The infantry was cut down to the last man.

Of the cavalry a few succeeded in cutting their way through; Curio too might have probably saved himself, but he could not bear to appear alone before his master without the army entrusted to him, and died sword in hand.
Even the force which was collected in the camp before Utica, and that which guarded the fleet--which might so easily have escaped to Sicily--surrendered under the impression made by the fearfully rapid catastrophe on the following day to Varus (Aug.

or Sept.

705).
So ended the expedition arranged by Caesar to Sicily and Africa.
It attained its object so far, since by the occupation of Sicily in connection with that of Sardinia at least the most urgent wants of the capital were relieved; the miscarriage of the conquest of Africa-- from which the victorious party drew no farther substantial gain-- and the loss of two untrustworthy legions might be got over.
But the early death of Curio was an irreparable loss for Caesar, and indeed for Rome.

Not without reason had Caesar entrusted the most important independent command to this young man, although he had no military experience and was notorious for his dissolute life; there was a spark of Caesar's own spirit in the fiery youth.
He resembled Caesar, inasmuch as he too had drained the cup of pleasure to the dregs; inasmuch as he did not become a statesman because he was an officer, but on the contrary it was his political action that placed the sword in his hands; inasmuch as his eloquence was not that of rounded periods, but the eloquence of deeply-felt thought; inasmuch as his mode of warfare was based on rapid action with slight means; inasmuch as his character was marked by levity and often by frivolity, by pleasant frankness and thorough life in the moment.