hannibal. Fiercely they fought and well, although they were no match for their enemy. Nor did they once falter until they began to fear that the Carthaginians were failing to support them. Then they turned, stricken by sudden panic, and anxious only to force their way through those behind, who they believed had betrayed them. As the Romans followed them in their flight, all was soon in confusion, the mercenaries and Carthaginians being slain, not only by the Romans, but by each other. Hannibal, meanwhile, was with a band of veterans whom he had held in reserve. Those soldiers who had escaped from the Romans now tried to steal in among these veterans, but Hannibal, who had no mercy for cowards, ordered his men to lower their spears and push them away. The desperate wretches then escaped from the battlefield as best they might. Scipio was now ready to advance against the veterans, and here the struggle was long and stern. For these Carthaginian soldiers were inflexible against every attack. Not one man flinched, but each stood steadfastly at his post until he was killed. Only when Lælius and Masinissa returned from pursuing the enemy’s horse and fell upon Hannibal’s rear was the battle won. The number of the slain was terrible. Twenty thousand Carthaginians were said to have fallen, and almost as many to have been taken prisoner, while the Romans did not lose more than fifteen thousand men. Hannibal escaped to Carthage, leaving his camp to be seized by the enemy. CHAPTER LXXII SCIPIO RECEIVES A TRIUMPH After the battle of Zama, in 202 B.C., the war was at an end, for the Carthaginians had no longer any army. They had, indeed, no choice now, save to accept the terms Rome might offer, unless they were prepared to see Carthage itself besieged. Since submission was inevitable, the Carthaginians resolved to yield with as good a grace as possible. So they decked one of their ships with olive branches, and sent ambassadors on board to sail toward Utica. They hoped that the ambassadors would thus meet Scipio, who was on his way to the town of Tunes. But the Roman general haughtily refused to receive them until he reached his destination. Then his interview with the suppliants was brief, his answer to their petition for merciful terms, proud.