In fact, the tribes furnished them abundantly with provisions, and they did not themselves suspect how much their inaction alarmed the Punic army.
On the second day the Carthaginians had remarked a troop of three hundred men apart from the rest in the camp of the nomads.

These were the rich who had been kept prisoners since the beginning of the war.
Some Libyans ranged them along the edge of the trench, took their station behind them, and hurled javelins, making themselves a rampart of their bodies.

The wretched creatures could scarcely be recognised, so completely were their faces covered with vermin and filth.

Their hair had been plucked out in places, leaving bare the ulcers on their heads, and they were so lean and hideous that they were like mummies in tattered shrouds.

A few trembled and sobbed with a stupid look; the rest cried out to their friends to fire upon the Barbarians.