Then the men in charge of clearing the ground arrive with axes and fangs; they drag towards the prepared holes, pell-mell the dead and those who are not yet dead and heap them there amid the stones and beams. Here and there we see a leg sticking out that is still shaking, heads that the horses crush while galloping and from which the brains spring.
The citadel protected by a final surrounding wall still stands. Finally, on the seventh day, a few men come out bearing the insignia of the supplicants. Scipio agrees to grant life to those who want to surrender with the exception of defectors, former allies of the Roman armies and who have changed sides; 25,000 men and 30,000 women and children exit through a narrow gate and are handed over to guards. They will become slaves. As for the defectors, around 900, they barricaded themselves in the temple of Eschoum (Asculapius), located at the very top of the citadel, along with Hasdrubal, his wife and his sons. But fatigue, hunger and anguish torture them. Understanding that the last moment has come, they go up to the roof of the temple. Hasdrubal went out, a supplicant's bough in his hand, to put himself under the consul's protection. All from the top of the roof overwhelm him with outrages; then having set fire to the sanctuary, they rush into it. The wife of the Carthaginian general also appears in her most beautiful dress. After thanking Scipio for offering her life, she covers her husband with insults, reproaching him for his cowardice and betrayal. She then throws her children into the fire and rushes into it herself. Perhaps she wanted to imitate the gesture of Lerissa (Dido), the first queen of Carthage, who threw herself into the midst of the flames after the abandonment of Aeneas, who had left by order of the gods for Italy, to to found Rome there.
For another ten days Carthage burns; Roman soldiers can pillage, except those who had desecrated the Temple of Apollo. Contemplating the ruins of this city, once so flourishing, and which had fought with such courage, while Rome with disloyalty had begun by taking away its weapons, Scipio sheds tears. He will manage to save the main works of art and the gold and silver objects. The libraries will be assigned to the Numidian kings.
When the Roman victory was announced, the senate sent a commission made up of ten of its main members to the scene with the order to ensure the total destruction of the city. For the cursed name to be erased forever. The ground is plowed with a plow and salt is spread there while pronouncing the ritual imprecations. This time, Carthage is dead.