Then taking each of the commanders, Masinissa and Laelius, aside, he implored them separately to make up by diligence and care for the absence of that foresight which the night rendered it impossible to exercise.

He said, that he should himself attack Hasdrubal and the Carthaginian camp; but that he should not begin till he saw the fire in that of the king.
Nor did this delay him long; for when the fire thrown upon the nearest huts had taken effect, immediately communicating with all those which were within the shortest distance, and those connected with them in regular succession, it spread itself throughout the whole camp.

The confusion and alarm which took place, in consequence of so widely extended a fire breaking out during the night, were as great as might naturally be expected; but as they concluded that it was the effect of chance, and not produced by the enemy, or connected with the war, they rushed out in a disorderly manner, without their arms, to extinguish the flames, and fell in with armed enemies, particularly the Numidians, who on account of their knowledge of the king's camp were placed by Masinissa in convenient places at the openings of the passes.

Many perished in the flames in their beds while half asleep; and many, tumbling over one another in their haste to escape, were trampled to death in the narrow passages of the gates.
6.

When first the Carthaginian sentinels, and afterwards the rest, roused by the terrifying effects of a tumult by night, beheld the light emitted from the flames, they also, labouring under the same delusion, imagined that the fire had originated from accidental causes; while the shout raised amidst the slaughter and wounds, being of a confused kind, prevented their distinguishing whether it was occasioned by the trepidation of an alarm by night.