Note 564 — LIFE OF C. CÆSAR. (continued 2)

Scipio avoided fighting as long as he could. Thapsus was situated on a kind of peninsula, south of Hadrumetum, as Dion Cassius states. But his description is not clear. There were salt-pans near it, which were separated from the sea by a very narrow tract. Cæsar occupied this approach to Thapsus, and then formed his lines about the town in the form of a crescent. Scipio came to relieve Thapsus, and this brought on a battle. (African War, 80.) Cæsar could not stop the slaughter after the battle was won.