From Syphax he received terms of peace with the Carthaginians, with proposals that the Romans should evacuate Africa, and the Carthaginians Italy, rather than any ground of hope that he would desert their cause if the war proceeded.

For my part I am of opinion, and in this I am countenanced by the majority of writers, that these negotiations were carried on through messengers, rather than that Syphax himself came to the Roman camp to hold a conference, as Antias Valerius relates.

At first the Roman general scarcely allowed these terms to be mentioned, but afterwards, in order that there might exist a plausible pretext for his emissaries to go frequently into the camp of the enemy, he rejected these same terms in a more qualified manner, holding out a hope that they might eventually come to an agreement by agitating the question on both sides.
The winter huts of the Carthaginians, which were constructed from materials hastily collected out of the fields, were almost entirely of wood.

The Numidians, particularly, lay for the most part in huts formed of interwoven reeds, and covered with mats, dispersed up and down without any regard to order; while some of them, having chosen the situations for their tents without waiting for orders, lay even without the trench and rampart.

These circumstances having been reported to Scipio, gave him hopes that he might have an opportunity of burning the enemy's camp.
4.