Kitap 30
10
If the Carthaginians had moved more rapidly they would have found hurry and confusion everywhere, and they might have destroyed the fleet in the first onset. They were, however, disheartened by the defeat of their land forces, and now they did not feel confidence even on the sea, the element where they were strongest. After sailing slowly all through the day they brought up towards sunset at a harbour called by the natives Rusocmon. The following day, they put out to sea in line of battle, expecting the Romans to come out and attack them. After they had been stationary for a long time and no movement on the part of the enemy was visible, they at last commenced an attack on the transports. There was nothing in the least resembling a naval action, it looked almost exactly as if ships were attacking walls. The transports were considerably higher than their opponents, and consequently the missiles from the Carthaginian vessels, which had to be hurled from below, were mostly ineffective; those from the transports thrown from above fell with more force, their weight adding to the blow. The despatch-boats and light vessels which ran out through the intervals under the plank gangways were many of them run down by the momentum and bulk of the warships, and in time they became a hindrance to those fighting on the transports, who were often obliged to desist for fear of hitting them while they were mixed up with the enemy's ships. At last the Carthaginans began to throw poles with grappling-hooks at the end-the soldiers call them harpagones-on to the Roman ships, and it was impossible to cut away either the poles or the chains by which they were suspended. When a warship had hooked one of the transports it was rowed astern, and you would see the ropes which fastened the transports one to another give way, and sometimes a whole line of transports would be dragged off together. In this way all the gangways connecting the first line of transports were broken up, and there was hardly any place left where the defenders could spring back into the second line. Six transports were towed off to Carthage. Here the rejoicing was greater than the circumstances of the case warranted, but what made it all the more welcome was the fact that the Roman fleet had narrowly escaped destruction, an escape due to the Carthaginian commander's slackness and the timely arrival of Scipio. Amid such continual disasters and mourning this was an unhoped-for cause of congratulation.
